Google Authenticator fixes its most annoying flaw

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Google Authenticator, the app that provides one-time codes to securely log into your accounts, is probably the only app on my phone that I use absolutely every day. It’s a must-have if you want to increase the security of your online accounts, as it makes it harder for hackers to break into them even if they somehow get a hold of your passwords.

Until now, Google Authenticator had one annoying flaw: your one-time codes were only stored on your phone, which could cause a huge number of problems if you didn’t have the backup codes. Sure, there was an option to transfer the codes to another device, but that didn’t help much in case your phone got broken or stolen (I used to get around this by always having Authenticator on two phones, but this isn’t t practical for most users).

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Now, Google Authenticator codes are stored in the cloud, which means you’ll be able to access them from any phone, as long as you’re signed in to your Google account.

“An important piece of feedback we’ve received from users over the years has been the complexity of managing lost or stolen devices that have Google Authenticator installed,” wrote Christiaan Brand, Group Product Manager at Google, in a blog post (opens in a new tab ). “With this update, we’re rolling out a fix to this issue by making one-time codes more durable by securely storing them in users’ Google Accounts.”

The keyword here is “secure,” but not everyone is going to like the idea of ​​their valuable single-use codes being stored in the cloud. The Verge (opens in a new tab) confirmed with a Google rep that syncing your account is optional, so you can continue to store your codes locally, on your phone if you like.

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To sync your Google Authenticator with your Google Account, update the app and follow the prompts to sign in to your Google Account within Authenticator. A green cloud icon will appear in the top right to indicate that your account is synced to the cloud. The new feature is present on both iOS and Android.

You’ll also notice that the authenticator now has a new logo, which is very different from the old “G which is also a vault door” logo, but more in keeping with Google’s other apps.

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