Google will start pushing sign-in prompts to all signed-in devices on July 7

When it comes to protecting your Google account, Google Prompt is one of the best tools available. It turns your smartphone into a convenient two-factor authentication (2FA) tool. Whenever you sign in to your Google account on a new device, Google will prompt users to allow the login from their smartphone.

Google Prompt has gone through a few changes in its lifetime, but a new change rolling out to users makes Prompt less secure for those with multiple devices.

Back in 2018, Google opened up Prompt to work on all phones signed into a given account. Users could head to the ‘Security’ tab of the Google account settings page and manage which phones worked with Prompt under the ‘2-Step Verification’ section. Unfortunately, that feature is on the way out. Instead, Google will send the login prompts to every device signed into your account.

Currently, the Google Prompt section features a note about the change, which reads as follows:

“In the coming weeks, you’ll also get Google prompts for 2-Step Verification on any eligible phone where you’re signed in. To stop getting prompts on a particular phone, sign out of that phone.”

There’s also a toggle to turn Prompt on or off across all signed-in devices.

Along with this, Google recently sent an email out to Prompt users, noting that any signed-in phone that doesn’t currently receive sign-in prompts will start getting them on July 7th. If you don’t want a phone to receive the prompts, you’ll need to sign out of your account on that phone.

Android Police points at that this means individual device management will likely be a thing of the past, which will be particularly frustrating for people who manage an account across multiple phones. While admittedly a niche issue — outside of phone reviewers, most people probably don’t have a bunch of phones signed into a Google account — there are situations where it could prove problematic.

For example, some people let their kids play on their old phone, but leave their Google account signed in. In those cases, the child could accept a sign-in prompt, which could potentially put the account at risk. Again, this likely won’t impact most people, but by forcing every connected device to surface sign-in prompts, Google could put users at risk.

Source: Android Police