Honeybadger 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app

Honeybadger is an error tracking and application monitoring service, so your login opens your projects' error reports, uptime checks, logs and API tokens. Its two-factor authentication (Honeybadger also calls it MFA) works with authenticator apps such as Google Authenticator, Authy and 1Password (Honeybadger). For most people it's optional. It becomes mandatory when an account owner turns on the MFA requirement for their team. This guide uses Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone, but any authenticator app works the same way.

How we checked this guide: the Honeybadger steps come from Honeybadger's own documentation, changelog and blog, linked below, which we read on October 21, 2026. The setup steps are from a 2019 blog post, so the screens may have changed since then. We haven't tested them on a Honeybadger account, so a label may differ slightly. The Novaz steps are checked against the app, version 1.0.5.

When your team requires it

Account owners can make two-factor authentication compulsory for everyone on the account. They go to Settings & billing > Authentication in the account settings and click Enable MFA Requirement in the Require MFA section. Honeybadger then emails each user who still needs to set it up and asks them to do so at their next login (Honeybadger, Honeybadger).

If you got that email, the setup below is what Honeybadger is asking for.

Turn on 2FA with an authenticator app

Two-factor authentication is a personal setting, so it lives in your user settings, not the account settings (Honeybadger):

1. Sign in to Honeybadger and open User Settings, then the Authentication tab. The same tab holds your personal auth token (Honeybadger).
2. Select Set Up Two Factor Authentication and follow the directions on screen.
3. Honeybadger shows a QR code. In Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at it. If the QR code is on the same iPhone, take a screenshot, tap +, then Choose a photo. See scanning a QR code on the same iPhone.
4. Type the current code from Novaz to confirm.

Honeybadger's pages don't say whether the setup screen also shows the key as text. Its 2019 post describes the QR code as the recommended way and mentions the secret is about 32 characters, with codes made using SHA-1 every 30 seconds (Honeybadger). Those match what Novaz uses when you type a key, so if a text key is offered, tap +, then Enter key manually, and paste it into Setup key. See What is a 2FA setup key?

From then on, Honeybadger asks for a code from your app the next time you log in.

If you use the EU region

Honeybadger runs a separate EU region at eu-app.honeybadger.io, with its own accounts. If your team moves from the US region to the EU, everyone gets an email to set a new password, and two-factor settings don't carry over (Honeybadger). Set up 2FA again on the EU side, and keep the two entries apart in Novaz by giving them clear names.

No backup codes in the docs

None of Honeybadger's public pages mention backup or recovery codes, and none describe a second method you can fall back on. Without a Novaz backup (iCloud backup or a backup file), the keys exist only on your iPhone. So if Honeybadger offers recovery codes when you set it up, save them somewhere other than your phone. See 2FA backup codes.

Switching to a new phone or app

Since April 2026 you can swap authenticators without turning 2FA off first (Honeybadger):

1. Go to User settings > Authentication.
2. Click Edit next to your two-factor authentication settings.
3. Enter a code from the authenticator you use now.
4. Scan the new QR code with Novaz on the new iPhone, then enter the code it shows.

The old authenticator stops working once the new one is verified. Honeybadger emails you about the change and signs out your other sessions. You need the old phone for step 3, so do this before you wipe or hand it in. If you restore a Novaz iCloud backup or backup file on the new iPhone instead, Honeybadger's codes carry over and you can skip these steps. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone.

If Honeybadger rejects your code

Honeybadger doesn't publish advice for rejected codes. Codes depend on the time, so check the iPhone's clock first: Settings > General > Date & Time > Set Automatically. Novaz warns you when the clock is 15 seconds or more off. Make sure you're also reading the right entry if you have both a US and an EU account. More causes are in Authenticator code not working?

If you lose your authenticator

Honeybadger's docs don't describe a recovery process for a lost authenticator, what proof it asks for, or how long it takes. The general support address its docs give is support@honeybadger.io (Honeybadger), so write from the email address on your account. Read Lost the phone with your authenticator app? for what to do in the meantime.

Official Honeybadger help

• Account Security Updates (blog, March 26, 2019)
• Change two-factor authenticator without disabling it first (changelog, April 20, 2026)
• Require multi-factor authentication for your team (changelog, August 26, 2025)
• User management
• User settings
• Data residency