Mercado Libre 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app

Your Mercado Libre account (Mercado Livre in Brazil) is the one you buy and sell with on the marketplace, and it also signs you in to Mercado Pago. It has no single two-factor authentication (2FA) switch. Instead, Mercado Libre asks for one of its métodos de verificación (verification methods) when you sign in, make a transfer or change your details. There are five: facial recognition, a QR code, your phone (SMS, WhatsApp or a call), your email, and Google Authenticator (Mercado Libre).

Google Authenticator is the only app the help names, but setup uses a QR code or a setup key, which any authenticator app can read. The steps below use Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone, and other apps work the same way.

How we checked this guide: the Mercado Libre steps come from Mercado Libre's own help center for Mexico, linked below, which we read on October 20, 2026. The help center turns away automated requests, so we read archived copies on web.archive.org, saved between May and August 2025: the newest readable copies we could find. The labels are in Spanish and may differ in your country, in the app, or since those copies were saved. We haven't tested the steps on a Mercado Libre account. The Novaz steps are checked against the app, version 1.0.5.

Turn on Google Authenticator

Mercado Libre's steps (Mercado Libre):

1. Sign in and go to Mi perfil (My profile) > Seguridad (Security) > Métodos de verificación > Google Authenticator. Another help page calls the first menu Tu perfil (Your profile), so look for either (Mercado Libre).
2. Mercado Libre offers a QR code to scan or a setup key to copy, the clave de configuración. To scan, tap + in Novaz, then Scan QR code. If the code is in the Mercado Libre app on the same iPhone, take a screenshot, tap +, then Choose a photo (scanning a QR code on the same iPhone).
3. To use the key instead, copy it, tap + in Novaz, then Enter key manually. Type Mercado Libre as the Service and paste the key into Setup key (What is a 2FA setup key?).
4. Back in Mercado Libre, tap Continuar (Continue) and enter the 6-digit code from Novaz.

Mercado Libre doesn't say how often its codes change. Scanning is safer, because the QR code passes the settings to Novaz, while a typed key always gets 6 digits every 30 seconds.

The codes work in the Mercado Libre and Mercado Pago apps and websites. Mercado Libre says it never asks for them through any of its channels, so don't give one to anyone who contacts you (Mercado Libre).

When it asks for a code

Sign-in, transfers and changes to your details are the examples Mercado Libre gives (Mercado Libre). Its sign-in help adds that it may ask for an extra method when you sign in, and that a method can stand in for a forgotten password (Mercado Libre). The help doesn't say which method Mercado Libre picks each time.

No backup codes

The help pages mention no backup or recovery codes. Your fallbacks are the other methods: at least one must always be on (Mercado Libre), and facial recognition stays on permanently (Mercado Libre). Without a Novaz iCloud backup or backup file, its keys exist only on your iPhone, so make sure the email and phone under Métodos de verificación still reach you.

Changing phones

Mercado Libre lets you link the authenticator on more than one device. Once it's active, the Google Authenticator section lets you add new devices or turn the method off (Mercado Libre). Add your new iPhone there while the old one still works, or restore your Novaz accounts on it from iCloud backup or a backup file. The help doesn't say how to unlink just the old device. How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone walks through the rest.

If Mercado Libre rejects your code

The help pages don't cover this. Most often the iPhone's clock has drifted: in Settings > General > Date & Time, turn on Set Automatically. Novaz shows a warning once the clock is off by 15 seconds or more. For other fixes, see Authenticator code not working?

If you lose your authenticator

At sign-in, choose another method, such as email, phone or facial recognition. If none of them works (Mercado Libre):

1. On the sign-in screen, enter your email or phone, and your password if you have one.
2. When asked to choose a verification method, select No puedo usar ningún método (I can't use any method).
3. Mercado Libre then confirms you're the account holder, or the legal representative of a business account. Have your ID ready and find a well-lit spot.

Once it confirms your identity, you're in. The page doesn't say how long this takes.

If your phone was lost or stolen, Mercado Libre's security help also links a report form. It asks what happened, then takes security measures on your account (Mercado Libre). For the Novaz side, see Lost the phone with your authenticator app?

Turning it off

Use the same Google Authenticator section (Mercado Libre). Facial recognition stays on regardless. Then open Mercado Libre in Novaz and tap Remove account.

Official Mercado Libre help

• Google Authenticator como método de verificación
• ¿Para qué me sirven los métodos de verificación?
• Problemas de acceso a la cuenta
• No puedo usar ningún método de verificación, ¿qué hago?
• Problemas de seguridad