I'm not commenting on the security side of the solution, there are real experts here who can help with this (or turn it right down ;) ).

However, assuming your solution (with SHA256) is acceptable and secure, your main problem seems to be that "carefully comparing all the digits of a SHA-256 hash .. takes a while".

Indeed, comparing a string of 64 hex digits is not an easy task for a human, so - why not think in the direction of presenting the same information in some human-friendly form?

Off the top of my head - let's have a dictionary of words (or images). Let each hex byte (00-FF) be used as an index to that dictionary. As a result we have a list of 32 words (or images) on the screen...

I'm sure you've got the idea...

Idea #2: Conversion (of some sort) from Hex digits into Latin alphabet letters (maybe plus decimals, maybe plus punctuation marks as well) - still much more readable than hex.

I have been reliably informed that the idea is perfectly on-topic on Cryptography.SE

I'm not commenting on the security side of the solution, there are real experts here who can help with this (or turn your idea right down ;) ).

However, assuming your solution (with SHA256) is acceptable and secure, your main problem seems to be that "carefully comparing all the digits of a SHA-256 hash .. takes a while".

Indeed, comparing a string of 64 hex digits is not an easy task for a human, so - why not think in the direction of presenting the same information in some human-friendly form?

Off the top of my head - let's have a dictionary of words (or images). Let each hex byte (00-FF) be used as an index to that dictionary. As a result we have a list of 32 words (or images) on the screen...

I'm sure you've got the idea...

Idea #2: Conversion (of some sort) from Hex digits into Latin alphabet letters (maybe plus decimals, maybe plus punctuation marks as well) - still much more readable than hex.

I have been reliably informed that the idea is perfectly on-topic on Cryptography.SE

I'm not commenting on the security side of the solution, there are real experts here who can help with this (or turn it right down ;) ).

However, assuming your solution (with SHA256) is acceptable and secure, your main problem seems to be that "carefully comparing all the digits of a SHA-256 hash .. takes a while".

Indeed, comparing a string of 64 hex digits is not an easy task for a human, so - why not think in the direction of presenting the same information in some human-friendly form?

Off the top of my head - let's have a dictionary of words (or images). Let each hex byte (00-FF) be used as an index to that dictionary. As a result we have a list of 32 words (or images) on the screen...

I'm sure you've got the idea...

Yes, I do realise this has nothing to do with Cryptography.SE

I'm not commenting on the security side of the solution, there are real experts here who can help with this (or turn it right down ;) ).

However, assuming your solution (with SHA256) is acceptable and secure, your main problem seems to be that "carefully comparing all the digits of a SHA-256 hash .. takes a while".

Indeed, comparing a string of 64 hex digits is not an easy task for a human, so - why not think in the direction of presenting the same information in some human-friendly form?

Off the top of my head - let's have a dictionary of words (or images). Let each hex byte (00-FF) be used as an index to that dictionary. As a result we have a list of 32 words (or images) on the screen...

I'm sure you've got the idea...

Idea #2: Conversion (of some sort) from Hex digits into Latin alphabet letters (maybe plus decimals, maybe plus punctuation marks as well) - still much more readable than hex.

I have been reliably informed that the idea is perfectly on-topic on Cryptography.SE