Remove the password reset penalty for those who use the mobile authenticator

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Red Jun 30, 2016 @ 12:03pm

Recently I have reset my password and have found out it messes up my account for 5 days. I can't use the market and I can't trade. With the steam sale I can no longer get the cards before they expire which is a massive pain. I understand why they do it for accounts that use emails for authenication as emails are easily hacked and a lot of things could have happened Steam tells me this but isnt the whole point of having the mobile authenticator to make your account safer. My phone isn't going to be used by anyone else but me to get into my account and i don't understand why i'm being punished for using the mobile authenticator.

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Showing 1-13 of 13 comments

DegenWins Jun 30, 2016 @ 12:06pm

I just did this exact same thing.
Reset my password to login to newly installed mobile app.
Later found out login issue was because mobile app login is case sensitive and my phone was auto capitalizing my username.
Now even though I was not warned of this issue I cannot trade on steam for 5 days and I will not be able to complete my badge or help others complete theirs or sell my remaining badges (which will probably amount to about $2)

Satoru Jun 30, 2016 @ 12:12pm

You acn CHANGE your password without issue

RESETTING your password may indicate your accuont was compromised. Which is why it triggers a trading/market cooldown.

Snapjak Jun 30, 2016 @ 12:14pm

Pretty much everything that causes a hold on your items or the market is designed to protect your account. The password cooldown will always make sense. What if you lose your phone and someone finds it, and uses the mobile app?

You can still reset it yourself and force the cooldown, giving you time to recover and remove the now-lost phone without worrying about your account and items.

Red Jun 30, 2016 @ 12:21pm

Originally posted by Satoru:
You acn CHANGE your password without issue

RESETTING your password may indicate your accuont was compromised. Which is why it triggers a trading/market cooldown.

Fair enough but my point still stands it says it is to protect users inventory and wallet incase their email has been comprimised. My email played no part in me resetting my password as i used the mobile authenticator which is for the most part secure. I know why this happens I just don't think it should apply when no email is involved in the reset. They could add in case your smartphone is comprimised to the cooldown description if they don't want to change it but it just doesn't make sense to me

Red Jun 30, 2016 @ 12:30pm

Originally posted by Snapjak:
Pretty much everything that causes a hold on your items or the market is designed to protect your account. The password cooldown will always make sense. What if you lose your phone and someone finds it, and uses the mobile app?

You can still reset it yourself and force the cooldown, giving you time to recover and remove the now-lost phone without worrying about your account and items.

While i understand where you are coming from I don't agree this makes sense. If someone does find your phone it's likely there is a password on it right? Not only that you can still induce the cooldown using your email. Also what is the likely hood of that happening whose first response to finding a phone on the ground is to use it to get into some guys steam account instead of going to the police with it or trying to steal it

Last edited by Red; Jun 30, 2016 @ 12:32pm

Red Jun 30, 2016 @ 12:34pm

Originally posted by Degenerate:
I just did this exact same thing.
Reset my password to login to newly installed mobile app.
Later found out login issue was because mobile app login is case sensitive and my phone was auto capitalizing my username.
Now even though I was not warned of this issue I cannot trade on steam for 5 days and I will not be able to complete my badge or help others complete theirs or sell my remaining badges (which will probably amount to about $2)

Right a warning would be nice even or at least updating the description of the cooldown to include the mobile authenticator so people dont feel as screwed over

Satoru Jun 30, 2016 @ 12:41pm

Originally posted by Mudawott:
Right a warning would be nice even or at least updating the description of the cooldown to include the mobile authenticator so people dont feel as screwed over

Note that when you're resetting your password the last thing you're thinking about is 'oh wow can i trade'

plus what would you do anyway. YOU CANT REMEMBER YOUR PASSWORD. A reyou going to go "well cant remember it adn wow cant trade, welp never logging into steam ever again!"

Snapjak Jun 30, 2016 @ 1:14pm

Originally posted by Mudawott:
Originally posted by Snapjak:
Pretty much everything that causes a hold on your items or the market is designed to protect your account. The password cooldown will always make sense. What if you lose your phone and someone finds it, and uses the mobile app?

You can still reset it yourself and force the cooldown, giving you time to recover and remove the now-lost phone without worrying about your account and items.
While i understand where you are coming from I don't agree this makes sense. If someone does find your phone it's likely there is a password on it right? Not only that you can still induce the cooldown using your email. Also what is the likely hood of that happening whose first response to finding a phone on the ground is to use it to get into some guys steam account instead of going to the police with it or trying to steal it

The number of people who don't use a passcode on their phone is very high.
Why? Convenience.
Why push 4 numbers when you can have none and just go right into the phone.

As to the second part. I think you are seriously underestimating how greedy people can be when they find something. Or even "find" something.

Red Jun 30, 2016 @ 1:14pm

Originally posted by Satoru:
Originally posted by Mudawott:
Right a warning would be nice even or at least updating the description of the cooldown to include the mobile authenticator so people dont feel as screwed over

Note that when you're resetting your password the last thing you're thinking about is 'oh wow can i trade'

plus what would you do anyway. YOU CANT REMEMBER YOUR PASSWORD. A reyou going to go "well cant remember it adn wow cant trade, welp never logging into steam ever again!"

It is possible since changing your password is a pain if you dont go through the reset process. Also knowing you can't trade is important because it makes you consider if resetting your password is worth it will you wait and try again or just reset as soon as you couldn't get into your account.

DegenWins Jun 30, 2016 @ 1:15pm

When i did this moments ago, I knew exactly what my password was, But I was still having issues logging in...So I did a password reset just to make sure I was typing it right.
After doing the reset I noticed that my steam username was all lowercase, so I logged in with all lowercase. My phone was capitalizing the first letter. I didn't think this would be an issue at first since nowhere else have i seen case sensitive usernames but there you have it...
My password reset literally had nothing to do with not knowing my password and a password reset only takes roughly 30 seconds so i just did it out of instinct. I manage accounts and passwords for the company I work for so I have literally hundreds of accounts for various services and a password reset is the first thing I do every single time if I fail to login and it often never has anything to do with a bad password. Its just procedure.

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