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0 pointsXylakant5y ago0 comments

> iOS takes all of these away. Complete backups are built-in

They’re not. Backups are built-in but they’re not complete. For example google Authenticator data is not backed up. Microsoft Authenticator can be backed up, but you need to go through a few extra steps (and have a Microsoft account). Other secrets are not included either - my banks PhotoTAN app doesn’t store any credentials etc. There are reasons why this is so, but it’s really important to handle if you use your phone for 2FA.

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bayindirh5y ago

> Authenticator data is not backed up. Microsoft Authenticator can be backed up, but you need to go through a few extra steps (and have a Microsoft account). Other secrets are not included either - my banks PhotoTAN app doesn’t store any credentials etc.

AFAIK, applications allow their secrets to be backed up or not, and I'm not mad that my 2FA keys are no backed up and shipped overseas. I keep another copy of my 2FA codes in another application, so it's not a very big problem from my PoV, though.

XylakantOP5y ago

> I keep another copy of my 2FA codes in another application, so it's not a very big problem from my PoV, though.

It's not a problem if you took measures to make sure you have a copy. It's a problem if you just take "full backups" for granted until you figure out that some things don't get included in "full".

Terretta5y ago

It’s not “some things”. Its things where the app developer explicitly chose to tag them to not be included.

And yes, for years one had to do the physical cabled backup restores for this, then these same app developers learned how to exclude their data from those as well. However, as of iOS 12, 13 and 14, there seems to be decreasing to zero effective difference in what’s included between tethered (with password), local WiFi (with password), and OTA iCloud backups.

You may be able to forcibly back these up using a third party tool that also lets you back up sandboxed temp files and the like, tools like iExplorer:

https://macroplant.com/iexplorer/mount-iphone-disk-mode-file...

If you’re jailbroken, that can backup anything under root of course.

antihero5y ago

1Password has built in authenticator which is obviously backed up to their cloud.

XorNot5y ago

Pretty much noone should be using any of the authenticator apps.

Get Keepass2Android, and it'll track TOTPs just fine. Throw Syncthing on their and you can securely get those to any device you own without involving Google.

demosito6665y ago

Congrats, you have just negated the second factor in 2FA by having all your keys at one place in one application.

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gdetassigny5y ago

It's a bit ironic to criticize Apple's mobile solution via an app built by its direct competitor. Google made the choice of not implementing backups for Google Authenticator, so that's really on them. I would recommend Authy for 2FA. It supports backup straight out of the box.

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