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.
492 different people have complained about this since 12 Feb 2016, most recently on 31 Oct 2026. 51 of them in the last 30 days.
- “Microsoft Authenticator — Microsoft Authenticator is infuriating trash in 2025.”
- “Microsoft Authenticator — MICROSOFT SIGN IN IS HORRIBLE.”
- “this app is absolutely terrible, i'm trying to log into my microsoft account and i've been asked to download the authenticator app, on opening the app, i've been asked to authenticate the login on the authenticator app.”
492 people in 491 posts across 2 sources · 51 in the last 30 days, 70 in the 30 before
The pain
shares of 491 peopleWhat goes wrong, and for whom
- Who
- 492 people using Microsoft Authenticator, LastPass Password Manager, 1Password: Password Manager and NordPass: Password Manager
- What goes wrong
- Microsoft Authenticator: App requires verification code from itself to sign in78 people · 16%
- Microsoft Authenticator: Accounts and codes fail to transfer when changing phones44 people · 9%
- Microsoft Authenticator: Verification codes or push notifications do not appear33 people · 7%
- LastPass Password Manager: No human customer support available28 people · 6%
- Since
- 12 Feb 2016 → 31 Oct 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, LastPass Password Manager, 1Password: Password Manager and NordPass: Password Manager
- Looking for something else
- 2% want an alternative · 7% 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
“14 day to manually enter password, always happens when I’m in public… would be nice if it popped up at home the day before allow renaming of attached files, super annoying on iOS when you select/take…”
“1Password: Password Manager — HEY I PAY FOR THIS APP PLEASE FIX.”
“I burned through five of them, because even after ticking “5trust this device" to “on" or "yes", I still can't log in with the new passwords.”
“I used this app cuz it was required by my school, now when I deleted the access to my school account I can’t log in, because I need a code from the air!!!!”
“Microsoft Authenticator — Near impossible to switch from Android to IPhone.”
“Microsoft Authenticator — Work switched from duo, wish I could go back.”
“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”
“time for a new password manager - this app keeps getting worse and worse as I pay more and more.”
“You can't get there from here You are required to sign-in with your passkey to access this resource, but this app doesn't support it.”
What people were doing
Every post behind this page, by what its author was doing — and when each one was written
- Complaint27489%
- Looking for an alternative72%
- Request237%
- About price31%
Sources
491 signals · 2 sources
Evidence
Raw public posts behind this opportunity — click through to the original
Microsoft Authenticator — Microsoft Authenticator is infuriating trash in 2025 The single most brain-dead “feature” that makes me want to throw my phone: You get a push notification to approve a login → you tap it → instant red banner: “Something went wrong. Try again.” Every. Single. Time. So now the workflow…
FrustratedManual workMicrosoft Authenticator — MICROSOFT SIGN IN IS HORRIBLE The Microsoft sign-in process is horrible. I spent way too much time going in circles between Microsoft Authenticator, verification codes, password resets, and different sign-in methods. It kept asking me to verify my identity in different ways, sometimes sending…
Strong complaintFrustratedMicrosoft Authenticator — doesn't work this app is absolutely terrible, i'm trying to log into my microsoft account and i've been asked to download the authenticator app, on opening the app, i've been asked to authenticate the login on the authenticator app. i can't do that cause i can't log into the authenticator app…
Strong complaintDoesn't workMicrosoft Authenticator Switching phones and trying to set up Microsoft Authenticator again was a nightmare. While adding two-step verification on my new device, it asks for an authenticator code — from the app I’m still trying to set up. That makes no sense. If your old phone is broken, lost, or wiped, you can easily…
Strong complaintFrustrated…password. But it’s just not tenable on my mobile, it’s way too long. The workaround is a short (insecure) master password, which defeats the purpose of a password manager. Please remove this “feature”.
FrustratedUsing a workaround
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 45.9 · 08 Nov 2026, 08:00 → 09:15 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?
- 492 different people described it independently, in 491 mentions, the earliest from 12 Feb 2016 and the most recent from 31 Oct 2026. The quotes, with dates and links to the originals, are in the Evidence section.
- Is this problem getting worse?
- Status: steady — no change the counts can show. 51 people raised it in the last 30 days and 70 in the 30 days before; the status compares its share of everything collected from the same source, so collecting more or less cannot create a trend.
Adjacent opportunities
Nearest neighbours by embedding similarity
Have you run into this?
Written by readers, except comments marked Team, which are ours. Not part of the evidence above and not counted in any score.
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Microsoft Authenticator seems to create a frustrating loop when setting up two-step verification on a new phone, especially if your old one is lost or broken. We've heard from 253 people about this issue. Does it happen at the point of entering the authenticator code, or is there another step where it goes wrong for you?