Don't have a phone number? The desktop authenticator? Never will what?
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^^ Free private number is for US residents only, he lives in Great Britain :-/
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Could get an american to make him a google account for this purpose, and hand over the details to him afterwards.
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Oh, no I'm in america right now. I'm immigrating to the UK in a couple years. I just generally don't like people knowing my current location.
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Why will you never have one? kinda personal i guess, i should stop
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Because I have crippling anxiety and phones are one of the causes.
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I can't stand them either! I can sort of relate, but I have gotten a little bit better (mainly due to the fact I'm taking a lot of medication for anxiety and seizure disorders).
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I got taken off my medication because my doctor is an absolute fucking dick.
Apparently they thought I was addicted to my meds (didn't even take them daily) and decided if I didn't stay in therapy I wasn't allowed to stay on them. So GG medical care system. GG
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I know how that is... I had to jump through various hoops to get back on them when I moved to another state. Most of the US doctors are "benzophobes" unless you pay high priced psychiatrists (basically legalized drug dealers). It's quite a sad system here. Even if it got to that point, addiction would be the least of my problems compared to a life of misery. Another point is they want people to turn to alcohol so they will get in trouble instead. If a doctor is monitoring a potential "addict", isn't that safer and better than them being out on the streets getting into all sorts of trouble and being unregulated?
The whole addiction argument holds no weight, and it's just used to discriminate - unless somebody has gotten in trouble recently for something related to being addicted, then they should not be considered guilty until proven innocent. Very touchy subject, and I get very peeved when I think about how horribly crooked the medical profession is with all of the various "scheduled" medications, as they call them here...
Sorry for rambling and getting off topic. I don't personally know of any either that don't require an initial activation with a phone. You don't actually have to "own" the phone either, as long as it can receive the initial text to validate it. I have a mobile authenticator that I only used my regular cell phone one time for, and it's never needed to interact with it since. It defeats the purpose of the authenticator, since all the stuff is on the computer itself, but to bypass steam's tyrannical socialist ideas about everyone needing this device, or else they deserve to be tarred and feathered, I fell in line and decided to obey, since I trade regularly using steam, and I don't use the market all that much (oh yeah, I forgot. Now you have to authenticate EVERY SINGLE MARKET TRANSACTION TOO). I thought there would be more backlash, but it's in Steam's best interest so they don't have to lose tons of money on bogus fraudulent claims about lost stuff, so they would not care anyway, and why should they? ... Anyone that really loses stuff, maybe require it to happen after the first strike or something. Silly everyone gets penalized for the problems with the few, but that's how most stupid laws are in the world today, since stupid people create them.
I don't own a smart phone because I think they are a humongous waste of money for what they can do, and I'd rather spend that waste of money on something I'd actually use, like maybe... better computer parts on things I already own for instance instead of a cookie-cutter limited piece of crud? It's funny how people with ones that work fine will go out and buy newer ones that are practically identical just because it's "better" since it is "newer".
All I'll rant about - I refuse to get a smart phone until I see a valid reason to own one. I'm doing just fine without them, and I don't feel like a piece of my life is missing since I am going without them. Other electronics can do just about everything a smart phone can, at a fraction of the cost, and they can do extra things the smart phones cannot do, oh yeah, and at a fraction of the cost...
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im from the UK when it asked from a phone number i just used my house phone and listened to the sms message
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you can ask some family member with a cell phone to use theirs just to set it up. hopefully they don't use steam, I guess.
from what I read when I set it up for myself, you need to be able to receive a text message or a phone that has SMS capability.
someone mentioned google will let you can use a number if you use your home phone # (I think??? idk) but I think it's for US only.
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My family doesn't use cell phones at all either. I'm the only person in my age group, and everyone else doesn't believe in them.
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Cellphones do exist, it's not a case of believing or not.
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Haha, oh god :D
But i guess he is from some kind of group like the amish?
I call bullshit, they do not believe in phones but he uses a computer and they have internet...
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I'm not amish. My family just firmly believes they survived life just fine without them until now, so they don't need them at this point in time. They have a really ancient flip phone that's pay as you go for emergencies but I'm not allowed to use it for texting as it costs money to do so.
