Beyond offering its own added layer of security in enabling SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) for its users, Twitter is now granting support for useful third-party authentication apps such as Google Authenticator and Authy.
First revealed by Android Police citing a Twitter developer from months ago, the social microblogging giant enabled support for third-party authentication apps months ago but withheld from announcing it publicly.
Before enabling third-party 2FA support, millions of Twitter users had to rely on Twitter’s built-in 2FA tool that sent codes via SMS. While undoubtedly securing an account further, SMS-based login codes can be tiresome and frustrating if they don’t arrive quickly enough and the feature isn’t always too user-friendly. Authentication apps solve these concerns by adding one-time expiring codes for a multitude of services used by the user, all of which are available at a glance in a single app.
To enable two-factor authentication, proceed to download a trusted app like Google Authenticator to setup your account with the service on your device. Next, head to Settings in Twitter and look for the ‘Security’ tab. Here, check the box that says ‘Verify login requests’ and enter the verification code sent to you via SMS. Click the button labeled ‘Setup a code generator app’ and wait for instructions and the bar code to pop up. Use your 2FA app, Google Authenticator in this scenario, to scan the bar code.
Now, you’ll see a rotating 6-digit code labeled Twitter in your 2FA app. The next time you launch Twitter, you’ll be prompted to enter this code.
Twitter enables its additional 2FA feature less than a month after competitor and photo-blogging service Instagram announced the roll-out of its 2FA feature for all of its users. Last year, e-commerce retailing giant Amazon enabled two-factor authentication, a long overdue move.
Image credit: Pixabay.
