Serious defect in Microsoft Authenticator App for iOS

Question

iOS 16.6.1

App 6.8.14

The Microsoft Authenticator App for iOS is crashing/hanging/freezing/not working when entering/starting the app by clicking it's icon--normal app start. One would use the app this way to e.g. check what accounts are registered, check/change settings and--most importantly--add an account. Let's call these 'normal app activities', we need this definition later.

For most users the hanging/freezing occurs after Face ID, on a screen stating 'Authenticator locked, unlock'. Important; the hanging/freezing has nothing to do with Face ID unlocking. If one where to change the app settings so Face ID unlocking isn't needed (every time), the screen following app start would be the account list overview screen. Then that screen would be the hanging/freezing one.

The only feature of this app that works is the 'notification popup/dialog' i.e. a notification is received and the user can answer. That is, any answer, approve, deny, etc., after this the dialog disappears AND NOW NOTICE the app works.

So the ONLY way to use the 'normal app activities' is after the app has been entered/started from a notification. We could call this the work-around.

Important thing to be aware of; once the app has frozen, it really has crashed. One needs to force-end the app, otherwise notifications don't work either.

This is a serious defect in an app that is in a critical path. We all have critical Office 365 and Azure resources that need authenticating. Seeing the big push for passwordless and mandatory MFA, the need for a stable/flawless/trusty Authenticator App becomes paramount.

FYI the Android App works, i.e. doesn't have this hanging/crashing behavior.

I've seen other support questions on this topic. In there advise that (blindly) relies on backup & restore functionality. As in; make sure backup is enabled, uninstall app incl. data, install app again and see your data (all your registered account) magically reappear. NO, this doesn't work. My experience was; it restored only two work school accounts, but they didn't work no longer. I had a bunch of other federated accounts, personal accounts, none where restored.

FYI the last time I did any mobile development was in prehistoric times ;) so I don't know if still relevant, but at that time 'entering' an mobile app was a thing. Entering by normal start and entering through a notification were distinct phenomena. Don't know if this is still the case, but it might provide guidance while searching for the bug.

Questions:

Is there a way to work with the app in a normal way without work-arounds?

Is the development team aware of the problems?

Is a solution in the making? (An update, a new app, something else.)

PS

Redirected from https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_other-msoffice_unknown-mso_unsupported/serious-defect-in-microsoft-authenticator-app-for/3bee84af-f5af-42a6-9039-f20837989b4e?messageId=c6fe752d-1a2f-4cee-9bf1-fdbc7144a220

While browsing this forum I became aware of this related question https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1519046/authenticator-app-is-locked-on-iphone . That's half a year ago. Is there any urgency to this problem/bug? October 15th 2024 MFA will be mandatory. If the iOS App is unreliable, are we than back to email & text (SMS) messages? Please fix this (and regain trust).