Letterboxd 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app

Your Letterboxd account holds your film diary, ratings, reviews, lists and watchlist, and it's also how you rent films on Letterboxd Video Store (Letterboxd). Two-factor authentication (2FA) is optional and comes in one form only: time-based codes from an authenticator app or a password manager that makes them. There's no text-message or email option, and no backup codes (Letterboxd).

For the app side we use Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone; other authenticator apps follow the same pattern.

How we checked this guide: the Letterboxd steps come from Letterboxd's own help center, security notice and developer documentation, linked below, which we read on October 20, 2026. The developer documentation turned away our automated reader, so we read it in an archived copy on web.archive.org, saved in July 2026. Letterboxd's help names the Settings page but not the buttons inside it, and we haven't tested the steps on a Letterboxd account, so what you see may differ. The Novaz steps are checked against the app, version 1.0.5.

Before you turn it on

Without backup codes, your email inbox is the safety net. If you lose your authenticator, Letterboxd's answer is a password reset sent to your account's email address (Letterboxd). So before you start:

• Make sure you can still sign in to that email address, and change it in Letterboxd first if you can't.
• Protect that email account with its own strong password and 2FA. Anyone who can read your inbox can request the reset.

Letterboxd recommends 2FA and a unique, complex password for all members, including in its March 2024 notice about an intruder in a staff account (Letterboxd, Letterboxd).

Turn on 2FA with an authenticator app

Letterboxd's help says you turn 2FA on or off in Settings, and links straight to letterboxd.com/settings/auth/ (Letterboxd). It doesn't describe the screens after that, so these steps stay close to what it documents:

1. Sign in on the Letterboxd website, open letterboxd.com/settings/auth/, and start the two-factor setup there. The help doesn't say whether the iOS or Android app has the same switch.
2. If Letterboxd shows a QR code, open Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at it. If the code is on the same iPhone, take a screenshot, then tap + and Choose a photo. See scanning a QR code on the same iPhone.
3. If you get a text key instead, tap +, then Enter key manually. Type Letterboxd as the Service, your username as the Account if you like, and the key as the Setup key. See What is a 2FA setup key?
4. Enter the current code from Novaz where Letterboxd asks for it to finish.

Letterboxd's help doesn't give the code length or interval. Prefer the QR code when there is one: it passes those settings to your app, while a key typed into Novaz always gets 6 digits every 30 seconds. Tap the Letterboxd entry and open Details to see the Interval Novaz uses.

When Letterboxd asks for a code

The help center doesn't say how often you'll need a code at sign-in, or whether Letterboxd remembers a device. Its developer documentation shows two more moments: with 2FA on, changing your password and deactivating or deleting the account both take your current code as well as your password (Letterboxd).

If Letterboxd rejects your code

Letterboxd's help doesn't cover rejected codes. Start with the iPhone's clock: open Settings > General > Date & Time and turn on Set Automatically. Novaz flags it if the clock drifts by 15 seconds or more. For other fixes, see Authenticator code not working?

Changing phones

Letterboxd doesn't describe moving 2FA to a new phone. The only control it documents is the on and off switch in Settings, so move while you still have the old iPhone: turn 2FA off, then on again, and scan the new QR code with the new phone. If you have a Novaz iCloud backup or backup file, you can restore your accounts on the new iPhone instead. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone.

If you lose your authenticator

Letterboxd's route goes through your email:

1. Use the password reset form with the email address on your account. Letterboxd says this gets you back in and will "reset your 2FA status" (Letterboxd).
2. Keep the reset email: it includes your username, which you may need because some accounts have sign-in by email address turned off for security reasons (Letterboxd).
3. No email? Add robot@letterboxd.com to your contacts and check spam. Also try any other address you might have signed up with (Letterboxd, Letterboxd).

If that fails, or you've lost the email address itself, contact Letterboxd support. To prove the account is yours, send any email address you may have used (even an old one), roughly when you created the account, and your username if you know it. Letterboxd gives no timeframe (Letterboxd).

Once you're back in, check Settings and set up the authenticator again if 2FA is off. More in Lost the phone with your authenticator app?

Turning 2FA off

You turn it off on the same Settings page (Letterboxd). The help doesn't describe the steps or whether you'll need a code. Afterwards, open the Letterboxd entry in Novaz and tap Remove account.

Official Letterboxd help

• Does Letterboxd have two-factor authentication for increased account security?
• How can I reset my password?
• I can't sign in, please help!
• Someone else has access to my account. Have you been hacked?
• Do I need a Letterboxd account to rent?
• Security notices
• Letterboxd API developer documentation (read in an archived copy from July 2026)