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He must be Amish or something. Although he clearly uses a computer. lol
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Climate change does exist, it's not a case of believing or not (like God)
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Unless you are a hardcore Republican or similar right-wing super conservative. In this case you get a free alternate reality to live in upon entry.
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My parents are extreme right wing, and my dad's a pastor. So I think that tells you quite a lot right there.
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Oh boy…
Still, if you follow in their wake (considering that young people don't tend to be extremely leftist now, quite the opposite… I see people in their late teens and early twenties be near fascists and slowly edging towards the center as they age, and, well, learn a thing or two about reality…), it should be a comfortable position. :)
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I'm not right or left, I'm independent
I generally hate both sides tbh..
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My condolences. I hail from South Dakota, a very red state, and have an aunt and uncle who are missionaries.
I'm familiar with the saddening ways of the far right wing.
We need more moderates in our society today.
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I'm pretty much the only non right, non religious person in my family. I feel :/
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I know, I just used it as a relevant current example.
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I haven't realized it but leaving climate change's existence to people is so democratic (Y)
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yes it changes, the case is if ppl are affecting the changes
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WinAuth: Steam mobile guard emulator for desktop Win.
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So, as someone who's absolutely stupid with this stuff, does it work on older computers?
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I use WinAuth, but on the site itself it says you still need an SMS capable phone.
https://winauth.com/download/#comment-2575056492 should work on XP according to the dev.
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OMG, thank you for this! I had looked into WinAuth before, but saw that it required .NET 4.5 and got sad that that meant it wouldn't work on XP. But apparently it doesn't require 4.5 and will run on XP. And now I won't have to bother with stupid BlueStacks anymore! Awesome.
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Well, apparently the trade confirmation part doesn't work in XP? Or else I just fucked something up, because it just keeps crashing. So disappointed.
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Steam Desktop Authenticator?
Also, WinXP? Unless your PC is over a decade old, there is little to no reason to not have at least Win8.1 on it. Or just some Linux. practically anything is better now than WinXP.
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These free SMS services expire your number after a brief non-usage period. Then you'll never be able to change your number on Steam, as they send the code to the phone number you speciify.
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And VAC bans will be applied based on phone number.
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Can you please explain how this works? I don't understand how VAC bans and phone numbers go together.
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You can remove the phone number from your account right after adding it.
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I figured this may happen eventually, so when I set this up, I gathered the 30 offline one-time-use codes.
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Those no longer work for changing your number btw...it's SMS numeric codes only now :-/
(I personally tested this even)
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Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. I got 30 codes, 10 lines with 3 rows, the last rows never work for some reason, but the first two do, at least for my end.
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No really, none of them work for changing numbers now...Valve changed their procedure recently.
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Today I listed an item on the market from the mobile app and it still asked me to confirm it through the app JUST in case it was really me using my phone
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Hmm... I have a smartphone, i use the steam authy thing and still i think it is a pain in the ass... Hope that they change it (again)... Worst idea ever... :/
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I disagree. It feels safer. Would be devastated if I lost my account.
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so you need someone else to feel safe? do you use someone else to croos the street, or you are smart enought to do it by yourself?
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hard to say....1103 trades, 11883 transaction on market and never got scammed.....i must be really dumb
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Never have I. So what? Doesn't mean anything.
What you wrote before makes no sense at all.
It makes me wonder how hard it is for you to understand a simple statement.
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you said, it feel safer
i would feel safer too, with somebody who would guide to with crossing street, but do i use it? no....bcs that feel of safe would cost a lot, same is this new steam safe mechanics......and so what? i traded long before they start do this stupid safe things, and never got scammed.....i got so many invites with links to some shit virus and still nothing.....it is almost same as have/not have AV.....even stupid idiot can get virus with AV
btw, how many cards you sold? try to sold all of them you got and see, how happy you will be
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You're not the only one on Steam. Congratulations on not ever being scammed but obviously it's a problem or Valve wouldn't have bothered addressing it.
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i agree, the problem is i think that it is already enough protected. The extra "work" just to sell some cards are boring... The account was safe just with the need to use the smartphone code to log in, now we need to login using the code on the smartphone AND confirm each sell one by one... Boring²... If at least you coul confirm all your sells at one time, but if youre selling 10 cards you need to confirm ten times... -_-
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Why would I spend so much money for something I use 4-5 times a day to say "I'll be 15min late" or "Should I buy something on the way home"? Anyway, just very cheap ones - last one was an alcatel with android 2.6
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My friends are ussing Bluestacks emulator for that and have no problem with it.
