Mastodon and 2 Factor Authentication Questions

By travis, 11 May, 2023

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hello There,

This is an important message as I have a couple of questions.

1. I'm considering getting a Mastodon Account, which I'm totally interested in, but I feel sort of reluctant at the same time because my Facebook Account was totally hacked a couple months ago and I would like to know if the Mastodon App is safe to use? Plus, if I were to be apart of mastodon.applevis.com do I need to create an account, as well as download the app first? Also, do I need a profile picture of myself when creating a Mastodon Account?

2. The next question that I have is that I want to set up a 2 factor authentication app on my Phone as I would like to protect my accounts such as my Google, etc. If I were to download the 2 factor Authentication App on my phone, which one is the best for anyone like us and which one is safe? I heard that Last Pass might be a good one because it can back up your QR codes so when you have to replace any of your devices or if you have a break down, I heard that it backs up your accounts and qr codes so it makes it a whole lot easier to gain access to your accounts without calling for help when getting a new devices such as a phone?

Anyway, if somebody or anyone can get back to me on this, I would sincerely appreciate it to no end.

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Comments

By KE8UPE on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 - 00:09

Good morning,
My favorite app for accessing Mastodon is Mona.
You can have 2-factor authentication on your Mastodon account. Although, I currently do not. I use Bitwarden for my 2-factor needs nowadays. I used to use Microsoft Authenticator& still do, to login to my 2 Microsoft accounts. I'm in the process of switching everything over to Bitwarden though. Note: Use of the feature I'm talking about, which allows Bitwarden to generate 2FA codes, requires a premium subscription, which costs $9.99/year US.
Bitwarden even has an Apple watch app, which lets you view the accounts which have 2FA setup as well as their associated security codes.

By Holger Fiallo on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 - 00:09

I sign via my windows PC it was easy there and a friend added 2 photos in iPhone via mona but could not find description button. Also google has 2 factor ID using face or finger print. No more password. Suppose to use your face ID or finger print to ID you. Creating the account for mastodon was easy. If you are going with mona, check out livingblindfully for the podcast on using mona. It was episode 227.

By MuseumShuffle on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 - 00:09

1 - Absolutely. I would definitely set up two factor authentication when you create your account. I don't believe you're able to create an account on the applevis server. It only has 4 members and the message says it's for the editorial team. In general, you should be able to talk to other servers no matter what server you pick. And if that's not the case you can move your account to another server. You don't need a profile picture. I have seen posts from people giving advice to not ignore profiles with no pic because sometimes those are accounts of a blind person.

2 - I use Bitwarden to back up my 2 factor TOTP codes, but that requires a $10 a year subscription. Google Authenticator FINALLY made a update so that your codes are synced instead of being lost if you lost your phone. Lastpass has had multiple security issues lately and personally I would avoid them like the plague.