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The QR that you mention, is just an encoding of an actual string key (edit: I'm reading now that it's called seed). If possible, it is better to get the string
by j1elo 4y ago
The QR that you mention, is just an encoding of an actual string key (edit: I'm reading now that it's called seed). If possible, it is better to get the string directly, instead of its QR encoded counterpart.
This is needed for example to store the TOTP in a device that has no camera. Or in your Bitwarden Pro account. Obviously you wouldn't be able to scan a QR with such an application, so the actual string is needed you just copy-paste it, so it should be provided by any service that offers 2FA (I confirmed Google does)
- Xylakant 4y agoYou are correct about the QR code just representing a (fairly short) string, but applications can handle QR code just fine - 1password can read it directly from the screen.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y agoThere may be a plugin for it but the KeePass clients I've used don't support this by default. Generally, it would be best to look for the string (and keep both the string and the image secret!).
- wingmanjd 4y agoKeepassXC lets you store the TOTP seed value associated with an entry by right-clicking on that key and selecting "Setting up TOTP". Also, other TOTP generators like Authy and Aegis let you backup your tokens to restore to another device.
- pieter_mj 4y agoYes, but be careful which totp app you're using to store seed values/secret keys : some store them as plain text! Personally on android I'm using keepass2android and keepassium on ios to store both the QR image and the string value. It will also generate the OTP value at login. As you know, the keepass password file can be backed-up anywhere. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/blues-lab/totp-app-analysis-public/main/Gilsenan%20et%20al%20-%20Security%20and%20Privacy%20Failures%20in%20Popular%202FA%20Apps.pdf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/blues-lab/totp-app-analysi...
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- password4321 4y agoWhy not both? Thanks for the clarification.
- eigenvalue 4y agoYou can scan any QR code with the iPhone default camera app and get the string back that way. But yeah, all QR codes are just encoded strings.
- 2fast4you 4y agoSharing a useful app I found: The Orca Scan app on iPhone can scan and decode all kinds of barcodes and qr codes
- notpushkin 4y agoLinux: xclip -sel clip -t image/png -o | zbarimg - macOS: pngpaste - | zbarimg -