How to change your password - and why you should

Today is World Password Day, and although we don't know anyone who's that into their password, it is a perfect day to go over how to change your TextNow password – and why you should.

How to change your password on TextNow

Before we get into the why, here’s how to change your password on TextNow:

1. Open your TextNow app and tap on the main menu button in the upper-left corner.

2. Tap on Settings, then Account

3. Scroll down and tap on Change Password.

You’ll have to put in your old password to prove you’re you. Then you can enter your new password!

Just a heads up: Once you change your password here, you'll need to use that new password whenever you access TextNow from another device, like your desktop or a new phone.

If you really want to make sure your TextNow account is safe, you can easily log out anyone else who might be logged into your account. Head to TextNow’s main menu > Settings > Account again, but this time scroll all the way down and tap on Log out of all other devices. That will kick off anyone else using your login. Added to a freshly changed password, anyone who wants to access your account would need to know your new password.

Why change my password?

One word: Security.

Especially if you’re using a shared device like a work or school computer.  

According to Verizon’s 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, 81% of hacking-related breaches used stolen passwords and/or weak passwords. If you’re reusing passwords, once a bad person steals your password, you just gave them access to many of your accounts across all products and services. Not good.

Experts say you should change your passwords once every three months or so.

What makes a good password?

That’s the question, isn’t it? The number one rule of passwords is: Do not use personal information in passwords. And by personal info, that means your name, birthdate, or any other information that can be linked to you.

The number two rule is: Don’t use “password” as your password.

Number three rule is: Don’t use any of the passwords on this list, the most common passwords in use as of 2022.

• 123456  
• 123456789  
• qwerty  
• password
• 12345
• qwerty123  
• 1q2w3e  
• 12345678  
• 111111  
• 1234567890

And rule four: Don’t reuse passwords. Using the same password on different accounts is like using the same key to open your car door and your house door, and makes the headache of losing your keys that much worse.

Technically speaking, the safest password is a random phrase unconnected to anything. Take some words and combine them in a phrase like “fish-Volcano.phone.” Unless you’re a fish using your phone from inside a volcano, there is nothing in that phrase that could be linked to you. (Don’t use that literal phrase though – make it your own!)

If you're the kind of person who still uses "letmein" for their password, why not mark the occasion of World Password Day with a more secure password?