Airbrake 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app
By the Novaz team · Updated October 29, 2026
Novaz steps checked against version 1.0.5
On this page
Airbrake is an error and performance monitoring service for developers, so your account holds the stack traces and error data your apps send it. Airbrake's two-factor authentication (2FA) works with any authenticator app that scans a QR code, and it's included on all current plans (Airbrake). Two things stand out. Your recovery codes appear a single time during setup and can't be viewed again. And an account admin can make 2FA mandatory for everyone on the account. This guide uses Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone. Any authenticator app works the same way.
How we checked this guide: the Airbrake steps come from Airbrake's own documentation, including its screenshots, which we read on October 21, 2026. Airbrake last updated its two-factor page in October 2021, and some screenshots look older than that. We haven't tested the steps on an Airbrake account, so a label may differ slightly. The Novaz steps are checked against the app, version 1.0.5.
Turn on 2FA with an authenticator app
2FA is a setting on your own user profile, not on the company account (Airbrake):
- Sign in to Airbrake and open your profile page. Airbrake's screen is titled Edit profile, and the setting is on the Profile tab.
- Next to Two-factor authentication, click Enable.
- A Two-factor authentication panel opens with a QR code. In Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at the screen. If the QR code is on the same iPhone, take a screenshot and use Choose a photo instead. See scanning a QR code on the same iPhone.
- Can't scan? Under or manually enter the key, Airbrake prints the key in groups of four characters. In Novaz, tap +, then Enter key manually, type a name such as Airbrake under Service, and type the key as the Setup key. See What is a 2FA setup key?
- Type the current code from Novaz into the 6-digit authentication code box and click Enable two-factor authentication.
- Airbrake now shows Two-factor recovery codes. Save them (see below), then click Finish two-factor setup.
Save the recovery codes before you click Finish
The recovery codes screen in Airbrake's documentation shows ten codes and a warning that you won't see them again. The same warning says that if you lose your device without these codes, "you will lose access to your account" (Airbrake). Airbrake suggests keeping them in a password manager.
Novaz keeps its keys on your iPhone, so without a Novaz backup (iCloud backup or a backup file), a lost or reset phone takes the Airbrake key with it. Copy the codes somewhere you can reach without that phone, such as a password manager on another device or a printout. Airbrake's documentation doesn't describe a way to make a new set later. More in 2FA backup codes.
Signing in afterwards
From your next sign-in, Airbrake shows a Two-factor authentication page after your password. Type the code from Novaz into 6-digit authentication code and click Verify. The same page has a Remember this browser for 30 days checkbox, so a browser you trust won't ask every time, and a Recovery link for signing in with a recovery code (Airbrake).
When your admin requires 2FA
An admin can turn on Require all users to have two-factor authentication enabled on the Security tab of the account security page, then click Save two-factor authentication settings. While it's on, users can't open any Airbrake page until they set up 2FA. If an admin turns the requirement off again, Airbrake emails the other admins about it (Airbrake).
The same tab can also require GitHub or SAML single sign-on for everyone. With GitHub sign-in, the second step is your GitHub account's own 2FA rather than Airbrake's (Airbrake, Airbrake).
If Airbrake rejects your code
Airbrake's documentation has no advice on rejected codes. The usual cause is the iPhone's clock: open Settings > General > Date & Time and turn on Set Automatically. Novaz also warns you when the clock is 15 seconds or more off. Also make sure you're reading the Airbrake entry in Novaz, not another account. Other causes are in Authenticator code not working?
Changing phones
Airbrake doesn't document how to move 2FA to a new phone, or how to turn it off. With a Novaz iCloud backup or backup file, you can restore the account on the new iPhone and skip this. Without one, the new phone needs a fresh QR code from Airbrake. Check your profile page for a way to do that while the old phone still works, and keep the old phone and your recovery codes until you've signed in with a code from the new one. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone.
If you lose your authenticator
Sign in with your password, then follow the Recovery link on the code page and enter one of your recovery codes (Airbrake). Once you're in, set up 2FA again with your new phone.
Without the codes, Airbrake's own setup screen warns that you'll lose access to the account. Its documentation doesn't describe a support process for removing 2FA, what proof it would ask for, or how long that would take. The documentation lists support@airbrake.io as its contact address, so that's the place to ask. More in Lost the phone with your authenticator app?
