name.com 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app
By the Novaz team · Updated October 29, 2026
Novaz steps checked against version 1.0.5
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Anyone who gets into your name.com account can move or redirect your domains, so a password alone is thin protection. name.com calls its two-factor authentication (2FA) Two-Step Verification. It's free and optional, and it uses an authenticator app that shows a new 6-digit code every 30 seconds (name.com), backed by backup codes and an optional recovery text.
It also unlocks Domain Lock Plus, which blocks transfers and changes to a domain's contacts and nameservers: you can't turn that on without Two-Step Verification (name.com). If you use the name.com API, read the API note below before you start.
name.com's articles are written for Google Authenticator and Authy. This guide uses Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone, and any authenticator app works the same way.
How we checked this guide: the name.com steps come from name.com's own help center articles, its Two-Step Verification page and its API documentation, linked below, which we read on October 20, 2026. We haven't tested them on a name.com account, so a label may differ slightly. The Novaz steps are checked against the app, version 1.0.5.
Turn on Two-Step Verification with an authenticator app
From name.com's setup article, updated September 2025 (name.com):
- Sign in at name.com, click the User icon at the top right, and choose Settings.
- In the left column, under Security, click Two-Step Verification.
- Click Setup Authenticator App. Type a name for your device and click Add Credential. Remember the name exactly, capital letters included.
- A QR code appears. In Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at it. If name.com is open on the same iPhone, take a screenshot and tap +, then Choose a photo. See scanning a QR code on the same iPhone.
- If the code won't scan, click Problems with QR Code? below it to reveal the Secret Key (name.com). In Novaz, tap +, then Enter key manually, and type it as the Setup key. name.com wants the device name from step 3, typed exactly as your account shows it, as the account name, so put that in Account. See What is a 2FA setup key?
- Type the 6-digit code Novaz shows and click Verify Code. A notification confirms the authenticator is active.
name.com's Authy article goes through Settings > Security Settings and ends with a Verify button (name.com), so your labels may differ slightly.
Set up your backups straight away
Unless you've turned on iCloud backup or exported a backup file in Novaz, its keys exist only on your iPhone, so these backups are what save you if the phone goes.
- Backup codes. On the Two-Step Verification page, click Show Backup Code on the right to get a list of codes. Each works once, and making a new list cancels the old one (name.com). name.com suggests printing them. See 2FA backup codes.
- A backup phone. After the authenticator is set up, the same page prompts you to add a phone number. If you lose the authenticator, the sign-in prompts let name.com text a one-time recovery code to that number (name.com). The article doesn't show the phone field itself, so look for the prompt.
What changes once it's on
- Every sign-in asks for a code. After your username and password, you type the code from Novaz, according to a screenshot in name.com's backup-text article (name.com). The field is called Security Code (name.com).
- No more emailed login codes. Without 2FA, name.com sends a one-time code by email, text or call when you sign in on a new device. Accounts with 2FA skip that step (name.com).
- The API is blocked by default. The API has no second step, so name.com shuts it off once Two-Step Verification is on. To allow it, go to Settings > Security Settings, scroll to the Name.com API section at the bottom, and switch the toggle from red to green (name.com, name.com). API calls then skip the code, so keep your tokens safe.
- Sub accounts. If a sub account has 2FA, the parent account's owner needs their own 2FA on it to get in (name.com).
If name.com rejects your code
name.com's help has no advice on this. Start with the iPhone's clock: Settings > General > Date & Time > Set Automatically. Novaz also warns you when the clock is 15 seconds or more off. If name.com shows Two-Step Verification Login Blocked, it has paused sign-in for 30 seconds, so wait and then try the current code (name.com). More causes are in Authenticator code not working?
Changing phones
name.com's help doesn't explain moving Two-Step Verification to a new phone, removing a device or turning the feature off. Setup names each device as a credential, but no article says whether you can add a second. Before you give up the old iPhone, check that you have unused backup codes and a backup phone, and ask name.com support how to move the credential while the old phone still works. With Novaz's iCloud backup or a backup file, you can restore your accounts on the new iPhone, and the same credential keeps working. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone.
If you lose your authenticator
- Use a backup code. Click Login, enter your username and password, then type a backup code in the Security Code field. Cross it off afterwards, since it won't work again (name.com).
- Use your backup phone, if you added one: follow the prompts at sign-in for a recovery text.
- Neither? name.com's help doesn't cover this case or give a timeline. Its help center offers chat and tickets around the clock (name.com). If the email and phone on your account are also out of date, the Account Recovery Request form asks for the owner's name, the email and phone on file, a scan of a passport or legal ID, and a photo of you holding it (name.com).
More in Lost the phone with your authenticator app?
Official name.com help
- Setting up Two-Step Verification with Google Authenticator
- Setting up Two-Step Verification through Authy
- Troubleshooting QR Code problems for Two-Step Verification
- Creating backup codes for Two-Step Verification
- Using two-factor Backup Codes
- Adding backup text message for Two-step Verification
- Using API with Two-step Authentication
- One-time codes for logging into your name.com account
- Enabling Domain Lock Plus
- Creating a sub account on Name.com
- Protect your website with Two-Step Verification
- Name.com customer login support ticket
- Authentication - name.com Core API