I cannot create Dungeon Group without Authenticator/SMS protect

Is this a “bug” to inconvenience people into downloading their crappy spyware app?

I cannot create a dungeon group with the default title, which is whatever key I have.

It used to be a problem with certain addons running, but after the patch and disabling all addons, the button is either gray or it just doesn’t do anything.

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same, blizzzard are you f serious

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If you think Battlenet authenticator is spyware why you are playing Wow and maybe other Blizzard/Activision titles in the first place? Android/iOS mobile apps have way less access to the device they are running on than a game running in eg. Windows which likely has full access to your computer and all data it contains.

Not to mention multiplayer titles generally use fairly intrusive anti-cheat mechanisms which in some cases work as a device drivers essentially getting even more access to your computer than a normal admin account (Disclaimer: I don’t know if any Blizzard titles use such methods).

Fair point. I am playing Wow using Wine on Lutris, which should sanbox some directories, but I should probably use some proper sandboxing.

My main point is that the less information about me this greedy company can sell, the better. And the mobile app is very intrusive, as with most apps from any proprietary app store.

Same issue here, still no official Blue response.

New official response here:

You are playing on Lutris, which is unsupported by Blizzard.

But I echo what other people have said, if you think the Authenticator app is spyware, I question why you are running their game(s), sandboxing or not.

it will take forever for them to fix

How is the app “Intrusive”?

I have it on both my devices (android and iOS), and the only time I ever realise its still installed, is when I need to authenticate.

Some of us don’t want or need Smartphones. I personally do not use a smart phone, as I can do everything I need though my computer. For those systems which need me to authenticate, then they can send me an SMS with a code which I input in the relevant field on the computer screen to move forward (this is how I authenticate for on-line banking for instance)

@Deliria In this case I think it being unsupported is a good thing. Performance is equal to running on Winblows. The sandbox I started using also has a negligible performance hit.

@Trovlak The fact you don’t find it intrusive means they are doing a good job. Read about the info it collects about you and your phone. They don’t even hide the fact they share, which means sell all of that info.

This mandatory practice has only stopped real players from using the Group Finder. Bots and spammers easily find a way around it.

SMS authentication is not particularly secure and is not hard to exploit. If you don’t want / need a Smartphone that’s your choice, but don’t be fooled into thinking that SMS authentication is secure. It isn’t.

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only for m+ , not M 0

It appears a few things got tangled up here in terms of rumours being told, so I’ll try to get things a little more transparent. :slight_smile:

1.) There is currently a bug that indeed prevents various M+ keys from being listed via the LFG system, if the account lacks protection via SMS/authenticator. We’re working on fixing that.

2.) The authenticator isn’t spyware of any kind. For people who for any reason would prefer to not have the app on their phone, or don’t have a smartphone at all, there is also a keyring-token version of it available for about 15 years already by now (the token actually predates the app-version by several years).

3.) SMS notification services are reasonably secure, but are indeed not meant as a stand-alone setup - they’re intended to accompany 2FA systems. Hence the requirement to use them together with the authenticator, which is just that. :slight_smile:

Once again creating dungeon groups is a problem!
This goes for normal Mythic keystones, I managed to start a Timeworn one without a problem.

And thank you, the bit about the authenticator is very reassuring. But here is the definition of spyware: "Spyware is software with malicious behavior that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user—for example, by violating their privacy or endangering their device’s security. "
Compare that to what we know the app is doing, not to mention what we don’t know it’s doing, and it pretty much matches up.

Slurping up phone numbers is also good for third-parties to aggregate with other information.

Except the app isn’t doing any of that.

If it was “slurping up phone numbers”, Blizzard would actually be in court, because that would actually be ILLEGAL under the GDPR.

But don’t let anyone steal your Tinfoil Hat.

The requirement for an authenticator / SMS Protect is here to stay.

I could not create group for timeworn keystone till today. Guess they changed something but now i cant post karazhan one… Had to wait whole first week of the patch for fix and now again same s h i t…

It’s crazy how fast certain people mention the “Tinfoil hat” to delegitimize anyone who brings up the word privacy.

If the Authenticator doesn’t itself collect your phone number, using the SMS protect feature gives Blizz that info, as well as buttloads of other stuff from the app.

“This app may share these types of data with other companies:
Personal Information, Application Activity, and About Applications and Their Performance.
This application can collect these kinds of data
Personal data”

Nobody will go to court here, unfortunately. The GDPR puts clear guidelines for entities who collect data to inform its users about what, and how they do it.
It doesn’t explicitly prohibit anyone from sharing information.

They aren’t supposed to share anything that goes above and beyond “legitimate interest”, yes, but that term is so stretched it’s essentially meaningless.
And even if there is certain information the app collects they aren’t allowed to share, no doubt it would happen anyway.
Too much money involved, and any potential punishment would be a slap on the wrist.

Blizz is in no way standing out here, it’s the way of the world.

And yet here you are, posting away on the internet…I’d suggest if you feel this strongly about privacy - and clearly you do - that the internet is not a good place for you to be.

Guys someone on us forum figured it out.
Swap places of your timewalking and regular key in backpack- worked for me

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