JetBrains 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app for your JetBrains Account

Your JetBrains Account holds your licenses for IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm and the other JetBrains tools, and your IDE logs in to it to activate them. Its two-factor authentication (2FA) uses an authenticator app plus recovery codes; JetBrains' help mentions no text-message option (JetBrains). The catch: older IDE versions can't ask for a code, so they need a separate app password. This guide uses Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone, but any authenticator app works the same way.

How we checked this guide: the JetBrains steps come from JetBrains' own help center and its Central Console documentation, linked below, which we read on October 20, 2026. We haven't tested them on a JetBrains Account, so a label may differ slightly. The Novaz steps are checked against the app, version 1.0.5.

Is 2FA required?

On a personal account it's optional, with two exceptions:

• Your company requires it. Admins in JetBrains Central Console can click Require 2FA. Members are emailed within about six hours; anyone who hasn't set it up after 7 days is logged out of their products until they do (JetBrains).
• You linked a work email. If a license on a linked address comes from an organization that uses 2FA, your account must use it too until you unlink that address (JetBrains).

Turn on 2FA with an authenticator app

JetBrains' help lists these steps (JetBrains):

1. Log in to your JetBrains Account at account.jetbrains.com.
2. At the top of the page, click Your account, then select Password in the menu on the right.
3. In the Two-factor authentication section, click Enable 2FA.
4. Enter your password and click Next. A QR code appears.
5. Open Novaz, tap +, pick Scan QR code and aim the camera at the screen. Setting up on the iPhone itself? Screenshot the QR code, then tap + and Choose a photo (how that works).
6. Type the 6-digit code from Novaz into the dialog and click Next.

The text of JetBrains' article doesn't name the key, but its screenshot shows one beside the QR code under Set secret. To type it, tap + in Novaz, then Enter key manually, and enter it as the Setup key (what a setup key is). JetBrains doesn't state its code interval, so scan when you can: a typed key always gets 30 seconds.

Those screenshots are older than the text and title the page Security Settings, so labels may differ a little.

Save your recovery codes

Once your code is accepted, the dialog offers Copy recovery codes and Download as TXT (JetBrains). Each code is 8 characters and works once (JetBrains, JetBrains). If that phone is gone and you have no Novaz backup (iCloud backup or a backup file), these codes are your way back in.

You can view them again while you can still log in: Your account > Password > View recovery codes, then a Novaz code in the Identification dialog. Re-Generate Codes makes a fresh set and cancels the old one (JetBrains). See 2FA backup codes.

Older IDEs need an app password

Recent JetBrains products send you to the website to log in, where you enter the Novaz code. Older ones only show username and password fields (JetBrains). To check, open the registration dialog (usually Help | Register) and choose JetBrains Account or JB Account. A Log in to JetBrains Account button means 2FA works; two fields mean you need an app password.

To get one, go to Your account > Password, click Get app password, enter a Novaz code in the Identification dialog, and click Get app password, then Copy app password. In the IDE, paste it where your regular password goes and click Activate. It's temporary and changes each time you open that dialog, so don't bother saving it (JetBrains).

When JetBrains asks for a code

At every login, after your email and password: type the 6-digit code and click Verify (JetBrains). You also need one to view recovery codes, get an app password or turn 2FA off. JetBrains' help mentions no option to trust a device.

If JetBrains rejects your code

JetBrains' help has no advice on codes that don't work. Most rejected codes come down to the time on your iPhone, so go to Settings > General > Date & Time and make sure Set Automatically is on. If the clock drifts by 15 seconds or more, Novaz shows a warning. For other things to check, see Authenticator code not working?

Changing phones

JetBrains doesn't document a phone switch. What it does document is turning 2FA off with a code (below) and on again, which takes you back through the QR code and recovery codes. Do that while the old phone still works. If you back up Novaz, you can skip this and restore the JetBrains entry on the new iPhone; without a backup, the new iPhone needs JetBrains added from scratch (moving to a new iPhone).

If you lose your authenticator

Log in with your email and password, then enter a recovery code in place of the one-time code (JetBrains).

No codes? Use the contact link on JetBrains' lockout page. Support can switch 2FA off once it's sure the account is yours, and asks for proof such as:

• a copy of a license certificate or invoice from a past purchase,
• your legal ID, or
• for a free educational license, the academic email on it plus a student or teacher ID or similar papers.

Afterwards you log in with your password alone, and JetBrains recommends turning 2FA back on. It gives no time frame. See also Lost the phone with your authenticator app?

Turning 2FA off

Go to Your account > Password and click Disable 2FA. In the Identification dialog, enter a Novaz code or a recovery code, then click Disable 2FA (JetBrains). You can then open the entry in Novaz and tap Remove account.

Official JetBrains help

• About two-factor authentication
• Enabling two-factor authentication
• Logging in with two-factor authentication
• Logging in with a recovery code
• Activating older JetBrains products that don't support two-factor authentication
• What if I get locked out of my account?
• Disabling two-factor authentication
• Two-factor authentication (JetBrains Central Console documentation)
• Link multiple email addresses to your JetBrains Account