What users complain about in Salesforce Authenticator

Awful registration process

I’ve never written a review but I will do for that was. WORST registration process ever. It takes you in endless loop where it’s expecting me to enter two words in my account without telling you where. Awful, awful

Silently dropped Apple Watch support

I have exclusively used this app on my Apple Watch for years and version 4.8.0 silently dropped the Apple Watch app while claiming that the only change in the app was “bug fixes.” Come on, Salesforce!

I didn't have a good experience especially recovering my accounts that had been saved on my Salesforce authenticator app. I even provided my account recovery PIN, the app gives a notification that accounts are restored, but just gets stuck at the onboarding page.

Apple Watch app gone

Apple Watch app was great, but removed. Why?

Piece of c**p

Will not work properly. Gives me two words but not number code and will not reset

The only purpose of this app is to let me in to the website. Why the f does it need to know my location? Why the f does it need ai bot that "automates" entrance process? Horrible experience.

push notifications don't work. app needs to be opened before hand in order to get them that is also slow sometimes.

trying to transfer my account from one device to a new one is crazy. realized the app version on my old device is an older vs then the app on my new device but there is no option to update the app so the versions match. in addition because my old device which has my account is an older version the export but that i need is not present and all backup directions are useless.

completely useless. Salesforce is going to email you and text you regardless, so this is 5fa authentication. completely stupid and a time waster. Salesforce has an authenticator they don't deem good enough for authentication.

Low-effort slop

This is an old app, and it looks and feels that way too. Absolutely terrible. I have to manually input the code every time which is a pain. This is supposed to make life easier. Not harder. Salesforce, you’ve failed with this app. You’ve failed hard. You buy reviews because you’re a bad company. This app doesn’t have the 4 star rating, that’s a lie and you know it. Apple needs to be investigated for allowing this to continue.

It never works!

I have to use it everyday and the pop up in the app works 1 in 10 times. I almost always have to wait for a new code and click use another method in my browser because the app is barely functional

Worst UX ever

The whole point of this app is to make authentication more seamless for companies. It dies the exact opposite. The copy and UX are horribly confusing. I often find myself in confusing authentication loops without recourse. For example, when you say “on your computer, enter this two-word phrase when prompted” — huh? Provide more context. When will I be prompted? Who is prompting me? How will I be prompted? What do I do if I’m not prompted? Also, the static icons above—what do these even mean? Why are they here? And the bit that says “To connect other accounts, scan a QR code”—again, where do I find a QR code? This is a horrible UX with confusing instructions, which defeats its purpose from the start.

This app SUCKS

It took everyone trying to use it multiple tries to get it to work. For me it worked a day ago at the office and it doesn’t work 24 hours later at home.

No notifications

The notification and geolocation approval features hardly ever work so this is just a place to store 2FA OTC codes. Very disappointing.

Why can’t I use my watch for approvals?

Updating because it’s almost 2026 now. I still can’t use my watch to approve my authentication. Remember my location still doesn’t work. Still the worst authentication experience of any platform.

Worst app on my phone

I’ve never written a review for an app before but this one is so bad I needed to provide feedback. App does not remember your location despite having all the settings they recommend. Popup to approve shows up 15-30 times every time I try to log in and constantly says error. Horrrrible experience and they’ve never addressed these issues after years of using it.

Worst App I Have Ever Used In My Entire Life

I have tried to use multiple operating systems and browsers to login to my timesheet and the app fails to show the approve screen. Your devs should be embarrassed to push something without properly testing it for reliability.

Bad but works

App defaults to asking for location and push settings if they are not enabled. Stop asking. I will never enable push. I will never enable location. Stop forcing users into the settings every time they need to authorize access. The app should never ask for location or push after initially being told NO

App issues

Accidentally deleted the app off my phone now I am unable to get it back nor my account. Headache, frustration and annoyance on a Friday night.

I get push notifications but they are silent. I have gone through all the app settings and phone settings, this is the only app with this issue. this is terribly frustrating bc sometimes I need to approve a trusted IT consultant to help me in my system. I want to provide access for them but I do not know that the notification was sent without sound.

Don’t get a new phone!

I recently purchased a new phone and it’s been a nightmare with this app and now the website. It doesn’t recognize me-okay fine-I can reset my information-except it won’t allow me to do that either. I had an important email to send out about a sale we were having and no one knew about it because I couldn’t send. I am beyond frustrated.

This app should be easy to use and it should be simple to transfer my authentication to a new phone. However, it simply doesn't work properly. I used the email option the first time and after competing the process, the app simply took me back to the start. It even said in green, your accounts have been restored. Now the "transfer using email address" button doesn't work anymore.

STOP Asking for Permissions

I denied access for Location/Background. If I change my mind I can find those options in the settings to toggle them. The constant prompts for permissions that have been denied are ridiculous.

