If you’re a privacy and security-minded person, then you’ve definitely heard about 2FA (short for two-factor authentication), one of the best ways of neutralizing the risk associated with compromised account passwords.
The big players in the 2FA game are Google Authenticator (probably the most popular standard across most websites), andOTP (an open-source alternative with more features), and Microsoft Authenticator (which works remarkably well within the Microsoft ecosystem).
If you feel that none of the above cut it for you, then you should definitely try Authy (or Twilio Authy).
How can it possibly compete with the big players?
For starters, it’s worth noting that even though Authy is not “officially” supported by many sites and services, it uses the TOTP, making it compatible with the large majority of vendors that support Google Authenticator.
The main appeal, however, is the way Authy blends all the features and functions one might want in a 2FA app.
Complete 2FA app for your convenience
Authy is a free app (sadly, it’s not open-source), that automatically syncs data across all your devices (features support for a wide range of devices, including Apple Watch).
For a free app, Authy offers a lot when it comes to features, especially security. For instance, you get encrypted backups for free. This means that you can store various account data in the cloud and sync it across your devices with ease. Better yet, it even works without an Internet connection.
Verdict
Twilio Authy is a very nice app, whether you’re using it on your smartphone or Linux (officially supported on Ubuntu, Debian, Manjaro, and Fedora). What makes Authy one of the best (if not the best) 2FA apps out there is that it has a great feature set which should make it the ideal choice for most users.
