Aegis Authenticator vs Google Authenticator Comparison

The secrets live in a vault file on the phone. The app has no internet permission and no account, so there is no copy with the developers. Setup offers a password by default; choosing no password leaves the vault unencrypted on the phone.

Signed in to a Google Account, the app copies your secrets to that account, where Google says it encrypts them in transit and at rest. Choosing Use without an account keeps the codes only on the phone. There is no option to encrypt the synced copy with a password or key of your own, so Google can technically decrypt it.

Automatic backups are off until you switch them on and pick a folder, which can belong to a cloud app on the phone. Android's own cloud backup can also include the vault after you switch it on. Both work only with a password-protected vault and use your password or a separate backup password. Android's direct phone-to-phone transfer is always allowed to include the vault.

The only backup is the copy in your Google Account. Without an account, the app makes no backup file; codes can only be moved by scanning transfer QR codes from the old phone.

There is no account and no sign-up; the app works fully offline.

A Google Account is needed only for syncing. The app works without one, and Google's help page describes how to use it that way from the first launch.

The Google Play listing gives Beem Development's contact address in Dordrecht, Netherlands. The app has no servers and holds no user data with the developers, so the jurisdiction matters little for the secrets themselves.

The app is published by Google LLC, a Delaware company based in Mountain View, California. Google's terms are governed by California law unless local law requires otherwise; Google says that for most services the provider is either Google LLC, operating under US law, or Google Ireland Limited, operating under Irish law.

Beem Development is the developer name on Google Play, F-Droid and the website. Most of the code on GitHub comes from two developers, and the project is funded by donations; no company registration is named on the project's pages.

Google LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., whose shares trade on Nasdaq. Google released Authenticator in 2010 and added Google Account sync in April 2023.

The README and F-Droid link a donation page; there is no paid version.

The app has no revenue of its own; Google pays for its development as part of its account-security products.