Google plans to add end-to-end encryption to Authenticator

Illustration of Google’s wordmark, written in red and pink on a dark blue background.

Illustration: The Verge

Google Authenticator is getting end-to-end encryption — eventually. After security researchers criticized the company for not including it with Authenticator’s account-syncing update, Google product manager Christiaan Brand responded on Twitter by saying that the company has “plans to offer E2EE” in the future.

“Right now, we believe that our current product strikes the right balance for most users and provides significant benefits over offline use,” Brand writes. “However, the option to use the app offline will remain an alternative for those who prefer to manage their backup strategy themselves.”

(3/4) To make sure we’re offering users a full set of options, we’ve started rolling out optional E2E encryption in some of our products,...