{"id":18830,"date":"2022-07-19T06:06:42","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T06:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/google-authenticator-ditches-a-fairly-recent-feature-it-didnt-need-anyway\/"},"modified":"2022-07-19T06:06:42","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T06:06:42","slug":"google-authenticator-ditches-a-fairly-recent-feature-it-didnt-need-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/google-authenticator-ditches-a-fairly-recent-feature-it-didnt-need-anyway\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Authenticator ditches a fairly recent feature it didn&#8217;t need anyway"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"article-body\">\n<h2 id=\"what-you-need-to-know-3\">What you need to know<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Google appears to have backtracked on a new feature it recently added to the Authenticator app.<\/li>\n<li>The app no \u200b\u200blonger requires you to tap on a hidden security code to reveal your 2FA code.<\/li>\n<li>It has also received a minor improvement as part of a new Play Store update.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Google introduced a new feature to its Authenticator app back in May, allowing users to view their security code by tapping.  While innocuous, the feature was viewed as an unnecessary addition to the app, and Google now seems to have come to that realization.<\/p>\n<p>As spotted by 9to5Google<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span>, the Google Authenticator app no \u200b\u200blonger shows a prompt asking you to tap to reveal your two-factor authentication code on the screen.  Previously, it would hide all of your security codes from immediate view.  This meant you could only see the 2FA combinations you&#8217;d need by tapping on a corresponding item.  This kept strangers from beathing down your neck and stealing your security code for nefarious purposes.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"hawk-nest\" data-render-type=\"fte\" data-skip=\"dealsy\" data-widget-type=\"seasonal\"\/>\n<p>The feature was the first major update to the app in two years.  Meanwhile, Authenticator already has a solution to address potentially unauthorized access to 2FA codes: it changes the combinations every 30 seconds.<\/p>\n<p>Following the latest update to the app (version 5.20R4), Authenticator no longer shows the tap-to-reveal-PIN option when you open it.  The disappearance suggests that Google has backtracked on the feature that the app didn&#8217;t seem to badly need in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>Google Authenticator is one of the most useful security tools available today, in addition to the best password managers.  However, updates for the app have been few and far between.<\/p>\n<p>That said, the latest version of Authenticator has added &#8220;device encryption to storage of secret values.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()\n{n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}\n;if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\nfbq('init', '1765793593738454');\nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What you need to know Google appears to have backtracked on a new feature it recently added to the Authenticator app. The app no \u200b\u200blonger requires you to tap on a hidden security code to reveal your 2FA code. It has also received a minor improvement as part of a new Play Store update. Google &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/google-authenticator-ditches-a-fairly-recent-feature-it-didnt-need-anyway\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Google Authenticator ditches a fairly recent feature it didn&#8217;t need anyway<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17506,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/google-authenticator-pulls-the-one-new-feature-its-had-in-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":18830,"position":0},"title":"Google Authenticator pulls the one new feature it&#8217;s had in years","date":"July 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A revelation becomes hidden again The Google Authenticator app is an essential security tool for many people, even as several alternatives currently exist in the market. In May this year, Google introduced the relatively minor \"Click to reveal PIN\" feature, which hides all two-factor authentication codes from view, allowing users\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16912,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/google-authenticator-on-android-removes-click-to-reveal\/","url_meta":{"origin":18830,"position":1},"title":"Google Authenticator on Android removes &#8216;Click to reveal&#8217;","date":"July 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"At the end of May, Google Authenticator received its first update in a year that hid your 2FA codes until you clicked to reveal them. An update to Authenticator this week sees Google backtrack on that feature. Version 5.20R4 of Google Authenticator removes the \u201cClick to reveal PIN\u201d feature so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9616,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/how-safe-is-two-factor-authentication-exactly-review-geek\/","url_meta":{"origin":18830,"position":2},"title":"How Safe Is Two Factor Authentication Exactly?  \u2013 Review Geek","date":"July 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"BestForBest\/Shutterstock.com Two-factor authentication (2FA) is becoming mandatory on many websites, and it's easy to see why. On the face of it, requiring you to confirm your login via SMS or an app provides a solid second layer of security. But just how strong is it? With security threats on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"A phone next to a tablet requesting a 2FA code","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.reviewgeek.com\/p\/uploads\/2022\/06\/ba14864d.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/txoZRek7ssriEZBUX5zKyn-1200-80.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18830\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}