When you are enabling 2FA for your account, you will be given a set of randomly generate one-time use emergency backup codes.
Here is everything you need to know about your emergency backup codes:
- If you use one of your backup codes, 2FA will be automatically disabled on your account!
- The purpose of these codes is to allow to access your account in the event that you no longer have access to your authenticator app. (new/broken phone, deleted account from app, etc.)
- Upon using one of your emergency backup codes, you will be directed to this page to re-enable 2FA after logging in.
- It is advised that you do so at this time, otherwise 2FA will be disabled indefinitely.
- If you do not have a mobile device on hand to enable 2FA, there are also browser extensions you can use to set up 2FA.
- If 2FA has been disabled, you will generate new backup codes upon re-enabling 2FA, and thus your previous codes will be rendered invalid.
- If you lose your emergency backup codes, you may generate a new set of codes at any time from the preferences page.
- While it is true that you may only ever usefully use 1 backup code at a time, you are provided with 6 codes as an extra security measure.
- It is advised that you do not store all 6 codes in the same place, which will decrease the likelihood of you losing all of them at once.
- As a security measure, you will not be able to use an emergency backup code to disable 2FA from the preferences page.
- If you lose access to both your authenticator app and your emergency backup codes, you will need to contact support to regain access to your account.