This topic

Two-step authentication now mandatory- Notifications going to multiple devices

yorkley — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 14:47:25 GMT

Just found out that when I login to my email account it also calls the mobile number that was set in the two step auth. I have two emails, one being mine and one the wifes. I am assuming that if there is more than one BT email on your account then it is the same mobile number that receives the two step auth code. If that is correct it makes a mockery of the two step authentication.

[Mod Note : Split post to its own thread. Amended title to match]

Re: Is two-step authentication now mandatory? No option to switch it off.

gg30340 — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 15:39:09 GMT

@yorkley

Did you "gift" your wife's email to her as per the correct procedure as shown in the following link or did you just "give" it to her to use?

If you have just given it to her it means you are still the "owner" of it and it is managed by you and as such you get the 2FA PIN sent to you.

Had you "gifted" it to her she would have had to accept it which requires her to set up her own BTID and MyBT and she would then "own" the email account and be responsible for managing it and would get the 2FA PIN sent to her.

See link

Creating BT Email addresses | Email | BT Help

See the part about gifting an email.

Re: Is two-step authentication now mandatory? No option to switch it off.

yorkley — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 15:45:02 GMT

I have just realised what we are all doing wrong. It is a three step authentication!

1. Password.

2. Wait for wife to get home.

3. Ask her for the auth code on her telephone.

She now has control over my email account.

And if I want to remotely login away from home I have to make sure that she is in earshot of her telephone!

Re: Is two-step authentication now mandatory? No option to switch it off.

gg30340 — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 20:34:45 GMT

@yorkley

Assuming you are the BT Broadband account holder you would appear to have not followed the correct procedure which I have already posted about when you gave away one of your eleven email accounts to your wife or if your wife is the BT Broadband account holder she has not followed the correct procedure when she gave away one of her eleven email accounts to you.

This means who ever is the BT Broadband account holder is still the owner of the email account and as such the 2FA PIN is sent to the owner of the email account, whose details should be in the MyBT contact details, and it is not sent to who ever just happens to be using it.

Re: Is two-step authentication now mandatory? No option to switch it off.

yorkley — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 23:23:09 GMT

I have just noticed this today by the way. So, are you are saying is that if you use a number of Emails with different login in details then the two step auth will only contact one mobile number?
This occurred because my partner got an email from BT advising that this was a good move. So she decided to do it as it said it was a good move. I did advise against it.
I am now unable to change my details on the portal and have flagged this to BT as an issue.

But it would be good to clarify the email issue.

Re: Is two-step authentication now mandatory? No option to switch it off.

licquorice — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 05:34:37 GMT

It was all explained in message 76.

Re: Is two-step authentication now mandatory? No option to switch it off.

yorkley — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 10:12:04 GMT

Followed the instructions. It sent partner an email but it kept stating this was a new email and they refused to go any further as that does not seem right and may loose all the emails they have.

I did click on their existing email address.

I really require the two stage auth removing as this is fiasco.

Re: Is two-step authentication now mandatory? No option to switch it off.

yorkley — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 10:30:10 GMT

My partners email has now stopped working. I can see no way of revoking the change. How can I do this please.

Re: Is two-step authentication now mandatory? No option to switch it off.

gg30340 — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 10:50:10 GMT

@yorkleywrote:
Followed the instructions. It sent partner an email but it kept stating this was a new email and they refused to go any further as that does not seem right and may loose all the emails they have.
I did click on their existing email address.
I really require the two stage auth removing as this is fiasco.

Did you use the procedure "How to gift and existing BTMail address to another person" following it to the letter and after she received the email activate the email address follow the "Activate an BTMail address given to you" and set up her own BTD and MyBT as required?

If you did not follow the procedure to the letter, you will need to try again by clicking on the link that she received in the email to see if it will allow you to do it properly as the links clearly set out.

If you did not do follow the procedure properly you may find that if she did not activate the email address it will be stuck in limbo at this time and will require the BTMail Team to intervene and sort it out.

Re: Is two-step authentication now mandatory? No option to switch it off.

yorkley — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 10:59:45 GMT

I did follow the procedure and my partner got an email.

They followed the link and started to complete the form. Whilst completing the form they noticed that it inferred it was a new email and they refused to go further as it appeared they could loose all their emails. It also demanded a new password and not their old one. At that point it timed out! After that no more emails.

Re: Is two-step authentication now mandatory? No option to switch it off.

gg30340 — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 12:07:27 GMT

Obviously it was not a new email account as the email address was the one that the email was sent to and had been being used by her.

The new email password was needed because the "old" password would be known by the previous owner ie you and as the whole idea of the procedure is to transfer "ownership" of the email account it requires the password to be changed to keep the account secure for the "new" owner.

You should check in your MyBT > Your Products > Email Manage, and look for the email account to see if it is now showing in the section for friends and family of if it is still showing as one of your email accounts.

As the procedure was not completed it may just revert back to being "owned" by you. If that does not happen as I have said, you need to contact BT to get them to sort it out.

Re: Is two-step authentication now mandatory? No option to switch it off.

yorkley — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 12:32:03 GMT

Tried later to sync email and was asked for password. Put in new password and it worked. Considering this was not saved originally and timed out it is very strange. Just waiting for BT to sort out the My Details failure.

Thank you

Re: Is two-step authentication now mandatory? No option to switch it off.

gg30340 — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 16:25:13 GMT

@yorkley

If she has not already done it your wife now need to go into her MyBT and complete the "Your Details" > "Personal Details" then go to the "Contact Details" and enter the recovery details making sure that she uses a different email address from the the email account she is using and to enter her own mobile number.

The mobile details are what appears to be getting used for the 2FA PIN number to be sent to.

If she scrolls further down the page she will see that 2FA is turned on.

If she clicks on the "Edit 2 FA ". It will then send a PIN to her email address and she can see where the PIN is being sent for 2FA which should be her mobile number. If it is not her number she can change it or if it is her mobile number she can just cancel out of the edit section.

Re: Is two-step authentication now mandatory? No option to switch it off.

yorkley — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 17:04:38 GMT

I cannot do that as the page requests an update and then will not save the data I type in. Reported to BT as this has not worked for over two weeks.