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I have a Lumia and have the 2FA working on both of my Steam accounts with Steam Desktop Authenticator. Not to mention that all Android emulators work with the app.
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True. Still, despite the evidence posted in this thread, I would say the number of Steam users who don't have a phone capable of receiving an SMS should be close to an undetectable percentage. On the other hand, smartphone owners, especially ones with an Android/iOS device? I could believe if someone said it is under even 66%.
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Nah, the desktop solutions work well too, so you just need the authenticator activation SMS and nothing more. I have authentication set up despite using a Lumia with no Steam app on it. :)
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There are many apps that allow one to receive sms on a PC or tablet such as mysms and MightyText. There's also Google Voice for those that can use it. I'm sure that there are other ways as well.
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No one has "banned" anything. Valve doesn't know what you are using to receive the sms and the apps that people are using to authenticate haven't been "banned" either. I would suggest using your favorite search engine to find this out for yourself since you have apparently chosen not to pay attention to other posts in this thread. Solutions have been mentioned here and they work just fine.
And I'm not sure what you mean by "emulator" unless you are referring to some of the apps that have been made so you no longer need a phone to authenticate.
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You just need to receive ONE sms. It doesnt need to be recieved on a smartphone. There will be details in that ONE sms that you will need to confirm on the Steam Android/iOS app. This app DOES NOT NEED to be installed on the same device that received the SMS.
You could use a tablet or Bluestacks like Skullman mentioned to use the app.
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There is reasons for such bullshit, you know...
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/77000-steam-accounts-hacked-every-month-new-securi/1100-6433003/
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You complain now but you know what would piss you off more? Having your account hacked.
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Not complain, but that number is an excuse to hide behind. I could respond that over 60,000 cars get stolen each month in the United States alone. Based on that, I propose a mandatory smartphone application for all car owners which requires you to authenticate yourself everytime the car door is opened and an additional time the key is put in the ignition. All to ensure less cars get stolen.
Now imagine this as a real-world scenario. And a car is worth a few hundred times more than a Steam account.
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Apples and oranges, it's about the same as that thing with "you wouldn't steal car would you?" compared to software. Different things to take into account.
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steam account isnt only software.....it is your property and it have some value, maybe even bigger, than some old car, so i think that steal car is same as steal steam account (sometimes are steam users so stupid, that it is as steal car with open doors and keys inside to compare)
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But when your car is stolen you don't call your car dealer to get a new one for free. You have an insurance and you pay for that. People should take care of their Steam account.
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Well, I don't see any other good reason for Valve to force this onto users and use hacking as an excuse.
Why would they do so if there is no hacking issue?
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Increasing the trade withhold limit to 15 days won't decrease the amount of stolen accounts. This is why it's an excuse.
Forcing people to apply each and every market posting won't decrease the amount of stolen accounts.
You know what would decrease the amount of stolen accounts? Screening chat and forums and filter out malicious links automatically. Forcing people to use secure passwords by requiring at least 12 characters long ones with at least one number in it.
Also, I would almost bet a large amount that these things they implemented didn't decrease the amount of stolen accounts, maybe not even the least bit. Most accounts are stolen because of user carelessness and foolishness, and no amount of security measures can withstand the power of sheer human stupidity.
And not just on Steam: most of the big data thefts can be traced back to some worker opening a stupid link on a workstation or plugging in an USB thumb drive they found lying around.
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Lumia user here too. :) (Although partly because of necessity. I had to get a smartphone with dual SIM and I had no money for a Blackberry, so I went with the second best or second least bad thing if I couldn't just use a good old reliable Nokia mobile phone.) And I swear that based on what I tried on the Android emulator for the Steam app, even that was just cobbled together hastily. Looks like they honestly think that you either own an iPhone or you are not a person they should waste their time on…
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you just need 1 sms to confirm the authenticator you will be using, desktop app, winauth or the official mobile thing from steam.
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Can people don't own a phone in this age?
Like, don't you need a phone number to open a bank account or registering for a school?
