Last week, we asked our readers if they use an app for two-factor authentication. Our question was inspired by Twitter’s recent decision to start charging users for SMS-based 2FA. After almost a week of polling, our readers have spoken. Here’s the method they use the most for two-factor authentication.
Do you use a two-factor authentication app?
Results
From the pie chart above, it’s clear that most of our readers who participated in the poll use an authenticator app. 82.2% of the 2,319 respondents said that they use some app or the other to authenticate their logins online.
Meanwhile, 12% of the voters said that they don’t use an app for two-factor authentication. 5% of the poll participants specifically said that they only rely on SMS-based two-factor authentication.
Your comments
Beardednomad: I just use Google Authenticator. It’s basic but it does everything I need it too.
MagmaFist: I do but I’m always afraid my phone might brick for whatever reason and it will be a pain in the ass to recover the account, maybe impossible. With SMS, it’s not a problem once you have a new phone or reactivate an old one.
Tennisfreak: I have to use multiple authenticator apps for my job. It’s freaking annoying.
superwolfkin: For my job for a while I had to use the MS authenticator specifically and I hated it. just let me pick one auth method and use that. My sisters have to use Duo for school because the school is stupid and they hate it. Of course they’re coming from Zero, but I would have liked to get them on a more fully featured and more flexible authenticator for their first experience.
Albin: I dislike nuisance 2FA and reject it where possible, especially as a(nother) creepy identity grab from casual online interactions. I prefer email 2FA since the phone sits on a shelf away from the PC where important transactions are mainly done, but allow SMS if and when absolutely necessary.
Bikram: I hate that most banks and financial institutions (Fidelity etc) use ONLY sms 2FA!
Rick45TX: Yubikey 5(C) NFC whenever possible. The Yubico Authenticator when not.
