14 DAY TRIAL // As per the original announcement, Microsoft has officially killed the Microsoft Authenticator app for the Apple Watch, with the company now telling users to just remove the app from their smartwatches.
Microsoft Authenticator is a great app, especially following the most recent updates that allow you to manage all your accounts, and with the Apple Watch version, you were able to approve logins right from the wrist.
However, its usage has probably been very low, so the software giant didn’t see any reason to keep supporting it. As such, the most recent update for the iOS version of the app drops support for the Apple Watch.
“This update removes Microsoft Authenticator from Apple Watch. In your Apple Watch notification settings, you can still choose to mirror iPhone alerts from Authenticator to your Apple Watch,” the changelog posted on the App Store reads.
Prior to this new update, Microsoft said the reason it decided to kill off the Apple Watch app was that the latest Apple updates make the app incompatible with its security features. This is the reason the software giant told everybody to just delete the app, emphasizing it has no future anyway.
“In the upcoming Authenticator release in January 2023 for iOS, there will be no companion app for watchOS due to it being incompatible with Authenticator security features. This means you won't be able to install or use Authenticator on Apple Watch. We therefore recommend that you delete Authenticator from your Apple Watch. This change only impacts Apple Watch, so you will still be able to use Authenticator on your other devices,” the company said.
Needless to say, with the Apple Watch app now gone, the only option for those who are still trying to get login requests on the wrist is to follow Microsoft’s advice and mirror the notifications to the smartwatch.