SimplyBook.me 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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SimplyBook.me is an online booking system: businesses use its admin interface to manage their calendar, services, staff and client bookings. Its two-step authentication doesn't sit in your profile by default. It's a free add-on that SimplyBook.me calls a custom feature, named Google Authenticator, and the account's admin has to switch it on before anyone can connect an app (SimplyBook.me). Despite the name, SimplyBook.me says any third-party authenticator app can supply the 6-digit login code (SimplyBook.me).
This guide uses Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone. Any authenticator app works the same way.
How we checked this guide: the SimplyBook.me steps come from SimplyBook.me's own help center, including the screenshots on its pages, linked below, which we read on October 21, 2026. We haven't tested them on a SimplyBook.me account, so a label may differ slightly. The Novaz steps are checked against the app, version 1.0.5.
Before you turn it on
Two side effects are worth knowing, both from SimplyBook.me's help:
- With the feature on, SimplyBook.me's support agents can no longer open your account settings (SimplyBook.me).
- You can't connect the account to Zapier while Google Authenticator (or HIPAA) is on (SimplyBook.me).
If you use the HIPAA custom feature, two-step authentication isn't optional: turning on HIPAA turns on Google Authenticator too (SimplyBook.me).
Step 1: the admin enables the feature
- In the admin interface, open Custom features from the left-hand menu and find the Security & Data Protection section.
- Select Enable next to Google authenticator.
- Select Set up 2-step authentication, or go to Manage > Users. Create a system user for each person who will sign in, with +, if they don't exist yet.
If staff will connect their own phones, create their users first and turn on Allow user to login without 2-step authentication in the feature's settings, so they can get in to do it (SimplyBook.me).
Step 2: connect an authenticator app
An admin can do this for any user under Manage > Users > the user > Google Authenticator. If you're a user doing it yourself, click your username in the left-hand menu to open Account info, then select Connect/Change next to Google Authenticator (SimplyBook.me).
- SimplyBook.me shows a QR code and, beside it, a Secret key.
- In Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at the code. If the QR code is on the same iPhone, take a screenshot and use Choose a photo instead (how that works).
- If you can't scan it, tap +, then Enter key manually in Novaz. Type SimplyBook.me under Service and the secret key under Setup key (about setup keys).
- Type the current code from Novaz into Security code and select Connect. If you're on Account info, save the settings.
SimplyBook.me's help doesn't say how often its codes change. Scanning the QR code passes the right settings to Novaz; you can check them later by tapping the account and looking at Interval under Details.
Signing in
After your password, a Two-step verification screen asks for the 6-digit code from your app, every time you sign in. The help page describes this for the admin interface, whether you start at simplybook.me or your company's own address (SimplyBook.me).
One-time codes and the SMS fallback
SimplyBook.me gives you more than one way back in, but you set them up yourself:
- One-time codes. On Account info, a Show one-time codes link sits next to Connect/Change. The HIPAA help page also says you can download a file of one-time codes from the Google Authenticator tab on Manage > Users (SimplyBook.me). Unless you've made a Novaz backup, its keys are only on your iPhone, so these codes are your way back in. Keep them away from your phone. See 2FA backup codes.
- A validated phone number. The setup screen asks you to add a recovery phone number in your user details, and the sign-in screen offers Or login with SMS. To validate a number, open Manage > Users > the user > User details and select Generate a check-code to validate phone. SMS messages use SMS credits (SimplyBook.me).
If SimplyBook.me rejects your code
SimplyBook.me's help doesn't cover rejected codes. The usual cause is the phone's clock: on iPhone, open Settings > General > Date & Time and turn on Set Automatically. Novaz warns you when the clock is 15 seconds or more off. More causes are in Authenticator code not working?
New phone or lost phone
To move to a new phone, use Connect/Change again while you can still sign in, and scan the new QR code. SimplyBook.me's help doesn't describe any other way to move it. With Novaz's iCloud backup or a backup file, you can instead restore your accounts on the new iPhone, and the codes keep working. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone.
If the phone is gone, use a one-time code or the SMS option. Without either, the sign-in screen is blunt: "Generator secret keys cannot be restored." SimplyBook.me's setup screen says support can restore access after a verification process, which is why it asks for a recovery phone number (SimplyBook.me). It doesn't say what proof support asks for or how long it takes. More in Lost the phone with your authenticator app?
Turning it off
The help page doesn't walk through turning two-step authentication off. Its screenshot of the feature's settings shows a Disable button next to Set up 2-step authentication on the Custom features page, which an admin would use to switch the feature off for the whole account.
