There’s a new authenticator app to take away market share from the corporate authenticators offered by Google and Microsoft.

Courtesy of the folks behind NordVPN, which makes my favorite VPN, and NordPass, one of the few password managers that I’d use, NordPass Authenticator comes with something the corporate authenticators can’t seriously brag about: a heavier focus on user privacy than is common among apps.

how authenticator apps work…

Two things can be true about true-factor authentication (2FA). One, the proliferation of it across darn near every internet account these days is maddening, and two, it’s popular because it’s a fairly secure and easy-to-implement way to keep peoples’ accounts from being accessed by scammers who steal their passwords.

Most 2FA tends to rely upon codes sent as automated texts or emails, but the more serious internet accounts tend to require that you use an authenticator, a specific type of 2FA app that generates a unique, constantly changing code (every minute or less) that you input each time you’re logging into the account.

Google and Microsoft dominate the authenticator app space. I’ve used both extensively for years, and they work well, but that’s not good enough for folks concerned not just about hackers and scammers accessing their private data, but big corporations having that access (at least in theory), too.

“Personal users often rely on multiple apps and methods to manage passwords and second factor authentication codes,” said Karolis Arbačiauskas, NordPass’ head of product, in a press release announcing the app.

“This makes login flows inconvenient. Instead of navigating between several applications, NordPass users can now securely access the verification code within the password manager using their biometric data, then copy the authentication code from the vault or autofill it directly on the website.”

You do need a paid version of the NordPass password manager to access NordPass Authenticator, though. While I wouldn’t pay for that just to access an Authenticator, using it is a no-brainer if you’re already using NordPass. And you should strongly consider using a password manager, anyway.