By far the best UX... for adding a token, which happens about 100x less frequently than using one.
Google Authenticator gets to a valid token in about 2 seconds on my iPhone 6. Authy takes > 12 seconds, and is frozen - no spinner, no nothing - until that point.
Interesting, I have not encountered that while using Authy on my phone (Android, Galaxy S5). I think that Authy has the best UX overall, especially when looking up a 2FA code, but generally because:
- The overall design (color scheme, shapes, etc) is much more pleasant and friendly
- each entry has a helpful provider icon, which makes it significantly easier to visually search the list and identify the correct provider. You can also manually change the icon (from a small list) if the one auto assigned is not correct. FreeOTP just shows a blue square icon for every single entry in the list.
- after finding the correct account by scrolling through the list, you need to click on the account to show the 2FA code. I reallly like this (compared to Google Authenticator) because the only digits shown on the screen while I am manually entering it into the browser are the digits that I care about. I cannot tell you how many times I've used GA in the past and accidentally typed the 3 final digits from the incorrect row above or below and need to backspace and correct in the browser. Silly, but incredibly annoying. FreeOTP gets this UX right too.
- when adding a duplicate entry in FreeOTP (scanning a QR code for a service and account combo that is already in FreeOTP), it silently fails to correctly update the 2FA secret (it just does nothing). This happens anytime I rotate my 2FA secret on a website. Authy and GA handle this scenario better. Authy create a duplicate entry with the same name and GA overwrites the existing entry.
- though I don't use it myself, Authy can show either a list of entries (one per row), or a grid of entries. Some users will likely prefer one display over the other. FreeOTP only has a list view option.
- I don't use Authy cloud backup myself, but that is one main reason that many people choose to use Authy. FreeOTP does not have any backup options that I am aware of.
- When deleting a 2FA entry, Authy immediately removes the 2FA entry from your home screen list view, but gives you a 48 hour grace period before it actually deletes the entry from your phone. This significantly reduces anxiety when rotating 2FA secrets and generally gives me warm fuzzies in case I screw something up accidentally.
Authy has some of its own warts for sure, but I personally find it to be the best of the mobile apps I've tried by far.
Google Authenticator gets to a valid token in about 2 seconds on my iPhone 6. Authy takes > 12 seconds, and is frozen - no spinner, no nothing - until that point.