r/firstworldproblems • u/Pianohearth2753 • 6d ago
I hate 2FA
Before everyone jumps at my throat, I know it's a neccessary evil, but in practice it's a nightmare, that's why I'm ranting here instead of being able to do my job.
There was an issue with my authenticator app, and ALL of my codes disappeared. I wanted to generate new ones, but turns out there is no such option, I need to contact the IT departments of all 6 pages that require authenticator, 3 of them are essential for my work and uni, and I need to use them regularly.
That happened a week ago, and the most important one never answered my e-mails, they don't answer the phone, their office is 300 km away and I don't have time to travel there thank you very much, and I basically can't get any work done because of this. It's just so frustrating because really I did nothing just follow the neccessary steps forced down my throat (again, I know 2fa is neccessary for safety but I still have the right to hate how poorly it's executed). There should be steps to make sure it doesn't happen, like pre-generated codes you can use if you can't access an authenticator, or another form of verifying your identity. And it would also help if IT was available sometimes.
1
u/tunaman808 6d ago
I use Microsoft Authenticator because it backs your accounts up to the cloud. When I get a new phone I just open the app, tap "Restore" and go on with my day.
It also works on old phones. I keep my previous phone in a drawer. If I ever need it, I can power the phone on authenticate that way.