European Alternatives to Authy

For Android users, Aegis Authenticator is widely considered the best open-source alternative to Authy. It offers encrypted local storage, biometric unlock, and supports importing from Authy. For iOS users, Bitwarden Authenticator or FreeOTP are excellent open-source options.

Authy intentionally makes it difficult to export your tokens to lock you into their ecosystem. However, there are community-developed tools that can help extract tokens from the Authy desktop app. Aegis can import these exported tokens. Alternatively, you can manually re-register 2FA on each service with your new authenticator app.

Cloud-synced 2FA tokens add convenience but also introduce risks. If the provider is compromised, attackers could access your 2FA secrets. Apps like Aegis store tokens locally, giving you full control. If you want cloud sync for convenience, Proton Pass offers end-to-end encryption, meaning even Proton cannot access your tokens.

Authy uses phone numbers as account identifiers and for account recovery. This is convenient but ties your 2FA security to your phone number, which can be vulnerable to SIM swapping attacks. Open-source alternatives don't require any personal information to use.

With Authy, you can recover tokens via their cloud backup (tied to your phone number). With local-storage apps like Aegis, you need to maintain your own backups. Aegis supports encrypted backup files that you can store safely. Always save backup codes provided by services when setting up 2FA.

Using your password manager's built-in 2FA (like Bitwarden or Proton Pass) is convenient but slightly reduces security - if someone accesses your password manager, they get both passwords and 2FA codes. However, for most people the convenience is worth it, and it's still far more secure than not using 2FA at all. For maximum security, use a separate 2FA app.