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Novaz AuthenticatorGET

Hatena 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app for your Hatena ID

By the Novaz team · Updated October 29, 2026
Novaz steps checked against version 1.0.5

On this page
  1. Turn on 2FA with an authenticator app
  2. Save your recovery codes
  3. When Hatena asks for a code
  4. If Hatena rejects your code
  5. Changing phones
  6. If you lose your authenticator
  7. Turning 2FA off
  8. Official Hatena help

Your Hatena ID is the one sign-in behind Hatena's services: Hatena Blog, Hatena Bookmark, the Q&A site Jinriki Kensaku Hatena, and Hatena Blog Media for companies. Since March 25, 2024, it supports two extra protections: passkeys, and multi-factor authentication with time-based one-time passwords (TOTP) from an authenticator app (Hatena). Both are optional. With multi-factor authentication on, you sign in with your Hatena ID or email address and password, then a 6-digit code from the app (Hatena).

Hatena's help center is in Japanese only, and so are the screens in its screenshots, so this guide gives each label as shown, with a translation. Hatena says it has checked Google Authenticator and Microsoft Authenticator, and also points iPhone users to the codes built into iOS (see Apple Passwords vs an authenticator app). We use Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone, but any authenticator app works the same way.

How we checked this guide: the Hatena steps come from Hatena's own help center, including the screenshots in its setup and turn-off articles, and from Hatena's March 2024 press release, linked below, which we read on October 20, 2026. We haven't tested them on a Hatena 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

Hatena calls this 多要素認証 (multi-factor authentication). Its setup article describes these steps (Hatena):

  1. Sign in at accounts.hatena.ne.jp/login with the Hatena ID you want to protect.
  2. Go to accounts.hatena.ne.jp/settings. In the middle of the page, find the 多要素認証 row and click 有効にする (turn on) at its right.
  3. If Hatena asks you to confirm it's you, enter your password and click 送信する (send).
  4. The 多要素認証の設定 (multi-factor authentication setup) screen opens. Under QR コードをスキャン (scan the QR code), there's a QR code. In Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at it.
  5. Under コードを入力 (enter the code), type the 6-digit code from Novaz and click 送信する.
  6. A green banner confirms it's on, and the リカバリーコード (recovery codes) screen appears. Save them before you leave (see below).

Hatena's article doesn't mention a key to type instead, and its screenshot of the setup screen shows only the QR code, so plan to scan. Hatena says that on a smartphone, tapping the QR code opens your authenticator app, but Novaz doesn't open that way. On the iPhone that runs Novaz, take a screenshot of the QR code, then tap + and Choose a photo. See scanning a QR code on the same iPhone.

Sub-accounts have their own setting: sign in to the sub-account and repeat the steps (Hatena).

Save your recovery codes

A recovery code is what gets you in if you can no longer produce one-time passwords, and Hatena asks you to keep them somewhere safe (Hatena). Its screenshot of the recovery code screen shows ダウンロードする (download), 再生成する (regenerate) and 設定に戻る (back to settings).

Afterwards, the settings page shows a リカバリーコード row with the number of codes still available, eight in Hatena's screenshot, and a 管理する (manage) button (Hatena).

Novaz's keys are only on your iPhone unless you back them up with iCloud backup or a backup file, so keep these codes either way. Store them in a password manager or on paper, away from the phone. More in 2FA backup codes.

When Hatena asks for a code

From your next sign-in, Hatena asks for the one-time password along with your password (Hatena). Its help doesn't mention remembering a device.

Hatena also doesn't say whether the code is needed with a passkey, which it describes as a one-step sign-in (Hatena), or when you sign in to the Hatena Blog iPhone app with Google, Apple or X (Hatena).

If Hatena rejects your code

Hatena's help has no advice on rejected codes. Check your iPhone's clock first: Settings > General > Date & Time > Set Automatically. Novaz warns you when the clock is 15 seconds or more off. More causes are in Authenticator code not working?

If sign-in stops with a message asking you to wait and try again or contact support, that's a separate block Hatena uses against unauthorized sign-ins. If it keeps happening, Hatena asks you to use its contact form and include your Hatena ID, the time you tried and the message (Hatena).

Changing phones

Hatena's help doesn't cover a new phone. With the switches it does document, you can turn multi-factor authentication off while the old phone still works, then turn it on again and scan the new QR code with the new phone, saving the recovery codes Hatena shows. If you have a Novaz iCloud backup or backup file, you can skip this and restore your accounts on the new iPhone. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone.

If you lose your authenticator

Sign in with one of your recovery codes. Hatena's help doesn't show where the sign-in screen accepts them.

If you've lost both, Hatena documents no way back in. Its help sends sign-in problems to a contact form, but in a related case, a forgotten password with no access to the registered email address, Hatena says it can't confirm you're the owner and can't help (Hatena). So keep the recovery codes safe and your registered email address up to date. More in Lost the phone with your authenticator app?

Turning 2FA off

On accounts.hatena.ne.jp/settings, click 無効にする (turn off) in the 多要素認証 row, and enter your password if asked. On the 多要素認証の解除 (turn off multi-factor authentication) screen, check it's the right account and click 無効にする again. The row then reads 無効です (off) (Hatena). You can then open the Hatena entry in Novaz and tap Remove account.

Official Hatena help

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