Rockstar Games 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app

Your Rockstar Games account, which Rockstar used to call your Social Club account, is the sign-in behind GTA Online and Red Dead Online. Its 2-Step Verification has one method: a code from an authenticator on your phone, tablet or browser (Rockstar, Rockstar). Nothing we read makes it required, though in March 2019 Rockstar gave GTA$500,000 in GTA Online to everyone who had it on (Rockstar).

Know this before you start: neither Rockstar's settings page nor its sign-in screen offers backup codes. Rockstar's advice is to turn on your authenticator's own cloud backup instead, so you can restore your codes on a new device (Rockstar). This guide uses Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone, where that means turning on iCloud backup (PRO) or exporting a backup file in Settings › Backup. Read the recovery section too. Any authenticator app works the same way.

How we checked this guide: Rockstar's support site blocked our automated reader and isn't in public web archives, so we couldn't use its articles. The Rockstar steps come from Rockstar's account-security page, a 2019 Social Club announcement, and the wording of its sign-in screen and Security settings page, all read from Rockstar's websites on October 19, 2026, without signing in. We haven't tested them on a Rockstar account, so a label may differ slightly. The Novaz steps are checked against the app, version 1.0.5.

Turn on 2FA with an authenticator app

The labels come from Rockstar's account settings page (Rockstar):

1. Go to rockstargames.com/account/security and sign in: it's Security in the account settings menu. The old Social Club address, socialclub.rockstargames.com/settings/mfa, now leads there too.
2. Under 2-Step Verification, select Set up Authenticator.
3. Under Setup with QR Code, Rockstar shows a QR code. In Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at it. If the QR code is on the same iPhone, take a screenshot, tap +, then Choose a photo. See scanning a QR code on the same iPhone.
4. If the scan fails, select Scan Not Working?. Rockstar shows a Secret Key with a Copy Code button. In Novaz, tap +, then Enter key manually, type Rockstar Games as the Service, and paste the key as the Setup key. See What is a 2FA setup key?
5. Type the code from Novaz in Enter Authenticator Code, type your password in Current Password, and select Verify.

Once it's on, the 2-Step Verification Device section shows Authenticated via Authenticator App.

The Rockstar pages we read don't say how often its codes change. Scanning the QR code is the safer choice, because it passes those settings to Novaz; a typed key gets 6-digit codes every 30 seconds.

When Rockstar asks for a code

Rockstar's 2019 announcement said you'd need a code on a new device, or from a device or location it doesn't recognize (Rockstar). The sign-in screen titled 2-Step Verification takes the code in Verification code, then Submit, and depending on where you sign in, offers Remember this device (Rockstar).

Remembered devices sign in without 2-Step Verification. They're listed under My Remembered Devices on the Security page, where Forget Device removes one, such as a shared computer (Rockstar).

Rockstar's sign-in can also ask for a code sent to your email (Rockstar). That's a separate check, so look at which code the screen wants.

If Rockstar rejects your code

During setup, Rockstar's settings page shows Verification code is invalid when the code doesn't match (Rockstar). For trouble at sign-in, the 2-Step Verification screen links to a support article on the "Incorrect verification code" error (Rockstar), which we couldn't read.

The usual cause is the iPhone's clock: open Settings > General > Date & Time and turn on Set Automatically. Novaz also warns you when the clock is 15 seconds or more off. Other causes are in Authenticator code not working?

Changing phones

If you have a Novaz iCloud backup or backup file, restore it on the new iPhone and your Rockstar codes carry over. Without one, switch while you still have the old phone. On the Security page, select Unlink next to Authenticated via Authenticator App, then Set up Authenticator again with Novaz on the new iPhone (Rockstar). Keep the old phone until you're done, in case Unlink asks for a code. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone.

If you lose your authenticator

With no backup codes, these are the options Rockstar's pages show:

• A remembered device. If one still lets you sign in without a code, go to Security, select Unlink, and set up Novaz again (Rockstar).
• Rockstar's recovery page. Rockstar's settings include a page titled 2-Step Verification Account Recovery, where you enter your Rockstar Games password and select Remove 2-Step to take your 2-Step Verification device off the account (Rockstar). The pages we could read don't say how you get to it.
• Rockstar Support. Its article No longer have access to phone or authenticator to complete 2-Step Verification covers this case, but we couldn't read what proof it asks for or how long it takes.

Your email address matters here. Rockstar warns it may not be able to recover an account whose email you've lost, and suggests a lasting address with its own two-factor authentication, not a school or work one (Rockstar, Rockstar).

More in Lost the phone with your authenticator app?

Turning 2FA off

On the Security page, select Unlink next to Authenticated via Authenticator App (Rockstar). Rockstar calls 2-Step Verification the best way to secure your account (Rockstar), so turn it off only to replace it.

Official Rockstar help

• Keeping Your Rockstar Games Account Secure
• Account Settings - Security (you need to sign in to see it)
• Rockstar Games (the sign-in page)
• Double GTA$ and RP in Top Fun in Grand Theft Auto Online (March 2019)