How to automatically erase 2FA codes on your iPhone. Warning, everything is not perfect yet.
Two-factor authentication (2FA) requires you to enter a one-time code to be able to identify yourself on your service, in addition to using your password. And if you receive this code via text message (SMS) or email, you probably need to manage all these messages on a daily basis. Few take the time to remove them, and they end up gathering dust, like a pile of old magazines. But iOS 17 has a new feature that solves this problem.
How to Automatically Erase 2FA Codes on Your iPhone
Since this is an iOS 17 feature, you need to update your iPhone to be able to automatically delete 2FA codes, if you wish, of course. If you don’t want to wait, you can download and install the iOS 17 public beta now. However, make sure you have backed up your data before you launch. Beta versions may contain more or less important bugs.
Once your device is running iOS 17, open the Apple Mail app and sign in to the account where you receive your 2FA codes. You don’t have anything special to set up in the Messages app. Go to Settings > Passwords > Password Options and under “Verification Codes”, activate “Erase Automatically”. After that, your iPhone will automatically erase the 2FA codes right after you have used the auto-fill feature to enter them.
Attention, everything is not yet perfect
That being said, as convenient as this feature can be, it is not (yet) perfect. Sometimes iOS fails to read unique codes in some SMS or email. Or the site you want to connect to does not allow auto-populating and the function does not trigger. In these cases, you will have to manually delete the verification codes as you always had to. The option also does not remove 2FA codes that have already accumulated on your phone, but at least the next ones will not add to the list.
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