Final month, Twitter introduced that it will begin charging a payment for the usage of SMS messages for two-factor authentication. That change is about to formally go into impact tomorrow, March 20, making at this time the final day to maneuver away from SMS two-factor authentication.
Twitter’s new 2FA insurance policies
Beginning tomorrow, Twitter will fully disable two-factor authentication on accounts that use 2FA through textual content messages, however don’t pay for Twitter Blue. Because of this a complete bunch of accounts are about to grow to be much less safe tomorrow, until customers proactively change to a different technique of 2FA (or pay $8 per 30 days for Twitter Blue).
Non-Twitter Blue subscribers which can be already enrolled may have 30 days to disable this technique and enroll in one other. After 20 March 2023, we’ll not allow non-Twitter Blue subscribers to make use of textual content messages as a 2FA technique. At the moment, accounts with textual content message 2FA nonetheless enabled may have it disabled.
When you depend on textual content messages for two-factor authentication through Twitter, you’ve gotten three choices:
- Do nothing: Twitter will routinely disable two-factor in your account tomorrow.
- Swap to a different type of two-factor authentication, utilizing an app/service like iCloud Keychain, 1Password, Google Authenticator, or Authy.
- Join Twitter Blue for $8/month.
Our suggestion is to proceed with the second possibility listed above. Whereas it’s irritating that Twitter is ditching SMS two-factor authentication, the truth is that utilizing a devoted authenticator app is much safer in any case. These apps generate a rotating two-factor authentication code, which you’ll enter anytime you log into Twitter on a brand new machine.
To alter your Twitter two-factor authentication settings, head to your account particulars within the Twitter app or on Twitter’s web site and search for the “Safety and Account Entry” menu. Right here, you possibly can handle your two-factor authentication settings and change to an authentication app.
One of the best two-factor apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac
Our colleagues over at 9to5Google have a deeper dive into tips on how to use Google Authenticator for securing your Twitter account. My private suggestion, nonetheless, is to make use of one thing like iCloud Keychain or 1Password, each of which provide higher cross-device syncing than Google Authenticator does.
Observe Probability: Twitter, Instagram, and Mastodon
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