Microsoft Is Eliminating SMS Codes for Two-Factor Authentication
Microsoft is phasing out SMS codes for two-factor authentication in favor of more secure methods. Users will be encouraged to adopt passkeys, which utilize built-in device authentication features. This change aims to enhance security and reduce the risk of fraud associated with text-based codes.
- ▪Microsoft is eliminating SMS codes for two-factor authentication due to security concerns.
- ▪Users will need to transition to passkeys, authenticator apps, or verified backup email addresses.
- ▪Passkeys offer enhanced security by using device-based authentication methods.
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Story provenance
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Record
| Original publisher | Lifehacker |
| Canonical URL | https://lifehacker.com/tech/microsoft-is-eliminating-sms-codes-for-2fa?utm_medium=RSS |
| Publication time | Thu, 21 May 2026 13:00:00 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-21T13:11:11.033Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-21T13:11:11.033Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | zP4cajYR8540 · 2 stories |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
Rights status (four layers)
WeSearch handling by dimension
| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
| Snippet | May a short excerpt of the publisher's text be shown? | Allowed |
| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
If you have a Microsoft account that uses SMS for two-factor authentication, you may soon have to choose a more secure method for logging in. As reported by Windows Latest, the company is ditching text-based authentication codes for personal accounts, stating that these are "now a leading source of fraud." Users will be prompted to set up a passkey instead. Microsoft is trying to eliminate passwordsMicrosoft has already started moving toward a password-less environment—last year, the company made passkeys the default on new accounts at setup. Now, it is phasing out SMS codes for 2FA and account recovery in favor of passkeys, authenticator apps, and verified backup email addresses. SMS codes are quick to set up and convenient to use.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Lifehacker.
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