Hardware · 2018-08-28

Sign in to your Microsoft account with flick of your wrist

This article was 1st published on our sister Site, Digital World Native.
Microsoft today announced the public preview of the Microsoft Authenticator companion app for Apple Watch. It plans to release this Apple Watch app to general public within the next few weeks.

With this, users can now approve sign-in notifications requiring PIN or biometric on their Watch. Also, the app supports Microsoft personal, work & school accounts that are set up with push notifications. Consequently, all supported accounts will automatically sync to the Watch, it stated.

Test Drive the Apple Watch app
For the trial, the users will have to upgrade to Microsoft Authenticator v. 6.0.0+ on their phone when it becomes accessible. Else, for now they can sign up to become a Microsoft Authenticator TestFlight user here.

After the upgrade, there’s a 3-step process to approve sign-in requests:

  1. Make sure the phone & Watch are paired.
  2. Open the Microsoft Authenticator app on the Watch.
  3. Under the account title, tap the Set up button. If there’s no Set up button next to the account, no action is required.

Once done, you can easily approve sign-ins to your account from your wrist.
However, there’s still a two-step verification for security reasons. The 1st being your possession of the Watch. The 2nd factor is the PIN that you will know. Moreover, when you put the Watch on in the morning, you will need to unlock it.

But if you haven’t removed it from your wrist & it’s within range of your phone, it will stay unlocked & you do not need to provide the PIN again.

For any queries, you can visit Microsoft Authenticator app FAQ page.

Image credit: MS Blog

 

Click here to opt-out of Google Analytics