Twitter introduces two-step verification with iOS app update

Perhaps the most significant change in Twitter for iOS is what the company calls "login verification," or what has become known as two-factor verification in tech parlance. With version 5.9, users can now turn on and manage the new security setting directly from the app, an improvement over other implementations that require communication with a Web portal.

In practice, the two-step system uses an iPhone as the authentication device when logging into Twitter.com. When logging into the Web portal, a challenge is sent to Twitter's servers, which in turn sends a push notification to a user's phone. From within the Twitter app, information regarding the request, including location, time and browser type can be accessed, and the request verified.

Backup codes are also implemented in case a user doesn't have their iPhone handy. The new authentication technique is an add-on to the SMS login verification Twitter rolled out in May.

As for the app's new search functions, Twitter will now return results with included social context, a feature just introduce last week on Twitter.com. A photo gallery option is also available, doing away with the pane-by-pane swiping through a user's photo cache. This option is available by clicking on the "View more photos" button.

Finally, users can now create and manage lists in-app.

Twitter for iOS comes in at 13.0MB and is available as a free download from the App Store.