One time passwords (OTP) are a very common message to land in your SMS list. But how many of us — I know I’m guilty at times — don’t delete those messages and just let them sit. While many providers do the right thing and invalidate OTP codes once used, not all do and this is a security risk. Google Messages has a new feature coming soon that will alleviate this concern, while also clearing the clutter.
Sited by the XDA developers team, is the option to delete OTP 24 hours after receiving them noting that Google Messages v6.7.067 contains the following new strings:
<string name="otp_auto_deletion_promo_banner_body_text">Auto-delete OTPs after 24hrs</string>
<string name="otp_auto_deletion_promo_banner_negative_button_text">No thanks</string>
<string name="otp_auto_deletion_promo_banner_positive_button_text">Continues</string>
<string name="otp_content_description">This message is categorized as a one-time password</string>
These code strings, in practice: Result in the users being prompted to either delete OTP after 24 hours, or acknowledge how useless they are but leave them alone. This is being presented in a sub-menu for message organisation.
Here is the settings page for Google Messages' upcoming auto-delete OTP and message categorization features.https://t.co/ZD569PY4vQhttps://t.co/SYRPThWsQ7 pic.twitter.com/YQAbHW9irt
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) October 1, 2020
As yet, we’ve not seen this option appear on any of our devices. There may be a regional rollout associated with it, not just the app update but hopefully will soon. If you notice any new features on your apps or devices, don’t forget to tip us.