The automation is very finicky. Very often do I get the automation set up, then it fails at random times. It could fail remember the device the same day, a week from now, or 2 months from now. I found that my background data was enabled as it says, but it registers as off sometimes which is why I assume it fails randomly. I have to keep going into the settings, toggle my background data off, then back on again for it to finally work properly.

Annoying nagware

Constantly asking if it can pwetty pwease send you notifications and won’t trigger authentication requests unless you start the process to confirm manually, at which point it will prompt you to authenticate. Additionally, Salesforce doesn’t accept alternative Authenticators, which I’m sure makes them very happy and gives them plenty of opportunities to say “synergy”

The Worst

Good luck getting this to work if you get a new mobile device. Nothing it says should happen is correct and in typical fashion, instructions are either vague or inaccurate. Someone there needs to get a clue! Horrible app.

I hate this app so much I had to write a review

It’s ridiculous you are forced to share your location at all. That is my data, and I don’t trust salesforce at all to be using it. I also hate how I have to be near my phone to open salesforce. I like to keep it in my room. Cybersecurity consultants are going too far and paid way too much.

Unreliable at best

Rarely remembers locations. Takes a long time to authenticate. Never really know if it’ll auto approve so you’re just waiting for it to work… or not. This is the single slowest part of my entire workflow.

The app frequently forgets my laptop, calls it a new device, and says that I can "automate future requests from this client." However, usually it doesn't let me enable that toggle. Even when it lets me enable the toggle, it often fails to auto-approve logins and then recognizes it as a "new client" after 1 day -- again suggesting that I can enable it for auto approval but refusing to let me flip the toggle. And over and over for years.

Absolutely terrible

It is ridiculous that salesforce requires you to use their auth instead of existing auth apps. And more often than not (well over half the time) I’m and directed to a screen that prompts me to login with the auth app > I open the auth app > I get a code from the auth app > there is no place for me to use the code > I have to wait 90 seconds for the salesforce login screen to prompt me with an alternate verification > I verify with a code over email Absolutely terrible UX, for no reason

Crashes for Basic Function

First time using the app. Tried to register with Heroku on the app and crashed. Next thing you know nothing appears in the app, and Heroku is still sending push notifications to the app for sign in, which does nothing because app still thinks it needs to register Heroku. Hire smarter programmers. It would help the world a lot. Thanks

Location

App is not populating in location services and not allowing me to set up automation. Extremely, frustrating.

Can't get in from a new phone when I lost my login data. Doesn't even give me the option to just login to the authenticator using my same phone number, or email address for verification. Yet, I also can't get in to my Salesforce account to set up the app on my new phone. We are a small organization, it never needed to be this complicated to login, but for some reason Salesforce insisted we set it up anyways. Not only does this app feel completely useless, but somehow twice as annoying.

The app is fairly inconsistent. When I log into salesfore, I expect a notification on my phone that I can accept to approve the log in. This only works occasionally, most times I have to open the app manually. When I open the app, instead of being brought to the authentication page, I am sent a push notification and have to go to my notifications bar to approve my login. Don't even get me started on the 'trusted locations' feature, it never works. I'd rather be sent an SMS with a code than this.

> -1 Terrible. Terrible, I go through over three times logging in without success. Multiple tries, I don't see the Approve option. Wasted time. Terrible. Not everyone has a cell phone for their organization. Terrible. Not everyone wants to use their personal cell. It's terrible that you assume your clients are all the same and have access to the same resources. Find a better way that is more user friendly to all your end users. Think more outside the box.

Requires to authenticate on a dayli basis

This thing is so annoying, you have to authenticate every day compare to O365 Authenticator. And if you want to automate authentications this app asks you to run on a background. Seriously ???

Agree with other users who say this app is buggy and completely inconsistent. It lets you approve a frequent device to automate requests, but you still have to open the app in order for the automation to work. (And sometimes the "automation" is active for a week, sometimes two weeks, sometimes a couple days, before it seems to expire.) Nothing about the "automated" approval is actually, in fact, automated. Often find myself having to go into the app to force approval. Anti-productivity.

This app is completely unnecessary and buggy. In a team of 7 only 1 person can log into our departments account because the automated approvals don't work. On top of that once the automated feature was turned on that person lost the ability to log in because the notifications weren't appearing and the generated codes were "invalid and expired ".

Fix the location remembering

The location option just does not work. I am constantly approving it to remember my location and it only works maybe 5% of the time. Please fix

Does not work.

Automated approve does not work. It is ridiculous that a company like Salesforce can’t get it right. I sign on multiple times a day from my house and am forever switching on automated approve and it works maybe 25% of the time. Please fix this ASAP