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well..i only use my cell phone because of my gf..if not..i wouldn't :p.....i lived 8 years with my nokia 1100...when it broken i leaved the cell..and because she wanted to talk with me,she gifted me a galaxy ace...that now is..like...5 years old
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Some people don't really see the need for a mobile phone, like myself. Sure, if work requires it I would have one but that is not the case currently, but for my personal life I don't see much need. If I am at work then there are methods of reaching me in need, if I am at home I can also be reached. If I am running errands I would not want to be disturbed anyway. As for while in transit, I am driving I don't need the distraction and if not then I will soon be either at a place where i can be reached or busy.
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What if there are emergency situation that needs to contact you?
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I am single, live halfway across the country from my parents and sibling. To my knowledge I am not the primary contact for anyone and I certain if any medical situation arose the hospital would make a just decision, my decision would be based almost entirely on their suggestion anyway. To get there would require many hours of travel under the best of circumstances regardless.
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Not eveyone uses Android Phones.
Its called Affordability.
Also each country has different economy based standards for affordability and purchase power for its citizen.
Remember there are 3 Worlds. 1st 2nd andd 3rd World.
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I'm not talking about Android phone. OP does not even own a phone.
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"Its called Affordability."
What if someone would call you brainless consumer?
Ok sorry for that but I'm getting very angry when someone is thinking that if you don't have android/windows/ios phone then its' because you don't have a money. There exists lots of people who don't need any phone or some super powerful phone just for facebook or playing some mini-games just because he can. If you have money it doesn't mean that YOU HAVE TO buy smartphone because everybody else have it. If someone need phone just to make phone calls and sending sms then why he should get any smarthphones? Older phones are smaller and have much better battery life. Someone who isn't need to make often a phone calls or sending a sms don't even need any phone. He can survive without it.
Again sorry if you didn't mean that but when I read "Not eveyone uses ANDROID PHONES." I immediatelly changed to angry mode. For a long time I didn't have any phone. I was the only one among my friends for very long time without phone because I didn't need it NOT because i didn't have money.
My first phone was Xperia Mini that I'm still using. And guest what? I'm using it only as mp3 player and from time to time to make a phone calls.
Like title say I think too that steam mobile authentication is bull****
For me even an idea that I would have every time connect to wi-fi, start apk and write a code to buy/sell (including email confirmation >.>)/log-in is the dumbest idea ever. Why they can't let people just use email for that?
If someone would hack your account then he would take all your inventory items for themself not randomly selling them on community market. I could understand some security for BUYING but for selling???? Where is the logic here?
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Account thieves target people with large inventory. You sell the items for a quick buck and transfer the money to your own account via the standard CS:GO item sale method. So it is more reasonable to protect market postings, yes. At least this part Valve got right, if nothing more.
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"Account thieves target people with large inventory. You sell the items for a quick buck and transfer the money to your own account via the standard CS:GO item sale method."
W8 I don't get it.
- Someone is hacking your account.
- Hacker selling all inventory items on victim account.
- Hacker that is still on victim account is buying cs:go items
- He traded bought items to his own account?
I don't get it.
Or you mean in 3 Hacker is transfering money from victim account to his own.
But that is impossible.
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You hack an account. Sell all stuff. Get one cheap CS:GO item and list it for the exact same price as the wallet you want to steal. You buy the listed item from the hacked account = money transferred.
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No phone? Your family does not believe in phones?
Yet you have a computer with a working internet connection. Seems legit.
If you have enough money, you can buy an android phone like the HOMTOM HT7 for about 45 Pounds at Gearbest or Efox Shop and get yourself a prepaid card. No further costs.
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You can just order an international version of a cheap Chinese phone from eBay for like 5 quids and buy a SIM card for it for whatever they cost there.
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It has to have android, though. I have never found an android phone this cheap, but i may be wrong.
Edit: Haha oh shit, i just found a 5$ Phone including shipping on eBay: 152035189519
But it is not a instant buy, you have to bid. The cheapest instant buy phones are abour 40€.
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The cheapest phones are all Android. Just search for android phone on eBay and marvel at the prices. :) The low-end ones are manufactured for almost no money, and if a few workers can get some of them out of the factory, they are even cheaper.
