How to Add Two-Factor Authentication to Your Twitter Account
Using two-factor authentication (2FA) is a smart and simple tactic that will add a little extra data protection to your life. For those who don’t know, 2FA is the use of a secondary authentication method, such as code generator apps or Bluetooth keys, to verify your identity when you log into a website or app. There is a similar version of the technology called two-step authentication (2SA) that sends authentication codes via text message or email, but it’s not as secure as 2FA . In fact, it can be dangerous under certain circumstances .
It is also more likely to be used by companies.
Twitter is one such example. The platform previously only used 2SA via text messages, which required users to provide their phone numbers. It turns out that Twitter could “inadvertently” collect and sell some of those phone numbers to marketing companies, which means that you had to either risk someone hacking your account or transfer your personal information without any control over how it can be used.
Fortunately, Twitter now supports other 2FA methods for the web client, although we hope more 2FA support will be available on mobile apps soon. This also means that you can switch to the new 2FA method and remove your phone number from your Twitter account information.
- On Twitter, click the More tab, then go to Settings> Account.
- Click your phone number
- Click Remove Phone Number.
- You will see a popup notifying you that this will disable any SMS notifications and text message authentication (if you have it enabled). If you’re happy with that, click Yes, Delete, and yes, your phone number is no longer in your account details.
- Make sure to set up the new 2FA method if you’ve used SMS authentication before. You can create one by going to Settings> Accounts> Security> Two-Factor Authentication.