Third-party accounts remain visible in Watchtower after setting up two-factor authentication

wimbre61

Hi all,

I have set up two-factor authentication (using Authenticator) at a number of websites listed in Watchtower.

But those websites are still listed in Watchtower.

In 1Password it says "Scan QR code but when I click on it I get the message "Failed to detect QR code".

What I did was open the sites via 1Password (on my mac), set up two-factor authentication for security on those sites, scan the barcode on my iPhone with the Authenticator app and then enter the code generated via the Authenticator app on the site.

How do I solve this?

The work around is to open the site (with 1Password) on the Mac and IPhone and scan the QR code (on the Mac) with my iPhone and save the changes. After logging out and in, the site in question is no longer visible in Watchtower.

Perhaps this is the correct way to get it done :-)

1Password Version: 1Password for Mac 8.9.10
Extension Version: 2.4.1
OS Version: macOS 13.01
Browser:_ Safari

Dave_1P

Hello @wimbre61! 👋

I'm sorry that you're having trouble using 1Password to save your two-factor authentication one-time passwords. When you see the error "Failed to detect QR code" can you tell me if you see this on your iPhone or on your Mac? And do you see the error in the 1Password app or the 1Password browser extension?

scan the barcode on my iPhone with the Authenticator app

When you say "Authenticator app" do you mean the 1Password app on your iPhone or another authenticator app made by another developer?

-Dave

Tertius3

@wimbre61 Whether 1Password lists a website in Watchower for mfa or not depends on the mfa code being saved in 1Password. If you scanned the QR code within 1Password (no matter if desktop app, mobile app or browser plugin), 1Password is satisfied. If you scan the QR code with a 3rd party app, for example a 3rd party external authenticator app, 1Password doesn't know about this and still lists the website in Watchtower.

What I do is this: I do scan every QR code twice. First with Microsoft authenticator, and then the same code again with 1Password. This way I have it in 2 independent places as a kind of backup. Although having it in 1Password only is sufficient: it acts a authenticator app and will generate the same code. It will also offer autofill of the mfa code, so you don't need to enter the code manually.

Dave_1P

@Tertius3

Thank you for the additional advice! I'll also add that, if you are using another authenticator app to store all of your one-time passwords, you can dismiss 1Password's two-factor authentication banner by clicking on the Ignore button in the banner:

-Dave