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and if a few workers can get some of them out of the factory, they are even cheaper.
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I use the steam app at my android phone, then i input the code they just send me, it said "the code is invlid",
and the steam support doesn't answer my ticket in two weeks, even I do the emaili authenticator, i still need to wait 15 days to put something on the market.
this is bullshit
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That happens because the time in your phone and in the app does not coincide. You must go in you phone settings and allow your time to be updated according to the internet (automatic). That must solve your problem [I hope]. Solved mine.
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Just grab WinAuth and borrow someone's cell/get a free texting app (BlueStacks/tablet if you have it). No service where I live, so thats what I ended up doing.
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Why the heck are they forcing using the app if there's no app for windows mobile?
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they just wanted to reserve special place in hell....and they did it well :D
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You don't want it. I have a phone, and this is just painful. Cards be damned, I'm not co-operating with this crap.
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this new authetication is such a crap, i begin to hate steam more and more. aaargh.
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U dont own phone? how old are you? (no offense, just question), also 435 games on steam and no phone? Buy phone instead of games.
or just use PC Desktop Authenticator and problem solved. But confrimation of every item is totally stupid. (every card etc)
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just download the phone emulator bluestacks then download the phone app "pinger" get yourself a number
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I've been using this for a long time as I have a Windows Phone and there's no official authenticator for it. Definitely to try it out, it's easy to use and works great: https://github.com/Jessecar96/SteamDesktopAuthenticator
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I can understand people being against technology but having PC and access to the Internet but refusing to use phone is simply stupid. What are you, selective hipster or some new-age thingy?
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phone use invisible waves, which is trying to destroy your brain.....dont use phones, goverment want to make you stupid and easily controlable :D
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can i turn off steam mobile authenticator when i don't need it ?
im planning activate it before summer sale then turn off it again after sales
i don't want stuck with this app forever if it only can be activated and unable to disabled it.
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you need to activate it 15days (or 7?) before using, after that, you can turn it off again
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thanks :)
glad to know that i can disabled this feature if no longer needed it
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I won't have the bullshit cool down anymore if I turn it off/remove it after that point right?
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Nah you will. Had to do a factory reset on my crappy android, the moment the app was uninstalled the waiting period was back. Had to wait 7 days for it to start working again after reinstall. It's all bunch of shit.
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I still don't really get the authenticator thing... (and have not activated it so far)
Can someone explain what it does more than the code in the e-mail, like when I change browser?
Would I have to authenticate every time i use steam or like with the e-mail code only when something changes?
If I lose the phone the authenticator is tied to number, right? But I couldn't activate steam then through the e-mail code until I got a new phone with the same number, right?
If I don't use the trading market except for selling cards do I even need the authenticator? (gifting inventory seems to be working like always...)
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As an authenticator device, normally it is safe from a malicious attack on your PC that could take over both of your Steam client and email account. Also, it is portable and faster.
Granted, it could have been an optional thing, choosing between authenticator or email. But that way they couldn't have forced the app and people giving them their phone number.
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Ok, thanks. I think I will still not bother with it then.
edit: just out of interest, how often do you need to authenticate, everytime you go into steam or only everytime you logged out and want to log in again? And with every trade I presume...?
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At every login from each possible platform (including the phone app, funnily), for each trade with another user where you send item(s), and with each market listing.
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ok, thanks. I understand it better now I think.
(Ha, that's really funny in a weird way to authenticate from the phone app with your phone :) )
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You DON'T need to authenticate everytime you log into steam, unless it is on a new computer.
You DO need to authenticate while trading, but that's as simple as opening the app and clicking a button.
You DO need to authenticate when logging into steam on browsers.
EDIT: When setting up the authenticator, it provides you with a recovery code. Memorize it or store it somewhere safe and offline. If you lose your phone, you can recover your authenticator using this code. It is not tied to the phone number, but to the device.
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For security reasons shouldn't there be an authenticator for the authenticator?
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You can get a free private cell phone number to receive that initial text online. Then use an emulator of some sort (bluestacks etc) to run the app.
Just google 'free online phone number'. A quick 2 min search found me this: www.textnow.com
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I don't own a phone, how do I get past the marketplace bullshit that's in place now?
Is there a way to fake it?
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