How To: Signing-in to Google Account with Two-factor Authentication

Scared of having your account passwords phished and hacked?

Terrified of losing your most closely-held information, photos, documents, etc?

And, that’s why it’s important to take steps to help secure your activities online. Now, you need not worry much, if you are having Google Account.

Google has developed an advanced opt-in security feature called 2-step verification that makes your Google Account significantly more secure by helping to verify that you’re the real owner of your account.

What you’ll need

A phone that is usually available to you when you sign in. This could be:
- A standard phone (landline or mobile)
- Any Android device, BlackBerry device, iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad that can run the Google Authenticator application
A backup phone that you can use if you lose access to your primary phone. This could be:
- A work or home phone (landline or mobile)
- The phone of someone you trust, like a friend or family member.

How to get started

So you’re ready to make your account more secure?

The next step is to see if your account is eligible for 2-step verification yet. To do this, go to your Accounts settings page and look for the Using 2-step verification link. If you have the link, you can click it and start the setup process. If you do not see the link:

2-step verification might not be enabled for your account yet. Please be patient – all Google Accounts should be enabled soon.
If you are a Google Apps user, your domain administrator might not have enabled it for your domain. Check with your domain administrator to find out.
If you are a Google Apps user, you might have to access the 2-step verification setup through a special URL.

Over the next few days, you’ll see a new link on your Account Settings page that looks like this:

How you sign in with 2-step verification

1. Go to the Google Account and enter your username and password.
2. Next, you’ll be prompted to enter your verification code, which you’ll get from your phone. You’ll only have to do this once every 30 days if you so choose.

Soon after you turn on 2-step verification, non-browser applications and devices that use your Google Account (such as Gmail on your phone or Outlook), will stop working.
You’ll then have to sign in using your username and a special password you generate for this application.