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Scott2000's avatar
Scott2000
Copper Contributor
Jan 09, 2025

Authenticator not displaying numbers on MacOS

I'm have an issue with MFA on a Mac (all the latest versions).

We have conditional access policies in place, so once a day I'm prompted for MFA (I work off-site) and the Office app (e.g. Outlook, Teams) will create the pop-up window that 'should' display a number that I then match on my phone.

My phone see's the push notification, but the Mac never creates the numbers in the first place. The pop-up is there, just no number.

The workaround is:

  • Answer 'its not me' on the phone
  • On the Mac, select 'I can't use Authenticator right now'
  • Tell the Mac to send a new request
  • This time it creates the number and I can authenticate on the phone.

It only appears to happen for the installed Office applications i.e. if I'm accessing applications/admin-centre via the browser, then the pop-up is within the browser and everything works first time.

Is this a known issue?

  • Justice4All's avatar
    Justice4All
    Copper Contributor

    I am experiencing the same issue. except it is across all apps covered by a CA policy, and only on MAC's so far support has not been great and the answer I got was too many Policys for MFA when that is not the case in our environment. the biggest issues is the problem is intermittent and difficult to track down. I hope someone can find a solution soon 

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