Winfrasoft Support

Syncing Autothenticator across devices (Pro and Business)

Autothenticator · Updated 18 October 2026

How it works

  • The relay: sync goes through Winfrasoft's sync service at eu.sync.autothenticator.com. It stores and forwards encrypted data, and holds no key that opens it. It's end-to-end encrypted.
  • Speed: changes reach other devices within seconds. Browsers keep a connection open; phones get an empty "wake up" push and then fetch the changes.
  • Edits: each account is its own encrypted item. Edits to different accounts on two devices both survive. For the same account, the latest edit wins.
  • HOTP accounts keep the highest counter seen on any device. Using one HOTP account on several devices can still put it out of step: the app warns about this.
  • Recently deleted: with sync, a deleted account can be brought back within 30 days.
  • History: the service keeps each account's previous 20 versions for 30 days, so damage from a faulty device can be undone.
  • Size limit: up to 5,000 accounts per vault.

Signing in

  • Sign-in is on the Winfrasoft website, portal.autothenticator.com. The apps never show a sign-in form: they open a browser tab.
  • We keep no passwords. People sign in with an account they already have:
    • personal: Microsoft (personal, work or school), Google, Apple, Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, GitHub, Discord or Amazon;
    • organisations: their own identity provider: Microsoft Entra ID, Google Workspace, Okta, Ping, Twin Verify, OneLogin, JumpCloud, Auth0, Amazon Cognito, Cisco Duo, Keycloak, or any other OpenID Connect provider. SAML-only providers aren't supported.
  • An account can have several sign-ins (say Google and Microsoft), so losing one never loses the account.
    • Adding or removing one needs a sign-in within the last 10 minutes.
    • The last one can't be removed.
    • The account's email address is told whenever one is added or removed.
  • An account is its sign-ins, not an email address. Two sign-ins with the same email address are two different accounts until the person links them. A provider that lets someone claim an address they don't own can't reach another account.
  • Signing in doesn't unlock anything. It lets a device ask to join; only one of the person's own devices (or the recovery kit) can let it in.

Adding a device

  1. Sign in on the new device (it opens the website).
  2. Every other device asks, for example "Add Chrome on Windows?".
  3. The new device shows a 6-digit code. On any one of the other devices, tap the notice and type the code in (or scan the QR code beside it).
  4. The code sets up a private channel between the two devices through the relay. The vault key goes across encrypted, so the relay can't read it or slip in a device of its own.
  5. The new device sets up its own unlock (biometrics or Windows Hello), and syncs.

Details:

  • The code is valid for 10 minutes and one use. Three wrong tries cancel the request.
  • A waiting device that isn't approved within 24 hours is dropped.
  • No other device to hand? Use the recovery kit instead of a code.
  • The device list is signed by the person's own devices, so Winfrasoft can't add a device, even if its servers were compromised.

Removing a device

  • Where: from any other device, or from the website.
  • The removed device is cut off from sync at once.
  • The vault key is replaced by the next unlocked device. The removed device keeps what it already had, but gets nothing new, even from a copy of the server's data.
  • Quiet devices: a device that hasn't synced for 90 days is pointed out ("hasn't synced since …"), with a one-tap Remove it. Nothing is removed automatically, because a tablet in a drawer looks the same as a lost one.
  • Uninstalling or wiping a phone doesn't remove it from the device list. Remove it yourself.
  • A removed device keeps its codes, and can join again as a new device.

Joining several free devices

Free users often have separate vaults on a browser and a phone. When they turn on sync:

  • The first device creates the synced vault.
  • Each other device joins with a code, and merges its accounts in:
    • the same account (same secret) on both becomes one, with all its bindings combined;
    • a new account is simply added;
    • a possible duplicate (same name, different secret) is kept twice and flagged. That usually means 2FA was set up twice, and the service now accepts only the newer code. The app shows both codes with the dates they were added and asks which one the site accepts.
  • The old local vault is kept for 30 days, so the merge can be undone.

Merging two synced accounts isn't automatic: export one and import it into the other.

Where the data is

  • Region: everything is in the EU: Azure West Europe (Netherlands), with failover to North Europe (Ireland).
  • The two services are separate:
    • the portal (the website and sign-in) knows the email address and the sign-ins;
    • the relay (sync) knows only a random account id and encrypted data.
    • They share no database. A breach of one doesn't give the other's data.