De rigueur simple security to foil the Black Hats of the world? Or incredible PitA hassle that might lock you out of your equipment? The security people all say to do it, and I've seen a number of people recommend it highly. The comments on this article (which is very positive on the tool) paint a picture of possible problems — but it's also not clear how much of that is the type of smartphone user they are.
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No excuses: It's time to turn on two-step authentication | Android Central
Your Google account holds email, apps, music, books, documents, cloud storage, credit cards and more. It’s time to protect that stuff with more than a simple password.
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So, in order to get "greater security," I also have to give Google my phone number?
If you don't want to, I don't think it's obligatory, but it reduces the flexibility in notifying you of the authentication codes, and in helping resolve a problem.
I've been using it for years.
I just find it somewhat ironic that in order to protect myself from the complication of "cloud computing" I need to get more entangled. I don't list my phone number and birthdate and address and crosslink these services to start. Of course, as another article you linked to, my having a virtually silent Facebook will probably penalize me in the future, too. [grinning]
I see what you're saying +Meera Barry — it's largely a matter of communication, not entanglement, but it is ironic.
So, +Chris Ruhs, I assume no major traumas with it?
I've used it for about a year — since I got my Droid 3. Seems to work pretty OK for the most part, though the periodic txts to my phone to verify my access can be be very slightly annoying since they never come from the same number.
Also, weirdly, I can't get the service to work with Picasa. I constantly get an authentication error on the phone even though I've cut and paste in the password string from the generator (and erased the account info and retried repeated times). Yet, while it might bark at me when I try to manually upload a photo ("User Authentication Error"), it will, in its own sweet time end up uploading them on its own.
+Dave Hill
Works like a dream, but I had to figure it all out on the front end, which took a while, so there's probably a learning curve.
I use the Authenticator app, and have back-up codes set to send to my wife's phone if I ever need them. I could basically give you my login credentials and you still couldn't access any of my content, unless I gave you my phone, logged you in, and told you where to find the app.
And even then, I can go to another website and have my phone remote wiped…
Which sounds pretty darned secure.
+Dave Hill
I doubt it's fool proof, but it's a little better than logging in at a public terminal and then walking away.
What. You make that sound like its a bad thing… 😉