2 factor authentication needs accessibility improvements

By Troy, 8 June, 2017

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hello,
I'm not one that normally comes on here complaining about apple like a lot of people have. However there's one thing that really annoys me and that's 2 factor authentication. Apparently from what I understand as of 6/15 this feature will be required because apple is requiring third party apps that use the cloud to use a generated password. I was trying to do something last night with my apple id on the apple website and let me say the accessibility is crap. The issues I had is when I logged into my apple id I had to enter the verification code, however I found something strange. Apparently the way it looks is that each number from the code goes into its own edit box. Vo would not give me much feedback on this. First of all when I tried to type it just kept bonging and my cursor wouldn't even stay in the edit field. Vo would just announce each field as edit, edit, edit. I did not know what even went there. Finally I just gave up and did what I needed to do from my pc instead of my actual device because I also have the cloud on my pc. Jaws worked fine with it. If apple is going to start requiring passwords for third party apps which requires 2 factor authentication to be used then I think they need to improve the accessibility of this method. I would urge everyone bombard the accessibility team with this, unless I'm just crazy and making it harder than it really is. If I am please give me an easier way to go about this.

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Comments

By Piotr Machacz on Sunday, June 25, 2017 - 21:43

While I haven't done this on an iOS device, I recently activated 2FA by accident and had to then use the apple ID website to deactivate it. While it's annoying that every didgit goes into its own box so you can't just hit paste, VoiceOver on the mac did give me feedback while I was entering it in "enter security code digit 1 of 6, 2 of 6..." etc so I didn't feel like I was lost. Perhaps this is more broken on iOS. However, if you keep in mind the focus will automatically move from one field to the next as you type I think you should be fine. You can also enter the code multiple times, so you won't be locked out of your account if you get it wrong once.

By Earle on Sunday, June 25, 2017 - 21:43

I am very confused by this post. Quite often I use iOS devices to enter the six digit code. I have had no problems at all. I just type the six digits and I am automatically moved to the next input field.

By That Blind Canuck on Sunday, June 25, 2017 - 21:43

I will often log into my Apple ID, or at times, the Report a Problem, website on a Windows machine in IE, and when the edit fields pop up and I get the 6 digit code on my phone, I just type in the numbers and focus is brought to the next field automatically. I even believe that once I type in the last number, it logs me in automatically, or I have to press the enter key. Either way, it works fine on my end. I do agree that it could uss some improvements, but in general, it does work fine at the moment.

The only issues I once had with it though was logging into iCloud for Windows and when I had to enter the code there, it never quite logged me in properly. Older versions of the iCloud for Windows was completely useless and I could never even enter my numbers, but since version 6, I at least was able to navigate through the fields and type in the numbers.

But like I said, for the most part, it works fine.

By Kelsey Nicolay on Tuesday, August 25, 2020 - 21:43

I don’t use 2 factor authentication because I don’t want to deal with having to type a code in every time I need to log in. What I would like to see Apple do with 2 factor is instead of having to type in a security code (which is a royak pain with VoiceOver especially without a physical keyboard), if 2 factor is enabled, Apple would send a notification to your phone with an approve or decline button and you could simply double tap one of them to take action. They could also send this notification in an email So action can be taken from a pc if need be. If Apple did that, I would consider enabling it, but until then, I refuse.

By Angel Blessing on Tuesday, August 25, 2020 - 21:43

With Two factor, if you creat a new Apple Id you will have two factor turned on, there is no way to get this turned off. While the edit fields may seem to not do what you might want I agree with the person, who said that it tells you what number psotion you are at. Older security types from what I understand are different and do not need that varification code.

By Kelsey Nicolay on Sunday, October 25, 2020 - 21:43

I also think it would be easier if Apple designed two factor so that you could simply paste the code into the edit field. You could then three finger quadruple tap to copy the code, then paste into the edit field. Or, Apple could use Touch ID or Face ID to use two factor authentication.

By Troy on Sunday, October 25, 2020 - 21:43

In reply to by Kelsey Nicolay

I agree, thanks to apple this is why I don't like 2 factor authentication, I would like to use it but it has accessibility issues depending on the company.