At the end of August, Microsoft announced a public preview of the Microsoft Authenticator companion app for Apple Watch. After a short few weeks of testing, the app is now officially available on Apple’s smartwatch. This means users can now leverage the convenience of the watch to approve sign-in notifications right from a wrist, without the need to grab a phone.
Looks like Microsoft Authenticator companion app is now offically available on Apple Watch. Just installed it on my watch after the app update. Pretty cool but only works with personal or school or work Microsoft Accounts at the moment. pic.twitter.com/ByztlvYakm
— Arif Bacchus (@abacjourn) September 11, 2018
Support for the Apple Watch is coming by way of a version 6.0.1 update. After updating the Authenticator app to this version, you can get started by heading to the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. From there, you can then click on the My Watch Tab and scroll to the list of available apps on the bottom to install the Authenticator companion app on your Apple Watch. Please be aware you’ll need watchOS 4.0 or iOS 11 to install the app to the watch.
From there on out, you can open the companion app on your Apple Watch and look for any accounts with a Set Up button beneath them. You must complete that setup process to approve notifications for those accounts.
As noted by Microsoft on this support page, the Apple Watch companion app currently only supports using Microsoft personal or school or work accounts with push notifications. Other accounts like Google or Facebook will still require you to open the authenticator app on your phone to view the code. That same page also gives a look at some nifty troubleshooting tips, so if you’re having issues, be sure to check it out.
Further reading: Apple, Apple Watch, iOS, Microsoft, Microsoft Authenticator
