I am not a professional computer tech. nor I.T. trained. I keep reasonably informed (I hope). You may wish to follow along with my thoughts about the smartphone/tablet/laptop security ideas I share here, being my own personal opinions & points of view after some research. Your own personal thinking & conclusions & decisions are also necessary. Hopefully I can save you some time by sending some of your thoughts in helpful directions & towards useful questions.

Many opinions on the Internet agree that the still common 2 Factor Authentication practice of sending an SMS text message to your smartphone (e.g. an option for bank logins) is Not the best practice; that login security can be improved further. One can instead use the Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator Apps (although in some recent advice: “many choose to avoid Google Authenticator”. And for info. there are suggested alternatives to Microsoft Authenticator App). One can choose to use Other good Authenticator apps for login procedures (a few of them are noted below). Many free Authenticator apps have been judged good (& using one to be a step up in security from using text message to phone).

There are articles on the Internet explaining the advantages of using a top-evaluated Authenticator app, & there are online videos & articles explaining how to set them up on smartphone and/or tablet/laptop. Although: it may currently be the top option for safety to use a dedicated key-type MFA device (YubiKey 5C NFC is a suggested example)(downside: losing or having the physical security key stolen = problem).

Examples of some top free Authenticator apps recently recommended include:  2FAS App, Aegis Authenticator, Duo Mobile and Twilio Authy (& apologies if I have missed other good ones; I think there are quite a few).

After reading some research, I would rather be using a good Authenticator app, especially on financial account login(s) & when traveling. Although I agree with the thinking/advice that it maintains better security to avoid accessing e.g. a financial account online at all when traveling, I can imagine that it might seem necessary to do so on an occasion.