New to Simplecast: Two-Factor Authentication

Caitlin Van Horn -

One of my favorite parts about marketing at Simplecast is getting to watch our new products and features go from ideation to launch. I love sitting in on sprint reviews, where our engineers demo what they’ve accomplished to the team, and getting to track feature progress over weeks and months and quarters until our customers finally get to use them. Which is why it was pretty surprising when the product team announced out of the blue that they had whipped up two-factor (or two-step) authentication.

First of all: cool!

Second of all: how?!

It turns out that a few weeks ago, the product and engineering team got together for an offsite retreat. Besides getting some much-needed facetime (we are a remote and widely-distributed team, after all), they also got down to business with a hackathon. The team decided what features they wanted to work on, settled on 2FA, and cranked it out in a week. Like I said: cool! [Ed. note: Also, please take a nap.]

What is 2FA?

2FA is an important security measure that adds a second layer of protection to your Simplecast account, beyond just your password. You’ve seen it before with, for example, logging into your email when Google texts you a code to your phone to type in after you enter your password. Adding this extra security makes it much harder for bad actors to access your account. All Simplecast users can choose to set up 2FA with Authy or Google Authenticator. Once enabled, the next time you log in, you’ll need to include your password and the one-time code from your authenticator app.

While some other sites and services may use SMS or email-based 2FA, we chose to use an authenticator because it’s more secure since the codes live in a separate app. Additionally, it works well internationally.

Ultimately, your podcasts are valuable, and should be protected–and 2FA can help with that!

How do I access 2FA in Simplecast?

  1. To enable 2FA, head to your account settings and enter your password.
  2. You can then scan a QR code or enter a manual code into your authenticator app of choice.
  3. You’ll be prompted to enter your 2FA code in the settings page prompt.
  4. You’re all set! You’ll also get 10 backup codes to use in case you don’t have access to your Authenticator app that will be regenerated as you use them!

For more info and helpful visuals, head to our Knowledge Base article!