Authenticator codes not working
Your 6-digit code is rejected, or you've lost the phone with your authenticator app. What to check, and how backup codes get you in.
On this page
Symptom: the 6-digit code from your authenticator app is rejected, or you no longer have the app.
Today your options are an authenticator app and your backup codes. Email and text codes aren’t available.
Your code is rejected
The usual cause is the clock on your phone being out of step, because codes are based on the time.
- Make sure your phone sets its date and time automatically.
- Wait for a fresh code. Codes change every 30 seconds.
- Check you’re reading the PIToolkit entry in your app, if you have several.
You’ll see how many attempts you have left. After five wrong codes, that sign-in attempt stops and you start again with your password. Nothing else is locked.
You’ve lost your phone or the app
Use one of your backup codes in place of an app code. Each works once, and PIToolkit tells you how many you have left.
Once you’re in, you can create a fresh set from Settings, section Account & security, Two-factor authentication, Manage, Generate new backup codes, using your password and a backup code.
You can’t move two-factor authentication to a new phone without a code from the old app. Turning it off needs a current authenticator code. So until you can, keep signing in with backup codes and generating new ones when you run low. If your old app has a cloud backup or transfer feature, restoring it on your new phone may bring the PIToolkit entry back. See Two-factor authentication.
You’ve lost the app and all your backup codes
Your recovery key doesn’t bypass two-factor authentication: account recovery asks for a code too. PIToolkit staff can’t remove or reset a second factor. If you have no authenticator app and no backup codes, you can’t sign in to this account.
Before giving up, check anywhere you might have saved the backup codes: a password manager, a downloaded file, or a printout kept with your recovery key.