Android

Android may eventually be able to protect your two-factor authentication codes

Ben Schoon | Feb 20 2024 - 9:55 am PT

While the first Android 15 developer preview was a bit underwhelming, new features still seem to be in the pipeline. One of those new additions may be the ability for Android to automatically hide incoming two-factor authentication codes from other apps on your device.

Two-factor authentication is an important part of keeping yourself safe on the web today. There are varying methods of employing this and while one-time passwords delivered via SMS isn’t technically the most secure out there, it’s a method that’s still better than a simple password, and hugely convenient for users. But among the ways in which hackers can intercept these codes is by using malicious apps on your device.

Soon, though, Android may prevent this.

As reported by Android Authority, a new Android permission titled “RECEIVE_SENSITIVE_NOTIFICATIONS” would have to be granted by the device maker. The option would apparently work with a new flag called “OTP_REDACTION” which, as the name implies, may be able to hide two-factor authentication codes from your notifications.

It’s unclear exactly how this would work, but it’s thought that this might hide OTP codes from the lockscreen, as well as hiding this information from apps that can read your incoming notifications. That’d go well in tandem with Android 13’s ability to block “untrusted” apps from reading notifications in the first place.

As for when this might arrive, we don’t know as it’s very early in the process. The tidbits discovered so far were found in Android 14 QPR3, which could imply a debut in Android 15, but there’s nothing pointing to that just yet.