Turn Off Microsoft Authenticator App in Microsoft 365

Have you ever seen the message ” Approve sign in request” while logging into your Microsoft account? You will receive the notification as: Open your Authenticator app, and enter the number shown to sign in.

This is because, at your organization, authenticator approval sign-in is enabled for all users or for a specific user. You can disable this authentication access from the Microsoft 365 admin center.

I have explained here how to disable the authenticator approval sign-in for a specific user and for all users in an organization while logging into a Microsoft account.

Disable Microsoft Authenticator in Microsoft 365 Admin Center

When you disable Microsoft Authenticator access, you turn off its functionality to send a verification code to the mobile app.

Note:

You need Global Administrator Permission to turn off the Authenticator access.

To disable Microsoft Authenticator approval sign-in for a single user, follow option 1. Follow options 2 and 3 to disable the authenticator access for all users in an organization.

Option 1: Disable Authenticator Approval Sign-In for a Specific User

Let me show you how to disable it first for a specific user, and then for all users in the organization.

Follow the steps below:

1. Open the Microsoft 365 admin center.
2. On the left navigation, click on the drop-down of Users -> Select Active users.

3. Select a specific user in the “Active users” window and click on the “Multi-factor authentication” option as shown in the screenshot below.

4. This will redirect to the “Per-user multifactor authentication” window of the Microsoft Entra admin center. Now, select the user and click on the Disable MFA option. Here is the screenshot for your reference.

5. After that, it will display a notification that Multi-factor authentication has been disabled successfully.

This is how to disable the Microsoft authentication approval sign-in access for a single user.

Now, let me explain how to disable the authenticator app for all users in an organization.

Below are the two options for disabling the authenticator app for all users in an organization.

Check out Grant user access to SharePoint site office 365

Option 2: Using the Properties Option

Below are the steps to disable the mandatory Microsoft Authenticator app for all users in an organization:

1. Select Microsoft Entra admin center from the Microsoft 365 admin center.

2. On the Home page -> click on the “Properties” option. This will open the Properties panel, which displays all available properties.

3. Under Security defaults at the bottom, click on the Manage security defaults link.

4. On the Security defaults pane, select the option from Enabled to Disabled.

Check out Display Office 365 User Profile Properties in PowerApps

Option 3: Using Authentication Methods Option

After following the above steps, if the issue persists, check the Protection policies in the Microsoft Entra admin center.

Below are the steps to follow:

1. Go to the Microsoft Entra admin center. Then, on the left navigation, open the Protection drop-down menu. This will open all the security options. Select Authentication methods.

2. From the Authentication Methods window, click on Settings.

3. Then, under System-preferred multifactor authentication settings, choose the Disable option. Click on the Save button. Then, the changes will be saved successfully.

4. Now, you can try signing in to your Microsoft 365 account; it won’t ask for the Microsoft Authenticator request code. It will directly log in to your account with the password you provided.

In this article, I have shown you how to disable Microsoft Authenticator approval sign-in request access for a single user and for all users in an organization. However, this is a good security policy provided by Microsoft.

I hope you found this article helpful and understandable. Please also let us know your suggestions in the comments section.

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Bijay Kumar

After working for more than 18 years in Microsoft technologies like SharePoint, Microsoft 365, and Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI), I thought will share my SharePoint expertise knowledge with the world. Our audiences are from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, etc. For my expertise knowledge and SharePoint tutorials, Microsoft has been awarded a Microsoft SharePoint MVP (12 times). I have also worked in companies like HP, TCS, KPIT, etc.