How to activate two-factor authentication on your Google account

Add an extra layer of protection to keep your personal data secure

With old school character-based passwords being the weakest link of the security chain, it's time we got more serious about protecting our online accounts. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is the stopgap between old school passwords and a truly passwordless future.Many companies have adopted 2FA already, which is necessary to keep up with the increased security demands of the modern era. Google is no exception here, as they recently began forcibly enabling 2FA by default for more accounts without users needing to do anything.

For context, as of 2021, there were around 1.8 billion active Gmail account holders. Google eventually wants to enable 2FA for all its users, but they'll slowly roll out the new security change over time. Not everyone will enjoy being pushed into 2FA without having a choice, of course. Still, it has to happen eventually for security reasons to keep everyone safer online. Until 2FA gets enabled for all Google users, you can follow this guide to secure your account and get ahead of the game.

How to access two-factor authentication on your Google account

When it comes to accessing your Google account settings, there are various ways of doing so on Android. However, using the Google app is one of the most universal and reliable methods, no matter what device you have. To get started using the two-factor authentication feature on your Google account, you can do the following:

1. Open the Google app to the main screen, then tap your profile image in the upper right corner.
2. Go to Manage your Google Account.
3. Tap on the Security tab at the top (you might need to scroll to see it when using larger font sizes).
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4. Under the Signing in to Google section, tap on 2-Step Verification.
5. Read through the short description of the feature, then hit Get Started.
6. Choose the Google account you want to use here, and press Next to log in.

How to enable and use 2FA on your Google account

The next page will show you the phones that are already signed in with your Google account. These devices act as a secondary authentication layer whenever you attempt to login from a new device. In other words, you'll immediately get a notification on all the signed-in devices with an option to approve or deny the login. Since you'll need physical access to these devices, this increases the level of security on your account.

We decided to use the login prompts from our already signed-in devices to secure the Google account for this guide. However, there are other 2FA options you can use, like a hardware key or code generator. You can continue setting up 2FA on your account by doing the following:

1. If you tap Show more options at the bottom, it'll reveal two other choices you can select.
   • You can use a security key or get login codes via text messages or voice calls. You don't have to add either of these extra options right now, but you can always find them in your settings later.
2. Once you make your selection, tap Continue to move to the next screen.
3. You'll need to add a phone number as a recovery method if you can't access your other logged-in devices.
   • Alternatively, you can tap Use another backup option to select a different choice, such as one-time backup codes.
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4. Paste or type in the code exactly as it appears, then press the Next button to confirm your recovery choice.

Now you can review your current two-factor authentication settings and make sure everything checks out. Press Turn On to enable the feature after that, and you'll be all set. You'll likely get multiple Gmail and Google app popups (if you have notifications turned on) about the new changes you just made. You can quickly dismiss them as needed. At this point, you'll be sitting at the main 2-Step Verification page for your Google account.

You can look around this page to see all the settings available for two-factor authentication. If you scroll down, you'll find the extra security options to add at any time, as mentioned earlier. You could set up an authenticator app if you don't want to bother with backup codes or security keys. You can use Google's own app or a third-party one, but using an authenticator, in general, will significantly enhance your account security.

Once things are set up, if any attempted sign-in occurs on your account, you'll get a screen like in the example images below. You can accept or deny whatever request is trying to access your account with the tap of a button. You can see what device it's coming from, the location, and the time of the login attempt — all good information to know for helping to secure your account.

Protecting your information

Your personal information and data make your Google account a valuable asset, so you need to protect it from bad actors with the utmost urgency at all times. Now that you've enabled two-factor authentication on your Google account, you can worry less and enjoy your time using your smartphone more.