Security & access: Frustrating login and authentication experiences
Users are experiencing significant frustration and dissatisfaction with the Microsoft Authenticator app due to its poor functionality and user experience. Many report being unable to access their accounts after restoring from a backup, leading to a frustrating cycle of login issues.
48 people in 48 posts across 1 source · demand moderate, pain moderate, competition moderate
The pain
shares of 48 quoted postsWhat goes wrong, and for whom
- Who
- 48 people using Microsoft Authenticator and LastPass Password Manager
- What goes wrong
- Doesn't work4% of posts
- Missing feature2% of posts
- How bad
- 96% of posts are complaints · pain score moderate (44/100)
- Since
- 31 Jul 2025 → 20 Sept 2026
Is this a startup idea?
Not directly. These are complaints about a product or service people already use — the fix belongs first to that provider.
- Complaints are about
- Microsoft Authenticator and LastPass Password Manager
- Looking for something else
- 2% want an alternative · 2% ask the provider for a feature
- What the numbers say
- Almost nobody is looking for a different product — people want this provider to fix it, not a new option.
The pain — what people say
Their asks, who is writing, and the posts themselves
People are asking for
In their own words — asks pulled from the evidence, most-repeated first
“Migrating from one phone to another phone is one of the more challenging things to begin with, and Microsoft authenticator makes it that much more challenging”
What people were doing
Every post behind this page, by what its author was doing — and when each one was written
- Complaint4696%
- Looking for an alternative12%
- Request12%
Sources
48 signals · 1 sources
Evidence
Raw public posts behind this opportunity — click through to the original
Microsoft Authenticator — Difficult and frustrating to use My school requires Microsoft Authenticator to log in, but the verification process is unnecessarily complicated. Even though I always use the same phone and the same device, I still get asked to verify again after only a few days, and sometimes it takes a long…
FrustratedMicrosoft Authenticator — worst app ever i hate that my school switched to this dumb app. if you get a new phone your screwed, good luck getting back into your accounts!!! for some reason this stupid app doesn’t acknowledge when you switch to a new phone and doesn’t send the code to the new phone but your old one that…
Strong complaint…g passcodes, websites on PC and mobile not loading or glitching, etc. I am done with the lack of support and maintenance the microsoft suite needs to operate smoothly.
Missing featureMicrosoft Authenticator — Words can’t even describe how much I despise this. Probably the single most useless app to exist. The amount of times I’ve been stuck in a loop and have had to call tech support is ridiculous. Takes multiple tries and has randomly denied me access to my accounts numerous times. I truly, truly…
Strong complaintMicrosoft Authenticator — awful. this app is terrible to use. i’m given a 2 digit code with no where to put it. this is so frustrating and microsoft gives zero helpful feedback. wish my college didn’t use this.
Strong complaintFrustrated
Problem clusters
Distinct problems aggregated into this opportunity
Show 24 more ↓Show fewer ↑
3 smaller clusters are counted in the totals above but not listed.
Market and score
Products already there, how the score moved, and what it is made of
Existing solutions
Products people named in the evidence · high competition does not automatically mean a bad market
- Mojoauthfound by web search
- Fusionauthfound by web search
- Relypassfound by web search
- Curityfound by web search
Opportunity history
Every score change is stored as a snapshot — click a sub-score to overlay it
Why did it move?
Score unchanged at 47.3 · 23 Sept 2026, 20:00 → 21:36 UTC
How the score was measured38 measured values behind the seven sub-scores · each shows the value, then the points it earned out of 100Show ↓Hide ↑
Questions about this idea
- Is Security & access: Frustrating login and authentication experiences a startup idea?
- Not directly. These are complaints about a product or service people already use, and the fix belongs first to that provider. The page shows what is frustrating users and how badly — not an open market to start a company in.
- How many people have this problem?
- 48 different people described it independently, in 48 mentions, the earliest from 31 Jul 2025 and the most recent from 20 Sept 2026. The quotes, with dates and links to the originals, are in the Evidence section.
- Is this problem getting worse?
- Current status: rising — mentioned more often than before. Momentum is 69/100, measured as how often it is mentioned recently compared with before.
Adjacent opportunities
Nearest neighbours by embedding similarity
Discussion
Written by readers. Not part of the evidence above and not counted in any score.
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If you have run into this problem, what did you try?