You can now use your iPhone as a security key for Google apps

Here’s an easy way to upgrade the security of your Gmail account: Use your phone for two-factor authentication. Android users were able to do this for a while, but now iPhone owners can join the party as well.

Google’s Smart Lock app for iOS, as noticed by 9to5Google, has been updated to allow for setting up your phone as a Bluetooth security key. 

Once you set it up for a Google account, logging into Gmail, for example, will require having your iPhone nearby, unlocking it and confirming the sign-in (or canceling it if it’s not you that’s trying to sign in). 

There are certain requirements for this to work. First, it only works in Google Chrome, and you must have Bluetooth on both your iPhone and computer. Also, your phone needs to be running iOS 10 or later. 

These days, two-factor authentication is a must-have security measure. Unfortunately, many online services still default to SMS as a secondary authentication factor, which is fairly insecure as it’s susceptible to SIM swapping attacks. The best alternative is to have a physical device that connects to your computer, like Google’s Titan Security Key, while a dedicated authenticator app (such as Google Authenticator) is also pretty good. 

Using the iPhone as your physical security key should be among the best methods available. The Smart Lock method described above would make hacking into your account pretty tough in most situations, as the hacker would need to obtain both your Google password, your physical phone, and be able to unlock your phone (unless it’s already unlocked).