What’s the risk of failure of a Touch ID? I know it’s non-zero because the one on my the hand-me-down iPhone SE3 which I started using a month ago has failed. Would Passkey authentication default in that case to the Passcode for the iPhone or something else?
Yes. you can always use the passcode of the device. That’s what my wife always does - she doesn’t bother with Touchid on her iPad because it rarely ever works.
So I’m not the only one for whom TouchId is flaky. However FaceId on my iPhone 6 is exceptionally reliable.
I thought I had heard that Google Voice will not accept SMS while the device is ex-USA. Maybe I misunderstood; maybe you don’t travel overseas. Comment?
Thanks. That’s what I was trying to formulate, and you expressed it so well.
I do travel outside of the USA frequently so I cannot explain how I “don’t travel overseas”. But I do not access any of the accounts where I rely on a Google Voice phone number for 2FA when I am away from my primary Mac setup. This is for both security and privacy reasons. So I don’t know if GV rejects texts sent to a phone on a non-USA mobile network.
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ETA: after some further thought, I recall receiving some non-2FA texts on GV the last time I was outside of the USA. But I don’t know if Google draws (or can draw) any distinctions between 2FA and non-2FA text messages.
I do have some 2FA text message accounts set up for my Google Voice number, and I have received the messages when I am outside the US. They just go to the Google Voice app rather than the Messages app. I actually prefer it because if I lost my phone while outside the US I understand that I wouldn’t be able to activate a Verizon SIM on a new device, and then I wouldn’t be able to receive the messages.
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I don’t recall the settings I use for GV on my iPhone—I set it up several years ago—but all of my GV texts go to the GV app, not to iOS Messages.
Also, I don’t use GV for phone calls so I don’t have any comments on what it’s like to use GV as a telephone.
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Pogue left the NYT following the very public fist-fight between him and his wife, in which they allegedly beat each other up. He went to Yahoo, then CBS Sunday Morning, speaking engagements, social media. But the end of his NYT columns was basically the end of his prominence as a tech guru.
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Thank you. Not being a tv viewer or Yahoo user I had lost visibility.
His opinions as a tech guy and his dispute/fight with his wife are completely different. I would never consider leaving my wife of 48 years and 52 together…but we have had way more than 1 screaming matches…but hitting a woman would never happen in my world…southerners and most properly raised people just don’t do that…ever.
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I used 1PW’s watchtower to identify sites where a passkey is available instead of using a password. The most important—security wise—of these, Paypal, will not support a passkey in Firefox. Sure, I could use Paypal from Safari instead, but if I’m using my primary browser, Firefox, and wish to pay with Paypal I would not be able to log-in.
It seems they only support Safari and Chrome, and their forum has many requests for other browsers such as Edge to be supported.
@Will_M
I thought I had heard that Google Voice will not accept SMS while the device is ex-USA.
That used to be true. A while back, it started working (don’t remember just when, but it was pre-covid, for sure). I live and teach abroad for 10 months of the year and haven’t had trouble receiving SMS via GV. You do have to set the configuration up so the messages go where you are expecting to receive them (GV website, SMS on your phone, etc.). I have found that Google isn’t fully set up to forward SMS to all cell providers, so some places (where I live, for example) it isn’t possible to forward to a local phone number, yet. In that case your only option is to receive via the GV app or website, but it still definitely works.
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The Pogue family fracas was not that simple. I don’t know who threw the first punch; it could have been madam, or it could have been simultaneous. It wasn’t cast as “man beats wife.”
Let’s stop this branch of the discussion. Though we haven’t spoken in ages, David and I wrote a book together long ago, and while his marital issues may have made the news, I’d prefer that we respected his and his ex-wife’s privacy.
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the Chrome compatible universe is large. I am currently using 1Pwd wth Arc (I am aware of their new direction, am very disappointed about that decision, and will likely have to find a browser soon - different issue - relevant here is that Arc allows a setting that says don’t share with Chrome).
The PayPal and other passkeys stored on 1Pwd work just fine. The problem is that some of the sites add requirements that 1Pwd cannot meet. Passkeys are still a complicated function with variations in the implementation.
Bob
David Pogue is often the reporter in stories on the TV show CBS Sunday Morning. He covers many technical topics, but I was surprised to learn that he has training in music, composing, and orchestra conducting. That’s why he also does music-related stories on Sunday Morning.