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Twitter improves iOS, Android security with additional login verification option

The new two-factor option bypasses texting (and even a phone number) altogether.
Written by Rachel King, Contributor
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Twitter is stepping up mobile security once again with another feature aimed at improving (and simplifying) user and login  authentication.

The new two-factor option bypasses texting (and even a phone number) altogether in favor of solely an Internet connection through the combination of push notifications and in-app approvals.

Basically, Twitter users can verify their identities across multiple Twitter accounts through a backup code generated after turning on "Login Verification" in the app settings menu.

After enrolling, users can go through the Twitter application to approve requests each time when signing in to Twitter.com with your username and password.

Tuesday's announcement follows up the introduction of what is becoming a more traditional feature for login verification from multiple devices and channels: random codes sent to the user's mobile number via SMS.

That feature rolled out towards the end of May following some widely-reported attacks on targets ranging from The White House to the Associated Press to more than 250,000 users at large earlier this year.

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The microblogging giant is also baking in a few other features with this software upgrade.

Search is being stepped up on both iOS and Android with a new photo gallery in search along with suggestions based on social context and connections to other users.

For iOS only, along with some basic performance enhancements, the same photo gallery will appear on user profiles in order to display all of someone’s photos in one place. iOS users can also manage lists within the app.

Both updates are now available to download from the iTunes App Store and Google Play.

Screenshots via The Official Twitter Blog

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