A couple of days ago, I told you how you can regain access to your Google account using Recovery Contacts. Let's discuss the other recovery option that Google introduced, sign in with phone number.
Now, you may wonder, didn't Google already let you sign in using a phone number? Technically, no, but you're not completely wrong about that. Up until now, Google has allowed users to sign in to their account using your username, password, and your mobile number. Your phone number is used to receive an SMS for 2-step verification. That's not very secure, because the SMS protocol lacks support for encryption. You could, and should, use an authenticator app instead.
But let's get back to using a phone number to sign in. Google will ask you to enter your phone number, which is used to search for accounts connected to that number. This is done by verifying your number with your carrier, likely via an automated text message. Then, Google will display all accounts that are connected to your phone number. Select the one you want to sign in to, and then you will be asked to enter the passcode of your previous device. This is required to verify the sign in attempt and allow access to your encrypted data.
Is this secure? Well, it doesn't rely solely on SMS. You will need to enter your device's passcode to verify the account, so I'd say it is more secure. It also supports screen patterns. This might be useful if you don't have a secondary phone or access to your passkeys, 2FA, etc. The support article for the feature is available here, though it doesn't seem to explain much about it.
Google's announcement mentions that this method is useful when phones get lost, stolen or stop working. Though it doesn't portray it as such, you can use it for setting up a new phone. I haven't tested it, but it is not a recovery only option, it's a sign in option. That's what it is designed for, when you lose access to your phone, obviously you are going to be switching to a new phone. Right? It might be more convenient perhaps, but I'd probably still use a 2FA app, it's more secure as TOTPs can't be guessed or brute forced like a passcode or screen pattern can. Besides, this new method only works on Android devices, not on iOS, PC, Linux or Mac. So, you'll still need to use traditional login methods.
Google says the option to sign in with a phone number is slowly rolling out to users globally.
On a side note, Google Messages now protects you from spam links, and helps verify the identity of your contacts.
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