Signing in with passkey in Microsoft Authenticator gets stuck in “Connecting…”

Karolina Johansson (External) 0 Reputation points
2026-05-29T05:15:57.63+00:00

A couple of weeks ago I started noticing problems with the Authenticator app.

The most disrupting issue is that signing in with the passkey I have stored in the app isn’t working anymore. This passkey is used for a specific account in a tenant and is not my usual work account.

It gets stuck in “Connecting…” and never continues to for instance Face ID check.

The app is the latest version, I have the latest iOS, both iPhone and laptop are updated to the latest versions.

I also tried removing the passkey and created a new one. It hasn’t helped.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Subscription, account, billing | For business | MacOS
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Karolina Johansson (External) 0 Reputation points
2026-06-05T08:05:06.3666667+00:00

Hi @Anonymous
I installed a software update today on my Mac. The update appeared two days ago, from 26.5 to 26.5.1. And now it works signing in with the Passkey and Authenticator. Seems like there was an issue in the Mac software that was causing the issue.

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  1. AI answer

    2026-05-29T05:16:19.7766667+00:00

    The behavior matches known issues where passkey registration or attestation in Microsoft Authenticator fails or becomes invalid, causing sign-in to hang or never reach Face ID.

    Use the following steps for the affected account/tenant on iOS:

    1. Remove the existing passkey from Authenticator
      • Open Microsoft Authenticator.
      • Tap the account name for the affected tenant.
      • Tap Settings > Delete passkey.
    2. Remove the passkey from Security info
      • After deleting in Authenticator, go to Security info for that account.
      • If the passkey is still listed, select Delete to remove it.
    3. Re-register the passkey
      • From the same account, follow the tenant’s instructions to register a new passkey in Authenticator.
      • If registration fails with an error like “passkey already exists,” delete any locally stored passkey in Authenticator again and retry registration. This situation can occur if the passkey was stored locally in the app but never successfully registered on the authentication server (for example, due to a timeout or provider not being permitted).
    4. Retry sign-in with the new passkey
      • Start a new sign-in flow for that specific tenant account.
      • When prompted, choose to sign in with the new passkey in Authenticator and complete Face ID.

    If the issue persists only for this tenant/account while others work, it can indicate a tenant configuration or attestation issue (for example, attestation or passkey provider not permitted). In that case, the tenant administrator should review their passkey configuration using the Microsoft Entra ID guidance for enabling and supporting passkeys in Authenticator.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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  2. Anonymous
    2026-05-29T06:30:04.0733333+00:00

    Hi Karolina Johansson (External)

    Since recreating the passkey and reinstalling the Authenticator app didn’t resolve the issue, you can try to reset your authentication methods (MFA registration).

    An admin can reset MFA settings by following this article: Manage authentication methods for Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication - Microsoft Entra ID | Microsoft Learn

    After the reset, these users can:

    • Sign back in to your account
    • Re-register Microsoft Authenticator
    • Recreate the passkey

    If you are not admin, you can contact your organization's IT administrator and request a reset of your MFA settings.

    (Please understand that we're not Microsoft support, this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators have no backend access and cannot directly intervene in Microsoft products. We provide only technical guidance and best-practice recommendations based on reported issues)

    I hope this information helps and if you have any question, please feel free to ask!

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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