Contabo 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app

Contabo's Customer Panel at my.contabo.com is where you manage your Contabo servers, Object Storage and invoices. Contabo now calls its second sign-in step multi-factor authentication (MFA); older pages say two-factor authentication or 2FA. The only method its help center describes is a time-based code from an authenticator app (Contabo). It's optional, but an account owner can require it for sub-users under Account > User Management with Force User to Setup 2FA (Contabo).

The odd part: switching it on in settings doesn't finish the job. Contabo shows the QR code the next time you log in. This guide uses Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone, but any authenticator app works the same way.

How we checked this guide: the Contabo steps come from Contabo's own help center and account recovery page, linked below, which we read on October 21, 2026. We haven't tested them on a Contabo 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

Contabo's help describes these steps (Contabo):

1. Log in to the Customer Panel and go to Account > Security & Access > Authentication.
2. Under Multi-factor Authentication, click Activate, then Set up authenticator app.
3. Log out of the Customer Panel and log in again. The setup screen with a QR code appears during this login.
4. In Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at the code. 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.
5. If you can't scan it, use Unable to scan? on the page. Contabo's help doesn't say what that option shows. If it gives you a text key, tap + in Novaz, then Enter key manually, and type it as the Setup key. See What is a 2FA setup key?
6. Type the code from Novaz into the One-time code field.
7. Contabo then shows your recovery codes. You must choose Save, Copy or Print before it lets you continue.

Contabo doesn't say how many digits its codes have or how often they change, so scanning the QR code is the safer choice.

Your 12 recovery codes

Contabo gives you 12 recovery codes. Each one works once, and they aren't shown again after setup (Contabo). Contabo also says it can't retrieve them for you (Contabo).

Unless you use iCloud backup or a backup file, Novaz keeps its keys only on your iPhone, so these codes are your way back in. Keep them somewhere other than that phone. To get a fresh set, go to Security & Access > Multi-factor Authentication > Manage, where you can regenerate them. More in 2FA backup codes.

If you're moving from the old Customer Panel

Contabo is retiring its old Customer Panel. 2FA doesn't move to the new one. If you had it on, at your first login you enter a code from your current setup, then set a new password, then set up 2FA again with a new authenticator entry (Contabo). The old panel had a single recovery code, and it stops working; the new setup gives you the set of codes described above.

Keep your old Contabo entry in your app until that first login is done. Once the new entry works, remove the old one in Novaz: open it and tap Remove account.

One Contabo article says 2FA currently has to be set up separately in the old and the new panel (Contabo).

If Contabo rejects your code

Be careful with repeated tries. Contabo says an account can be locked after too many invalid one-time password attempts, and a locked account goes through the account recovery form (Contabo).

Before trying again, check the iPhone's clock: Settings > General > Date & Time > Set Automatically. Novaz warns you when it's 15 seconds or more off. Other causes are in Authenticator code not working?

If you lose your authenticator

If you still have a recovery code, log in at my.contabo.com with your email address and password, and enter the recovery code when Contabo asks for the one-time code. Once you're in, set up MFA again under Account > Security & Access > Authentication (Contabo).

Without a recovery code, use Contabo's account recovery page. Before you fill in the form, have these ready (Contabo):

• your customer account details,
• a valid identity document, such as a passport or ID card, and
• recent payment details.

Submitting the form, which runs on Typeform, creates a support ticket, and Contabo's team follows up (Contabo). Contabo doesn't say how long this takes. Note that you need an active subscription to use the Customer Panel at all (Contabo). More in Lost the phone with your authenticator app?

Changing phones or turning it off

Contabo doesn't describe a way to move MFA to a new phone. What it does document is removing MFA under Security & Access > Multi-factor Authentication > Manage (Contabo). For a new iPhone, remove it while the old phone still works, then activate it again. If you use iCloud backup or a backup file in Novaz, you can restore your accounts on the new iPhone instead. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone.

If you think someone got into your account while 2FA was on, Contabo advises turning it off and setting it up again from scratch (Contabo).

Official Contabo help

• How do I change my Multi-factor Authentication settings?
• I can't login to my account with multi-factor authentication, what can I do?
• I can't log in to the Contabo Customer Panel
• Migrating to the new Customer Panel
• My account might have been compromised, what should I do?
• How can I add more users under my account?
• Account recovery