Improvements to login verification, photos and more

Today’s Twitter for iOS and Android updates let you enroll in login verification and approve login requests directly from your mobile app. Now, in addition to the SMS-based login verification that we released in May, you can use login verification without relying on text messages.

Now you can enroll in login verification and approve login requests directly from your iOS or Android app.

Here’s what’s new:

• No phone number required: By using push messaging and in-application approvals, you no longer need to provide your phone number to use login verification. If you manage multiple Twitter accounts, but only have one phone number, you can now opt all of them into login verification.
• Broader international support: Now, all you need is an Internet connection and one of our supported apps to enroll in login verification. Login verification via SMS has been available through supported mobile carriers across the world, but that didn’t cover everybody.
• “My phone fell in the ocean!”: Backup codes generated in the application can be written down, stored in a safe place, and used to access your account on twitter.com even if you lose your phone.
• More context: When a login request is made, you will see browser details and approximate location in the app. If you receive an approval request from halfway across the world, you may be getting phished. Review this page for more information on keeping your account secure.

To get started

1. From the Me tab in the Twitter application, open Settings and then tap Security (Android users: you’ll need to tap your name before you can select Security)
2. Turn on Login verification
3. Store the generated backup code in a safe place. You will need to use this code if you need to access your account when you don’t have your phone.
4. After you enroll in login verification, you’ll use the Twitter application to approve requests each time you sign in to twitter.com with your username and password.

After you’ve enabled login verification, you can manage login requests and access your backup codes on Twitter for iOS and Twitter for Android. For more information or if you have any questions, make sure to visit our Help Center. If you’re interested in the technical details behind the design of this feature, check out this post on our engineering blog. We’ll continue to work on authentication improvements to make it useful to more people, including those who share a single account.

Wait, there’s more
A couple of other features are in this release for iOS and Android. First, search is improving:

• As you type your query, the search menu with suggestions will include social context, so you can see how you’re connected to other users. We just introduced this last week on twitter.com.
• We’re also adding a new photo gallery in search. Before, when photos were returned in search results, you could swipe through thumbnails and select photos to view full-screen. Now, you can select a new “View more photos” option that will lead you to a photo gallery of all the photos related to that search.

Specifically on iOS, this same photo gallery will appear on user profiles, so you can view all of someone’s photos in one place. Additionally, you can now manage lists within the app, making it easier to create, edit and organize your lists and subscriptions. We’ve also improved launch performance for our iOS apps.

You can download these updates from the App Store and Google Play.