Version 5.2 of Google Authenticator had brought with it a very important change regarding the management of the one-time passwords produced by the application, but it seems that Google has changed its mind and retraced its steps.
For those who missed the details of the last update, on that occasion an additional security measure was introduced that allowed to hide the numerical code of each individual OTP, making it visible only after a direct user interaction via a tap on the code of the chosen service. This made it possible to protect this valuable data with an extra layer of protection, however, the latest app update removed this feature.
THE OTP CODES ALWAYS COME BACK TO VISIBLE
In particular, this is no longer possible starting from version 5.2R4 of Google Authenticator, which restores the old system that showed all the codes at the same time. The previous function has never arrived on the iOS version of the app, however, this has long presented the possibility of accessing the list of codes only after authentication via Face / Touch ID ( it is an option present in the app settings ), something that is not provided on Android.
Considering the importance of OTPs and the two-factor authentication process, it is not clear why Google chose to lower the security level of the app, even excluding the fact that the previous version did not offer any type of protection for codes, if not the fact of being able to limit the vision of all OTPs while using the app in the presence of third parties.
If you like our news and you want to be the first to get notifications of the latest news, then follow us on Twitter and Facebook page and join our Telegram channel. Also, you can follow us on Google News for regular updates.