Google updated its Authenticator app for iOS today with a new design but users quickly found a major flaw with the app; the update would wipe all of your stored accounts. For those who rely on Authenticator to get into accounts, it’s best to hold off until Google resolves the situation.
Authenticator is the companion app for two-factor authentication, which generates random codes which are synced with your account, making it harder for hackers to gain access to your stuff. These codes are randomly generated and will only be valid within a 60 second window. Without a functioning Authenticator app, many users will face being locked out of their accounts.
Of course, there are emergency backup codes that users are supposed to keep in a safe place in case anything goes wrong. If you don’t have these codes, you could be locked out of your account, forcing you to call customer service to gain access again. If you do have the backup codes, it’s still a pain to reset all of your accounts and re-input them into Google Authenticator.
Google is investigating the situation and has pulled the Authenticator app from the App Store in the meantime.
