My physical Authenticator finally after years took a crapper on me, I’m low income so only cell phone I have is cheap safelink one, Which doesn’t have working internet. so is there anyway to download the app on to my PC so I can still have a code I refuse to play game without a Authenticator attached to my account.
There are no Official PC based Auth apps that Blizzard supports. The point of having the Auth as a separate device is that if your PC is compromised, they can’t get to your physical one or your phone. That at least protects your Bnet account.
If you have access to an old device that can get wireless such as a tablet or ipod that might work.
There are android emulators that can run under windows that will allow you to run the app.
Me too, but I use the authenticator on it regularly. Safelink gives you at least 500MB of data a month (their “free” offering; more data’s like a buck or two) so you shouldn’t have issues downloading it and using it regularly.
My Safelink phone is an Alcatel… like a Pixi or something from twelve years ago, it’s like 2"x4", touch screen barely qualifies as such, takes ten minutes to boot, etc. It’s worth about a buck-ninety-nine, I am sure. It won’t do much, but it works as an actual phone ( 
) as well as the authenticator - it’s all I use it for except for an occasional Google search.
My apologies in advance if I am wrong, but the authenticator only functions on wi-fi (not 4g)? I guess I’ve never shut off wi-fi on that phone since I got it, so I never realized there was a restriction (if there is one.)
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it works on both and neither, once you download and sync the app to your account you don’t even need internet access to use it if you enter codes manually rather than ‘accept the login’ if it ever unsinks will need to go online to resync it but that should be rare.
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This was going to be the only callout I wanted to make to the connection bit. Thanks Somalion!
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BlueStacks is an Android emulator for the PC. Download that, then install the Blizzard App. Works just fine.
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But 100% removes the purpose of the Authenticator.
OK, I see. Simple solution for the OP then; install it on the Safelink phone. If no data is available, free wi-fi anywhere it’s offered will suffice to get the app installed.
Yep, true, true. I’ve done that myself on occasion.
How so? No one else can use the Authenticator registered to your copy of the app unless they have access to your pec which the majority of the world won’t have.
The idea of the authenticator is that it’s an offline app or device on a separate device so that if your computer is compromised your account is not. If your computer is compromised they will have full access to your authenticator if you run it under bluestacks. The idea of 2fa is that there is two logins from two separate devices to log in.
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The point of the Auth is exactly that - to protect you if your PC is compromised. The whole point of having it separate from the PC is that it can’t be hacked that way at the same time as the PC.
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My objection was the implication that the authenticator running on your pc is useless.
It’s only as secure as your pc but it does protect you much more than having no authenticator.
Agree to disagree, it may stop some hacks of your account but it still removes it’s purpose of having your log in from two different devices (aka 2fa authentication)
I regard any security as better than no security. You ou seem to be asserting that no security is preferable to second best security,
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No. The point of the app was to protect you if your password was compromised. It also does provide the benefit of if your computer is hacked, but as someone else pointed out, that really isn’t happening. Hackers will run in, get your passwords, and leave. No one is hijacking someone’s computer for WoW.
My understanding of the OP was that he wanted something for his PC. BlueStacks will fit that.
Sure, having both the game and the Autheticator on the same device will compromise some of its security. But the odds are so incredibly small it’s nothing to be so paranoid about.
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Using an authenticator with Bluestacks is better than not having one at all…but it’s nowhere near as secure as having it on a separate device. That’s the best way to put it.
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