SMS Verification

The Fox of Glenarvon

SO I discovered recently that my email was being accessed without me knowing it. I switched to sms verification while logging in. I read somewhere that this is also not the safest method. Some sites recommend an authentication app. I'm not sure how practical this is since you will need a different app for each gmail and hotmail and you will probably need internet access for it to work?
Do you have any recommendations?

28064212

You don't need a different app for each account (unless the developers have been lazy sh*tes). Most two-factor authentication systems support the TOTP algorithm, which can be used by most authentication apps. For example, I have the Google Authenticator app set up for Google, Microsoft (including Hotmail), Dropbox, GitHub, Amazon, Facebook, and Reddit.

And you don't need internet access. The algorithm works on a combination of a shared key (which you assign when you first set up an account), and the current time. So long as your phone has a reasonably accurate clock (and it can pull this from the mobile network its connected to), it can generate the correct one-time code