SaneBox 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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SaneBox sorts your email from the outside: it works on the mailbox you already have, and you manage its folders, digests and reminders from the SaneBox Dashboard on sanebox.com. That dashboard is what SaneBox's two-factor authentication (2FA) protects. It's optional, and SaneBox recommends doing it with an authenticator app rather than text messages (SaneBox). This guide uses Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone. Novaz is one example: any authenticator app works the same way.
How we checked this guide: the SaneBox steps come from SaneBox's own help pages, linked below, which we read on October 21, 2026. We haven't tested them on a SaneBox account, so a label may differ slightly. SaneBox's help is brief on this topic, so we say where it leaves something out. The Novaz steps are checked against the app, version 1.0.5.
Your email login and SaneBox 2FA are separate
You can sign in to SaneBox with a password or through your email provider, such as Google, Yahoo or Outlook (SaneBox). SaneBox's 2FA is its own step on top of that. If your Gmail or Outlook account already has two-step verification, that protects the email account, not the SaneBox Dashboard, so it's worth turning on both. SaneBox also points out that anyone who gets into your email account may be able to get into SaneBox.
Turn on 2FA with an authenticator app
SaneBox's help says the setting is in the Security section of the dashboard, and that the rest is a series of prompts (SaneBox). It doesn't describe each screen, so the steps below stop where its help does:
- Sign in to SaneBox and open the Security Dashboard at sanebox.com/dashboard/security (SaneBox).
- Find the two-factor option and start the setup, then follow the prompts.
- When SaneBox shows a QR code, open Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at it. If you're setting this up on your iPhone, take a screenshot and use Choose a photo instead. See scanning a QR code on the same iPhone.
- SaneBox's help doesn't say whether it also shows a key you can type. If it does, tap +, then Enter key manually in Novaz, and paste it as the Setup key. See What is a 2FA setup key?
- Type the code Novaz shows to finish. SaneBox says its codes have 6 digits (SaneBox).
- Print the recovery code SaneBox gives you during setup (next section).
SaneBox's own pages name Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Authy and 1Password as apps that work (SaneBox). They're examples, not a list of the only apps allowed: what matters is that the app makes standard time-based codes.
The recovery code
SaneBox creates a recovery code while you set up 2FA and asks you to print it and keep it somewhere safe (SaneBox). The help speaks of one code, not a sheet of them, and doesn't say whether it stops working after you use it or how to get a new one.
Keep that code safe. Novaz's keys stay on your iPhone unless you turn on iCloud backup or export a backup file, so if that iPhone is gone and you have no Novaz backup, the printed code is your only way in without contacting SaneBox. More in 2FA backup codes.
When SaneBox asks for a code
According to SaneBox's help (SaneBox):
- Remember Me: if you tick it when you sign in, the same browser asks for a code about once every three months.
- A different browser or computer: always asks for a code.
- SaneReminder links: opening a link from a SaneReminder email while signed out asks for a code once per session.
- Several SaneBox accounts: switching between them usually asks for a code each time.
If SaneBox rejects your code
SaneBox's one tip is to check the time on the phone that shows your codes (SaneBox). On iPhone, go to Settings > General > Date & Time and turn on Set Automatically. Novaz warns you when the clock is 15 seconds or more off. If the time is right and codes still fail, see Authenticator code not working?
If you lose your authenticator
Try the printed recovery code first. If you don't have it either, SaneBox Support can remove 2FA from your account after checking who you are. Email support@sanebox.com with (SaneBox):
- your full name as you gave it when you signed up,
- the email addresses connected to your SaneBox account, and
- a scan of a government-issued ID.
Once SaneBox has verified you, it turns 2FA off and you sign in as before. Its help doesn't say how long that takes. Afterwards, set 2FA up again with your new phone. See Lost the phone with your authenticator app?
Changing phones or turning 2FA off
SaneBox's help covers neither. If you're getting a new iPhone, look in the Security section of the dashboard for a way to switch 2FA off or set it up again while you can still get codes from the old phone. With Novaz's iCloud backup or a backup file, you can restore your accounts on the new iPhone instead; without one, the account has to be added again on the new one. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone. When the new phone works, open the SaneBox account in Novaz on the old phone and tap Remove account.
While you're in the Security Dashboard, SaneBox also suggests checking Recent Activity for sign-ins you don't recognize and using Log Out All Sessions if something looks wrong (SaneBox).
