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Can I disable 2fa if I go back to my old (non ECG) watch?

nicholas720

I was on with Garmin support chat - they were telling me I could disable 2fa or have it less if I click the "remember this browser" button.  That never work - I have to enter a 2fa code even within the same hour after I'm trying to get back into the site.  Apparently - after looking at forums - it's because I used ECG once on my new watch and I'm stuck with this 2fa every single time I log into the website, even after it times out.  I'm on the website a lot because I import workouts.  If I get rid of my new watch and go back to my old Forerunner (with no ECG) - can I get rid of this forced permanent 2fa?  

Or even better - can I check a box to disable ECG on my new watch and get rid of the forced constant 2fa?

Thanks

  • 0

    I don't think so. I don't use ECG and I don't have 2FA enabled but based on what everyone else is saying, it seems that once you have mandatory 2FA enabled due to ECG, it stays on forever no matter what you do. I think this is by Garmin's design, and I don't think they want to change it. I'm guessing it has something to do with complying with health data privacy laws, and I'm guessing Garmin would rather be safe than sorry, which explains the overzealous enforcement of 2FA.

    And surely Garmin is aware of how annoying this is for users, since people have been complaining about it for a while now. 

    Some anecdotal evidence for this: I did try enabling 2FA on a burner account (which had never used ECG either), and I was able to disable it with no problem.

    This shows that Garmin is able and willing to let users disable 2FA in some cases (i.e. when they have never used ECG, apparently).

    nicholas720 said:
    If I get rid of my new watch and go back to my old Forerunner (with no ECG) - can I get rid of this forced permanent 2fa?  

    If you really want to try this out without potentially messing up your existing account, make a 2nd Connect account and pair it with your ECG-capable watch, then use ECG with that account. I assume 2FA will be mandatory for that account.

    Then remove the ECG watch from the 2nd account and see if 2FA goes away (or if you can now disable it). I kinda doubt it would work, but I could be wrong.

    If it does work, it might suggest that *maybe* you could remove your ECG watch, disable 2FA, then add it back, but if something like that really worked, I think people would have mentioned it by now.

  • 0

    I can enable and disable MFA (2FA) at will, but I never associated my Garmin Connect account with any ECG capable device, so I cannot tell it will work if you completely remove yours from all Garmin apps (Connect, Express, IQ, Dive, Golf, Explore,...). I recommended to try it to several other users, in the past, but none of them gave reliable feedback whether it worked or not. So if you try it, please report back whether it helped.

    When it works, the MFA can be disabled at https://www.garmin.com/en-US/account/security/mfa/ When your account is blocked, the two sliders are greyed out, and cannot be changed. In my case, I can flip them at will.

    If removing the device does not help, then it looks like the only way to get rid of it, is creating a new account, and avoiding ECG.

  • 0 in reply to trux

    I think the 2FA is because of the ECG data that is in the account that Garmin is protecting for you.

    I could be wrong, but I would think that just becuase you delete the watch they are still going to protect the account data with 2FA. If the data is still in the account snd 2FA is removed then that is a breach in security.

  • 0 in reply to 4411990
    4411990 said:
    I think the 2FA is because of the ECG data that is in the account that Garmin is protecting for you.

    Yes, but if Garmin wanted to give people in this situation a way to disable 2FA, they could give users the choice to delete all ECG data associated with their account.

    I doubt that will ever happen, but I wouldn't mind being proven wrong.