Authenticator

Question

Hello, my Authenticator app on my iPad does not receive notifications for sign in attempts when made on the same device. For example, I try to login on edge and a push notification is sent to Authenticator. I check my Authenticator app and click my account, and do not see any attempts. Notifications are on and the account information is correct.

Answer 1

Hello Hunt, Ryan,

Greetings! Thanks for raising this question in the Q&A forum.

Signing in on the same iPad that has the Authenticator app installed is actually the most common trigger for this specific symptom. When Edge and Authenticator are on the same device, push delivery, background app refresh, and notification handling can interfere with each other in ways that don't happen when the sign-in request comes from a separate computer or phone. The core steps below cover the usual causes in order of likelihood.

1. Test from a separate device first to confirm the pattern

Try signing in on a different computer or phone while checking Authenticator on the iPad. If the notification arrives fine in that case, this confirms it's specifically a same-device delivery issue rather than a broken account or app installation, which narrows the fix considerably.

2. Check iOS notification settings for Authenticator specifically

Go to Settings > Notifications > Microsoft Authenticator on the iPad and confirm:

• Allow Notifications is on
• Notification style is set to Banners or Alerts, not just Badges
• Time Sensitive Notifications is allowed if that toggle is present

3. Check Background App Refresh

Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and make sure it's enabled both globally and for Microsoft Authenticator. If this is off, iOS can suspend the app's ability to receive push data even when notification permissions look correct.

4. Confirm Focus/Do Not Disturb is not silently filtering it

Check Settings > Focus to make sure no Focus mode is active that could be blocking notifications from Authenticator specifically, even if it appears off on the lock screen.

5. Pull to refresh inside the app as a manual check

Open Authenticator, go to the account, and pull down to refresh. If a pending sign-in request appears this way but never triggered a banner notification, this confirms the request is reaching the app but the OS is not surfacing the alert, which points back to steps 2 through 4 rather than a server-side delivery problem.

6. Remove and re-add the account

If the above doesn't resolve it, remove the affected account from Authenticator, then add it back, making sure to allow notifications when prompted during setup. This clears any stale push token registration, which is a common cause of intermittent delivery.

7. Update the app and restart the device

Confirm Authenticator is on the latest version from the App Store, then fully restart the iPad. This clears any stuck background process holding an old push token.

8. Use the in-app code as a fallback while troubleshooting

While working through the above, you can complete sign-in by opening Authenticator, selecting the account, and entering the numeric code shown in the app directly, without needing the push notification to arrive.

If none of these resolve it, this may need Microsoft support, since same-device push delivery failures like this occasionally trace back to a token registration issue that only backend investigation can confirm.

If this answer helps you kindly accept the answer which will help others who have similar questions.

Best Regards,

Jerald Felix.