Agents in Textline are required to have Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) configured in their profile to make their logins more secure. This is something that every Agent should have for all logins, not just Textline, as it makes it harder for bad actors to get unauthorized access to your business tools.
At Textline, MFA means we've added ways for Agents to receive a one-time passcode they can enter after signing in with their username and password. Textline allows Agents to receive one-time passcodes over email, SMS, and/or through an authenticator app (such as Duo or Google Authenticator). Read on to learn how to get MFA set up for your Textline account.
Setup
To set up Multi-Factor Authentication for the first time, login to Textline and head to your user profile.
Once on your profile page, click on the tab at the top for Multi-Factor Authentication.
On the Authentication page, you will see the three methods to deliver a one-time passcode. To start using MFA, you must turn on at least one method. If you see a method greyed out or unavailable, contact the Admin in your Textline account as they have disabled this method for delivering one-time passcodes.
To turn on a method, you’ll be asked to enter a code to confirm the setup. For the email and SMS methods, messages will be sent to the address you enter. For the Authenticator App, you’ll see a QR code to scan by your app. The app will then give you a time-based one-time passcode to enter into Textline for confirmation.
Once one method is turned on, you will be prompted to enter the code the next time you log in to Textline. If you enable more than one method, you can request delivery by another method as a backup.
For more information on each authentication method, check out the sections below.
Authenticator App
Authenticator Apps are a great way to generate one-time passcodes as they can be generated without needing cellular service (required for SMS passcodes) or logging into an email app. For Textline, you can use any Authenticator App that can scan a QR code. This includes phone-based apps like Google Authenticator and Duo and password managers like 1Password and LastPass.
SMS
SMS-based one-time passcodes are some of the most popular forms of Multi-Factor Authentication as it provides a second form of authentication and doesn’t require a user to download an app. For Textline, we will use the phone number in an Agent’s profile, so if you don’t have one, setting up MFA through SMS will prompt you to enter a phone number. Once you have added a number, one-time passcodes will be sent to your phone and you’ll need to check your SMS inbox for the codes to enter into Textline.
This is the easiest of all the one-time passcode delivery methods as all Agents in Textline require an email address. By turning on email as a method for delivering one-time passcodes, Agents will need to check their email inboxes for an email from Textline containing the passcode to enter after they have signed in with their username and password.
Multiple Authentication Methods
If an agent sets up multiple delivery methods, Textline has a hierarchy for preferred methods and it goes Authenticator App > SMS > Email. This means if you have App and Email configured, Textline will ask for the code from the App first and if you want to use email instead, you will need to click the link below the box to trigger an email with the code.
Resetting Multi-Factor Authentication
If you lose access to your phone or deleted your authenticator app and can no longer receive your one-time passcode, you’ll need to reach out to your Textline Admin to reset your Multi-Factor Authentication setup. They can do this by visiting Settings -> Agents and finding your profile. Once in your profile, they can reset your setup in the actions dropdown to the top right.
If you are an Admin, another Admin on your account may reset your MFA setup. If you are the only user or Admin on your account, please contact Textline Support for the next steps.
You can also set up others to reset MFA configurations by creating a custom role and setting the "Can update Agents" permission to something other than Me.