What’s the best option for 2FA verification? Email and phone number seems not enough and don’t work well. They are with the same handset, once the phone been compromised, 2FA verification becomes meaningless.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: Options for 2FA verification
iPhone 13 mini
No such thing as 2FA over Email, at least not from Apple.
Apple's Two-Factor Authentication sends codes directly to other trusted Apple devices as a system message (not SMS nor iMessage), or can be sent as an SMS or voice call to trusted phone numbers set up as such.
It does not ever send Two-Factor authentication codes to en email address.
You should also, not use your own iPhone's phone number as a trusted phone number for calls or SMS, it should be a different number you have access to, so in case you don't have access to your iPhone you can still receive codes via SMS or voice call.
As mentioned by Lawrence there are other options including FIDO Certified physical Security Keys like Yubikey or FEITIAN ePass.
click here ➜ About Security Keys for Apple Account - Apple Support
No such thing as 2FA over Email, at least not from Apple.
Apple's Two-Factor Authentication sends codes directly to other trusted Apple devices as a system message (not SMS nor iMessage), or can be sent as an SMS or voice call to trusted phone numbers set up as such.
It does not ever send Two-Factor authentication codes to en email address.
You should also, not use your own iPhone's phone number as a trusted phone number for calls or SMS, it should be a different number you have access to, so in case you don't have access to your iPhone you can still receive codes via SMS or voice call.
As mentioned by Lawrence there are other options including FIDO Certified physical Security Keys like Yubikey or FEITIAN ePass.
click here ➜ About Security Keys for Apple Account - Apple Support
This is too general a question without some clarification.
What are you verifying? For your Apple account you can create a Passkey, or require a physical verification such as a plug-in or contactless YubiKey.
For your iPhone the fact that you are logged in to your Apple ID on your phone is in itself 2 factor; it doesn’t use your phone number, it uses a token built in to your phone. And Face ID is also essentially 2 factor.
If you are verifying other service providers such as a bank you will have to use what those accounts offer; some support Face ID, some offer passkeys, some use authenticator apps, some require a physical FIDO key, and some SMS messages (which are the weakest of all of these, because SMS can be hacked). And most support a combination of options.
Keep the iPhone updated to the latest iOS always and never Jailbreak. That's it.
iOS / iPadOS devices cannot be hacked or infected with Viruses / Malware / Spyware *** unless you have intentionally downloaded spurious software or unauthorized apps directly from the internet and installed them on your device, and/or have Jailbroken.
It (Hacking) also depends on how careful you are in sharing sensitive and valuable information pertaining to your iPhone such as Passcode, Password, etc with your friends and family members.
Be judicious when sharing the device's sensitive and valuable information with friends and family members.
**The primary reason for this is Sandboxing. All third-party apps are “sandboxed”, so they are restricted from accessing files stored by other apps or from making changes to the device. Sandboxing is designed to prevent apps from gathering or modifying information stored by other apps.
Security of runtime process in iOS and iPadOS - Apple Support
The sandbox on an iPhone is a security feature that creates a restricted environment for each app to run in isolation from other apps and the operating system. It is a core component of iOS's security architecture and plays a crucial role in making iPhones more secure.
If you doubt the authenticity of the information provided earlier, you have two alternatives:
janey248 wrote:
What’s the best option for 2FA verification? Email and phone number seems not enough and don’t work well. They are with the same handset, once the phone been compromised, 2FA verification becomes meaningless.
2FA for what account? If you mean your Apple Account, you can't change the way it works.
You do have the option of adding Stolen Device Protection.
About Stolen Device Protection for iPhone - Apple Support
Thank you very much for all the replies. I have better ideas what I should do now. Greatly appreciated.
How can I enhance 2FA verification beyond email and phone number?
