T-Mobile customers say carrier’s latest move is directly putting them in harm’s way

Users are understandably miffed, considering the only option most are left with is SMS authentication, which some cyber security experts say is less safe. That’s because an unencrypted code sent over a text message by a service can be intercepted by cybercriminals.

Authenticator apps, on the other hand, create codes locally on a device and are much harder for a bad actor to steal.

These apps are also a better choice than text verification for preventing SIM swap attacks, which we already know is something T-Mobile customers are vulnerable to.

And even if you put the security risk aside, the Authenticator app is more convenient than SMS for many reasons. For instance, it will generate a verification code even when you don’t have a cellular connection. This is crucial these days, given that we have seen T-Mobile‘s network go down four times this year alone.