Photo: Farknot Architect (Shutterstock)
2FA requires you to type a one-time code during log in, on top of using your password. And if you get those codes via text or email, you’ve probably had to deal with a lot of clutter—few people bothers to delete them, and they obnoxiously pile up like unwanted magazines. But iOS 17 has a new feature that fixes the problem.
How to automatically delete 2FA codes on your iPhone
Since this is an iOS 17 feature, you’ll have to update your iPhone to automatically delete 2FA codes. If you don’t want to wait, you can download the public beta to hop on iOS 17 right away—just be sure to back up your data before you try beta versions of iOS. Once you have iOS 17, open Apple’s Mail app and sign in to the email IDs where you get your 2FA codes. There’s no need to set up anything extra in the Messages app. Go to Settings > Passwords > Password Options, and under Verification Codes, enable Clean Up Automatically. After that, your iPhone will automatically delete 2FA codes right after you’ve used the autofill feature to fill them in.
As convenient as the feature is, it’s not perfect, of course. Sometimes iOS can’t read one-time passwords in certain texts or emails, or the site won’t let you autofill a code, so the feature won’t be triggered. In those cases, you’ll have to manually delete verification codes like you’ve always had to do. It also doesn’t delete the endless 2FA codes that have already piled up on your phone, but at least it’ll clear our that clutter into the future.
