Tools: I Built A Native Macos Authenticator App Because I Was Tired Of...

You're working on your Mac, logging into a service, and then — "Enter your verification code." You stop. You reach for your phone. You unlock it. You open the authenticator app. You squint at tiny digits. You type them in before the timer runs out. If you're lucky, you make it. If not, you wait for the next code and do it again.

I got tired of this, so I built Mactokio (Mac + Token + I/O) — a free, open-source authenticator that lives right on your Mac.

Mactokio is a lightweight authenticator app built natively for macOS. It generates the same verification codes as Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator — but directly on your desktop. No phone needed.

Free. Open source. Offline. Your secrets never leave your Mac. No cloud. No account. No subscription.

Mactokio is the third option: your codes, on your Mac, encrypted on your disk, and nowhere else.

Let's talk about the elephant in the room. How do you actually move your authenticator accounts from your phone to your Mac?

Think about what just happened. That screenshot — containing the master keys to all your accounts — is now:

You just took the most sensitive data you own and scattered copies of it across the internet. The very act of transferring your secrets has created a bigger security risk than not having two-factor authentication at all.

Mactokio eliminates this entire problem. Instead of transferring a file, you simply hold your phone up to your Mac's webcam.

No screenshot. No file transfer. No email. No messaging app. No cloud.

Source: Dev.to