Icedrive 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app

Icedrive is a cloud storage service for keeping, syncing and sharing files. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is optional. Icedrive's help center lists two methods, an app option it calls Google Authenticator and SMS/Text Message, and you pick one of them (Icedrive).

The thing to know before you start: Icedrive doesn't hand out backup codes. A staff member on Icedrive's forum explains that the secret code on the setup screen is "the actual recovery code" (Icedrive). So save that code while you can see it.

The option is named after Google's app, but it uses a QR code and a secret code, the usual setup for time-based codes. This guide uses Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone. Icedrive's pages don't name other apps, but Novaz and other authenticator apps add this kind of setup the same way.

How we checked this guide: the Icedrive steps come from Icedrive's own help center and from replies by Icedrive staff on its official community forum, linked below, which we read on October 21, 2026. We haven't tested them on an Icedrive 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

Icedrive's help article, last updated May 21, 2024, describes the setting in the web app (Icedrive):

1. Sign in to the Icedrive web app and click your avatar in the top right corner.
2. From the menu, choose 2FA & Access.
3. On the 2FA tab, click Google Authenticator.
4. Follow the prompts on screen. The setup screen has a QR code and a secret code, according to Icedrive staff (Icedrive).
5. Before you scan anything, copy the secret code and store it somewhere safe and separate from your phone, such as a password manager or a sheet of paper. Icedrive gives you no other backup (see below).
6. In Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at the QR code. If the code is on the same iPhone's screen, take a screenshot, tap +, then Choose a photo. See scanning a QR code on the same iPhone.
7. If you'd rather type it, tap +, then Enter key manually. Fill in Service (for example, Icedrive), Account if you like, and paste the secret code into Setup key. More in What is a 2FA setup key?
8. Finish the prompts. When Icedrive asks for a code, type the one Novaz shows for Icedrive.

Icedrive's help doesn't say how many digits its codes have or how often they change. Scanning the QR code is the safer choice, because it carries those settings to the app. A key typed by hand gives 6-digit codes every 30 seconds.

One method at a time

Icedrive's help describes the methods as a choice, not a set. To switch from one to the other, you disable the current method under 2FA & Access and set up the new one (Icedrive). That means you can't keep SMS as a fallback next to the authenticator app.

Security keys aren't an option right now either. Icedrive staff said in October 2024 that YubiKey verification isn't currently possible (Icedrive).

Your secret code is the backup

Because there are no backup codes, the staff advice is to keep the secret code from the setup screen, on a USB stick or written down. With it, you can add Icedrive to a new authenticator app by typing the code in, with no QR code needed (Icedrive).

With Novaz, an iCloud backup or a backup file can also bring Icedrive back on a new iPhone, but the saved code is the route Icedrive itself documents. If you didn't save the code when you set things up, you can still fix it while you can sign in: disable the method under 2FA & Access, set it up again, and save the code this time. Then open the old Icedrive entry in Novaz, tap Remove account, and use the new one. Keep the saved code private, since anyone who has it can make your codes.

If Icedrive rejects your code

Icedrive's pages don't cover rejected authenticator 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. Other causes are in Authenticator code not working?

Changing phones

With the saved secret code, add Icedrive on the new iPhone through Enter key manually. Without it, redo the setup as described above while the old phone still works. A Novaz iCloud backup or backup file is a third option: restore it on the new iPhone and Icedrive comes with it. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone.

If you lose your authenticator

First, use your saved secret code to add Icedrive to an authenticator app again. Icedrive has no backup codes, and since only one method is on at a time, there's no second method to fall back on.

Without the code, Icedrive Support resets 2FA for you. Its help says to email support@icedrive.net from the email address linked to your account, explain that you can't get past 2FA, and support will walk you through a reset (Icedrive). Staff on the forum describe the same route for SMS codes that never arrive (Icedrive). Icedrive doesn't say what else it may ask for or how long a reset takes.

More in Lost the phone with your authenticator app?

Turning 2FA off

Go back to 2FA & Access from your avatar menu and disable the current method (Icedrive). Then remove the Icedrive entry from Novaz: open it and tap Remove account.

Official Icedrive help

• 2FA methods and setup
• 2FA - Unable to access Icedrive account
• 2FA Backup codes (community forum, answer by Icedrive staff)
• 2fa sms installing problem (community forum, answer by Icedrive staff)
• Security key like Yubico yubikey for logn (community forum, answer by Icedrive staff)