I'm not sure what Google is trying to belatedly do with Authenticator at this point. But making it less of a support nightmare is a good thing. And I expect somebody (finally) got pragmatic about it maybe not being ideal that users get locked out of all their critical accounts every time they loose their phone. I bet that generates a lot of support overhead for them.
2FA setup in general is a PITA to support with users in the real world. I speak from experience. It's too complicated. Too many different steps involved. People get stuck doing it. People get locked out of their accounts. Etc.
Most people with a clue would not use Authenticator but one of the many alternatives that do the same job but with a bit more convenience (like syncing secrets between devices).
I tend to use Authy. And of course Okta actually acquired Auth0, which created Authy. But you could also use many common password managers for this (except of course the Google or Apple ones people actually default to on their phones).
Meanwhile, Google, MS, Apple, and others are also pushing hard for passkeys. That seems more promising. But what worries me is that they regard this as a browser thing. So that still leaves a lot of mess outside of browsers. As well as their legacy of other supposedly user friendly ways of signing in. At this point most of them de-emphasize 2FA actually. Because it is such a support nightmare.
2FA setup in general is a PITA to support with users in the real world. I speak from experience. It's too complicated. Too many different steps involved. People get stuck doing it. People get locked out of their accounts. Etc.
Most people with a clue would not use Authenticator but one of the many alternatives that do the same job but with a bit more convenience (like syncing secrets between devices).
I tend to use Authy. And of course Okta actually acquired Auth0, which created Authy. But you could also use many common password managers for this (except of course the Google or Apple ones people actually default to on their phones).
Meanwhile, Google, MS, Apple, and others are also pushing hard for passkeys. That seems more promising. But what worries me is that they regard this as a browser thing. So that still leaves a lot of mess outside of browsers. As well as their legacy of other supposedly user friendly ways of signing in. At this point most of them de-emphasize 2FA actually. Because it is such a support nightmare.