Products · Pattern or everyday thing
2FA
Raised as a usability problem by 28 people on Hacker News over 15 years (2012–2026), in 30 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
- 1
- 2
Every issue, all time, most people first
2FA setup has many steps, leaving users stuck or locked outUnreviewed
20122026- 2FA makes granting a family member access on other devices a nightmare2025-09-03
- Many two-factor authentication setups are hard for ordinary users to deal with2023-05-01
- 2FA setup is too complicated, with many steps and users getting stuck or locked out2023-04-25
Users get locked out after losing their phone or 2FA deviceUnreviewed
20122026- Users accidentally lock themselves out of accounts and lose access to their data2025-03-08
- Users get locked out when they lose their phone or 2FA device2022-10-07
- Lost phone makes accounts impossible to recover, no human contact to prove identity2022-02-20
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 30 complaints
- Having to pull up phone and type codes multiple times daily is painful2026-02-05
- Users must safely store unrecoverable codes for years, with no support if lost2026-01-19
- 2FA makes granting a family member access on other devices a nightmare2025-09-03
- Users accidentally lock themselves out of accounts and lose access to their data2025-03-08
- Number pad input is blocked because the field's scripts interfere with typing2024-04-17
- Two-factor setup was explained so poorly the commenter struggled to understand it2024-03-25
- Setup with a non-required authenticator app silently produces wrong codes instead of being rejected2023-12-16
- Paper backup codes are easy to lose, misplace, or get out of sync after resets2023-08-18
- Losing the second factor locks users out of accounts indefinitely, with no recovery path2023-07-13
- As the number of sites grows, finding the right authenticator entry becomes annoying2023-05-26
- Many two-factor authentication setups are hard for ordinary users to deal with2023-05-01
- Services push their own 2FA app and hide the standard TOTP option2023-04-27
- 2FA setup is too complicated, with many steps and users getting stuck or locked out2023-04-25
- Backing up 2FA needs a separate strategy of screenshotting QR codes or saving text codes2023-03-01
- Lose the only second factor and you are locked out of the account2022-11-02
- Extra code at every login wastes time and users get locked out2022-10-07
- Users get locked out when they lose their phone or 2FA device2022-10-07
- Completing 2FA requires opening the phone and notifications, breaking focus during demanding work2022-06-25
- Non-SMS two-factor options are too hard for non-technical people to use2022-05-26
- Non-technical people get confused setting up 2FA, causing support headaches for new joiners2022-02-24
- Lost phone makes accounts impossible to recover, no human contact to prove identity2022-02-20
- Sites only let you register one security key, so losing it locks you out2022-02-16
- Same small recurring purchases keep triggering 2FA approval prompts in the banking app2021-06-09
- Non-technical users lose phones, lose codes, and confuse accounts, forcing frequent resets2018-11-15
- Too many things to configure before the key can be used2018-08-23
- Users transcribe the wrong code from the adjacent row in a single list2017-04-04
- Backing up 2FA codes involves screenshotting and manual editing, a big pain2016-10-20
- Skip option is hidden or disguised, tricking users into enabling 2FA2016-08-10
- SMS codes rarely arrive, so the user can't complete two-factor setup2014-04-01
- Two-factor authentication solutions are hard to use, even those claiming to be easy2012-08-29