Lunch Money 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app

Lunch Money is a web-based budgeting and personal finance app. It can import from your bank with read-only access, so the account holds a detailed picture of your money (Lunch Money). Two-factor authentication (2FA) is optional. Lunch Money added it in October 2019 with two methods: an authenticator app, or text messages for US and Canadian numbers (Lunch Money). This guide uses Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone, but any authenticator app works the same way.

One thing to know up front: Lunch Money's knowledge base has no article on account 2FA. What's below is pieced together from its changelog, its security page and bug reports its own staff posted on the official feedback board.

How we checked this guide: the Lunch Money details come from Lunch Money's own changelog, security page and staff posts on its feedback board, linked below, which we read on October 21, 2026. Lunch Money's main site turns away automated requests, so we read its security page and its older changelog in archived copies on web.archive.org. We haven't tested the steps on a Lunch Money account, so a label may differ slightly. The Novaz steps are checked against the app, version 1.0.5.

Where the setting is

The 2FA options live on your Profile page in the Lunch Money web app, where you pick Authenticator App to start. Two bug reports written by Lunch Money staff describe that screen: one in May 2024 about the QR code not showing, and one in June 2025 about the page crashing when you chose the option (Lunch Money, Lunch Money). Both are marked complete, and the changelog lists the fixes (Lunch Money, Lunch Money). If either problem comes back, the error message itself points you to support@lunchmoney.app.

Turn on 2FA with an authenticator app

1. Sign in at my.lunchmoney.app on a computer and open your Profile page.
2. Under the two-factor options, choose Authenticator App. Lunch Money shows a QR code.
3. In Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at the code. If you're on your iPhone, take a screenshot and use Choose a photo instead. See scanning a QR code on the same iPhone.
4. Type the code Novaz shows into Lunch Money to finish.
5. Save your backup codes (see below).

Lunch Money's pages don't say whether it also shows a text key you can type by hand, or what it's called. If you get one, tap +, then Enter key manually in Novaz, and paste it as the Setup key. See What is a 2FA setup key? The pages also don't describe the confirmation screen, so the exact button names in steps 4 and 5 aren't given here.

Backup codes

Lunch Money has offered backup codes for 2FA since May 2020 (Lunch Money). Its pages don't say how many you get or how to make new ones. Keep them: if your iPhone is gone and you have no Novaz backup (iCloud backup or a backup file), the backup codes are what get you back in. Store them in a password manager or on paper, away from the phone. More in 2FA backup codes.

How often you'll be asked

When Lunch Money reworked its sign-in in April 2020, it let people with 2FA on skip the code on a device for 30 days (Lunch Money). Outside that, expect a code when you sign in.

If you share a budget, each collaborator signs in with their own account and login (Lunch Money). The pages don't say whether an admin can require 2FA for the others, so ask each person to turn it on for themselves.

If Lunch Money rejects your code

Lunch Money doesn't publish advice for this. Start with the iPhone's clock: 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?

Moving to a new iPhone

Lunch Money doesn't document a way to move 2FA to a new phone, or how to remove the authenticator from your profile. If you have a Novaz iCloud backup or backup file, you can restore your accounts on the new iPhone. Without one, the new phone has to be set up from scratch, so make the switch while the old phone still works and you can sign in, and check your Profile page for a way to replace the authenticator. If there isn't one, ask support before you wipe the old phone. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone.

If you lose your authenticator

Sign in with one of your backup codes. If you also set up text messages, that may work too, but Lunch Money's current pages don't confirm the text option is still offered. Without either, the only route the official pages give is Lunch Money's support team, at support@lunchmoney.app (Lunch Money). Lunch Money doesn't say what proof it asks for or how long a reset takes, so write from the email address on your account. See Lost the phone with your authenticator app?

Official Lunch Money help

• Security (archived copy, August 21, 2026)
• Changelog (archived copy, September 22, 2023)
• QR code image missing for 2FA setup
• Error enabling 2FA with Authenticator App
• Changelog #217 and Changelog #236
• Collaborators
• Getting Started