Products · Pattern or everyday thing
MFA
Raised as a usability problem by 12 people on Hacker News over 10 years (2017–2026), in 10 threads.
People raised many different problems with MFA, but no single problem has yet been raised by 3 people in 3 different months and threads.
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 12 complaints
- MFA apps work poorly on Android because development focused on the iPhone versions2026-02-07
- Users hit approve by mistake when flooded with push notifications2025-06-14
- Security checks make everyday logins feel clunky and janky2023-12-10
- Must pull out phone every time signing in on computer2023-12-10
- Printing codes is a hassle and users may lose the paper, with no recovery if lost2023-08-19
- Setting up security keys or TOTP apps is too hard for less computer-literate users2022-12-26
- Login MFA prompts interrupt workflow and force copying codes from email every time2022-08-15
- Prompt is ambiguous, so users can misclick Accept during frequent logins2022-03-30
- Accounts look identical, showing only generated IDs, so users must map or remember which is which2020-07-11
- Sites demand any phone number for identity, adding unwieldy, unusable steps without verifying the user2020-06-20
- Losing a phone or key can lock you out, and recovery keys are often not provided2020-06-19
- Lost access to root account, forced to mail certified ID overseas2017-01-15