How to Remove Account from Authenticator After Employment Separation

Question

How to Remove Account from Authenticator After Employment Separation

Robyn 0

Hello,

I am unable to remove an account from my Authenticator app after separating from my last employer. I have already completed the following steps:

Removed the account from my Outlook and Teams apps.
Removed the account from my Android settings.
Cleared cache and cookies from the app. Cannot remove all data as I still require other accounts to remain active.
Contacted the employer. They are not helpful.

Current State:

Cloud Backup is off.
The account is showing in the Authenticator app as "Action Required - Set up phone sign-in to finish recovering this account"
Selecting Settings and "Remove Account" sends me to an browser, prompting me to log in, which I obviously cannot do.

How do I get connected with someone at Microsoft who can manually remove this account?

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1 answer

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Answer 1

The account tile in Microsoft Authenticator is managed by the account’s identity provider (your former employer’s Microsoft Entra tenant). When the tenant still has the device or method registered, Authenticator will keep trying to complete setup and will redirect to sign-in instead of removing cleanly.

There is no Microsoft support path to manually remove a work/school account from Authenticator for an end user; only the organization (tenant admin) can unregister that device/method. However, the inactive or “Action required” tile can be safely ignored, and there are only two practical ways to fully clear it:

Remove just that account (if the tenant allows it)
In some cases, removing the account from Authenticator succeeds only after the tenant has forgotten the device. Since the former employer is not helping, this path is effectively blocked.
Clear all Authenticator data on the device
This is the only guaranteed way to remove a stubborn work/school tile when the tenant won’t unregister it:
- On Android:
  1. Open the device Settings app and select Apps.
  2. Select Authenticator in the app list.
  3. Select Storage or Storage & cache.
  4. Tap Clear data, then OK.
- On iOS (for completeness):
  1. Open the device Settings app.
  2. Select General > Storage.
  3. Select Authenticator in the app list.
  4. Tap Offload App.
Important:
- There is no undo. All accounts in Authenticator will be removed, and the device will no longer be usable for sign-in verification until each needed account is re-added.
- Before clearing data, back up and/or ensure alternate MFA methods exist for other accounts, then re-add them after the reset using their normal setup or recovery paths.

Because Microsoft support cannot override an employer’s tenant configuration for a work/school account, and the employer is not cooperating, clearing Authenticator’s data and then re-adding only the desired personal/work accounts is the only supported way to completely remove that stuck tile from the app on the device.

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