Apple ID Two-Factor Verification Expanded to Several New Countries

[MacRumors]

Apple has completed the rollout of two-step verification in several new countries, reports 9to5Mac. As noted on Apple's website, these new locations include Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Spain. Reports from at least one German user suggests Germany already had two-step verification, but lacked the verification through SMS feature, which was enabled today.

Last May, Apple expanded its two-step verification system to several countries in North America, South America and Europe. This feature apparently was launched prematurely and disappeared shortly after it was enabled.

While it's always possible the feature might disappear like last time, this time around things look more official with users having full SMS support through local carriers and Apple listing the new countries on its support sites. Apple also has a list of supported carriers for receiving SMS messages by country here that was just updated.

Two-step verification is an optional security feature that requires Apple users to verify their identity before making purchases or logging into their Apple ID account. This extra layer of protection requires users to enter a 4-digit verification code sent to a trusted device via Find My iPhone or SMS. Once enabled, this system replaces the standard security questions.

Apple introduced this security feature in March 2013 to users in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.

Article Link: Apple ID Two-Factor Verification Expanded to Several New Countries

 

[musika]

I just activated mine the other day. It's a pretty good experience, much better than the one I had with Google when I was trying an Android phone (verification text would send to the phone but I couldn't view the text).

 

[Dades]

Will there be a bigger screen to activate it on?

 

[GenesisST]

Yay!

 

[notjustjay]

i'm all for extra security, especially for an account that is linked to an active credit card.

 

[gotluck]

Everyone should do this

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I just activated mine the other day. It's a pretty good experience, much better than the one I had with Google when I was trying an Android phone (verification text would send to the phone but I couldn't view the text).

Gimme a break

 

[Primejimbo]

I wish they would add this for their email too like Google.

 

[JHankwitz]

"This extra later of protection"

What's a 'later' of protection? It's happening some time in the future?

 

[iapplelove]

love this feature!

 

[Corrode]

About time! Been waiting on this for a while. Glad to see many companies are using it now.

 

[jonasdamn]

hmmm can’t understand why iCloud keychain sms verification works for my country while two-step verification not….

Google, hotmail, dropbox long time ago enabled this feature and Apple is still struggling... :/

 

[jmh600cbr]

How about expanding iTunes Radio?

 

[alaris83]

my iMac doesn't appear in the device list... it should appear? Thx!

 

[foobi]

Nice! Things start moving forward.

 

[trekkie604]

Finally can enable it on my Canadian accounts.

 

[musika]

Gimme a break

It was actually a pretty frustrating problem...

 

[Synchro]

I just wish they would sort out multiple accounts. It's a total mess, and they seem to be making it harder and harder to live with - activating this would make things significantly worse for me.

 

[jonAppleSeed]

I just activated mine the other day. It's a pretty good experience, much better than the one I had with Google when I was trying an Android phone (verification text would send to the phone but I couldn't view the text).

Cool story, bro

I'm happy they finally brought it to Canada. Although I don't know why it would have been restricted by location. It's not like they had to setup licensing deals or anything.

 

[Gaokaos]

When I enabled the iCloud keychain on a new Mac last week, it also asked me for a code that was sent to my iPhone with a text message. Was surprised to see this but the process was flawless. I'm based in Belgium by the way.

 

[Nermal]

I'm happy they finally brought it to Canada. Although I don't know why it would have been restricted by location. It's not like they had to setup licensing deals or anything.

International texting seems to be surprisingly difficult. As an example, whenever I have to validate my Microsoft account I usually have to try it 2-3 times because the text often doesn't make it through. According to a local forum, number portability can be a headache. Some providers seem to always send messages to the network that originally allocated the destination phone number, instead of querying a database to find the current network.

 

[ilfn143]

International texting seems to be surprisingly difficult. As an example, whenever I have to validate my Microsoft account I usually have to try it 2-3 times because the text often doesn't make it through. According to a local forum, number portability can be a headache. Some providers seem to always send messages to the network that originally allocated the destination phone number, instead of querying a database to find the current network.

i use google authenticator for the microsoft account.

 

[GenesisST]

What's a 'later' of protection? It steps you up to a higher level, or what?

So you tell me that you either never made a typo in your life?

Signed: The Knig of ypTos

 

[Daku93]

I can confirm, that Germany already had this feature just without the SMS, just as you mentioned.

 

[Mike MA]

Let's see how long it will last this time...

 

[Jessica Lares]

I've had my login details stolen about 10 times now and I still can't be bothered with two-factor verification for anything. What happens if I lose my iPhone and have to borrow someone else's iPhone to login and find it?