Twitter turns off SMS 2FA today if you don’t pay. Here’s why you should act now.

If you have Twitter’s SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) method turned on, but you haven’t paid for Twitter Blue, you’ve probably been getting nagging messages from Twitter about it going away.

Well, today is the last day to switch to a different 2FA, and it would be wise to do so.

Two-factor authentication is basically a must-have for any (even slightly) important online account you have. It’s an additional layer of security that keeps hackers out even if they somehow crack your password, which is commonplace these days as entire databases of hacked usernames and passwords are peddled on the darknet.

Twitter used to offer only SMS-based 2FA for a while, which is why a lot of users have it turned on as their only 2FA method. When logging in, Twitter will sometimes ask you to type in an additional code that you receive via an SMS message. It’s better than nothing but hardly ideal, because phones can be compromised with SIM-swapping attacks.

Twitter is now forcing users to either pay for the $8 per month, Twitter Blue subscription service, or give up SMS 2FA, which is weird and dangerous, because having no 2FA activated for your account is like begging hackers to steal it.

Don’t just turn off SMS 2FA; switch to another 2FA method.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Twitter/Mashable

Fortunately, Twitter now offers several other 2FA methods. Perhaps the most convenient of these is using an authentication app, such as Google Authenticator or Authy to generate login codes. To activate it, you’ll have to install the app on your phone, scan a bar code generated by Twitter, and then punch in the code it gives you. If you’re aren’t ready to pay for Twitter Blue and are turning off SMS 2FA, we recommend you go the authentication app route now.