Parsec 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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Parsec is the remote desktop app people use to play games together online or to reach a work computer from somewhere else. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is optional on a personal account, but a Parsec for Teams administrator can make it required for everyone on the team (Parsec). The method Parsec documents is a time-based (TOTP) authenticator app, backed by 10 backup codes and a recovery email (Parsec). This guide uses Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone. Any authenticator app works the same way.
How we checked this guide: the Parsec steps come from Parsec's own help center articles, linked below, which we read on October 21, 2026. The help center's web pages showed an automated-access check, so we read the same articles, including their screenshots, through the help center's public article feed. We haven't tested them on a Parsec account, so a label may differ slightly. The Novaz steps are checked against the app, version 1.0.5.
Have a second email address ready
Setup asks for a recovery email, which Parsec says you can use to reset your 2FA. The setup screen in Parsec's help states that it has to be different from your account's main email address (Parsec).
Turn on 2FA with an authenticator app
Parsec's help describes these steps (Parsec):
- Sign in to your Parsec account page at account.parsec.app.
- Click the blue Enable 2FA button under your name. A window titled Enable Two-Factor Authentication opens with a QR code.
- In Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at the QR code. If the QR code is on the same iPhone, take a screenshot and use Choose a photo. See scanning a QR code on the same iPhone.
- If you can't scan it, Parsec shows a secret key below the QR code. In Novaz, tap +, then Enter key manually, and type it as the Setup key. See What is a 2FA setup key?
- Type the 6-digit code from Novaz in Code and your Parsec password in Password.
- Enter your second address in Recovery email.
- Click Enable 2FA.
- Parsec shows your backup codes. Click Download Codes and store the file somewhere safe.
Afterwards, a 2FA IS ENABLED badge appears under your name on the account page. You can also do this while creating a new account: Parsec offers the same authenticator step as an optional part of sign-up (Parsec).
What changes when you sign in
Without 2FA, Parsec emails you to confirm each sign-in from a new location, with the subject "Verify a login attempt from a new location" (Parsec). Once 2FA is on, Parsec says it stops asking for that email confirmation (Parsec) and asks for a code from your authenticator app at every sign-in instead (Parsec).
Your backup codes
Parsec gives you 10 backup codes, and each one works in place of a 6-digit code from the app (Parsec). To see them again later, open the Security tab of your account page and click Display Backup Codes (Parsec). Parsec's help doesn't say whether a code stops working after one use or whether you can make a new set.
Without a Novaz backup (iCloud backup or a backup file), its keys exist only on your iPhone. If that phone is lost, the backup codes and your recovery email are what get you back in, so keep the codes in a password manager or on paper. See 2FA backup codes.
If Parsec rejects your code
Parsec's help doesn't cover rejected authenticator codes. The most common cause is the iPhone's clock: open Settings > General > Date & Time and turn on Set Automatically. Novaz also warns you when your clock is 15 seconds or more off. More causes are in Authenticator code not working?
Moving to a new phone
Parsec doesn't describe a phone switch. What its help does document is turning 2FA off and on again, so the practical route is to do that from the Security tab while you still have the old phone, scanning the new QR code with the new one. If you use Novaz's iCloud backup or keep a 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
Sign in with one of your backup codes, then set 2FA up again on your new phone.
Without the codes, Parsec's setup screen points to the recovery email as the way to reset 2FA, but its help doesn't describe the reset steps for a personal account, what proof it asks for, or how long it takes.
On a Parsec for Teams account, an administrator can help. In the admin portal's Members & Invites section, they find you, click the ... menu, and choose Send 2FA reset email. You click Reset my Two-Factor Authentication in that email, enter your password, and click Reset 2FA. Your account then has no second factor, and Parsec recommends turning 2FA back on right away (Parsec).
More in Lost the phone with your authenticator app?
Turning 2FA off
On the Security tab, click Disable 2FA and enter your Parsec password (Parsec). If your team enforces 2FA, you'll be asked to set it up again the next time you sign in (Parsec). Then open Parsec in Novaz and tap Remove account.
