StartMail 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app

StartMail is a privacy-focused email service, used in the browser at mail.startmail.com, in email clients over IMAP, or in its own mobile app. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is optional. When you turn it on, StartMail asks for a code from an authenticator app each time you log in, and that is the only second step it describes: no text messages, no email codes (StartMail).

The part to plan for is the backup. StartMail gives you a single 12-digit backup code. If you lose your authenticator and that code too, its help page says you won't be able to get into your account. This guide uses Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone, but any authenticator app works the same way.

How we checked this guide: the StartMail steps come from StartMail's own help center, linked below, which we read on October 21, 2026. The help center's web pages refused our plain download, so we read the same articles through the help center's public article feed on support.startmail.com. We haven't tested the steps on a StartMail 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

StartMail's help describes the setup in the webmail (StartMail):

1. Log in at mail.startmail.com/login with your username and password.
2. Click Settings in the top right.
3. In Account settings, scroll down to Login settings > Two-factor authentication and click Enable.
4. Enter your account password and click Enable again.
5. StartMail shows a QR code. In Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at it. If the page is open on the same iPhone, take a screenshot and use Choose a photo instead. See scanning a QR code on the same iPhone.
6. If you can't scan, StartMail also shows a 32-character code you can copy. In Novaz, tap +, then Enter key manually, give it a name under Service, and paste the code as the Setup key. See What is a 2FA setup key?
7. Type the 6-digit code that Novaz shows into the StartMail activation page.
8. StartMail then shows your 2FA backup code. Save it before you leave the page (next section).

StartMail's page names a few authenticator apps as examples, but it only asks for one that supports time-based one-time passwords (TOTP), which Novaz does.

Your one backup code

Many services hand out a list of backup codes. StartMail gives one 12-digit code, and it does a single job: at login, it switches two-factor authentication off for your account (StartMail). The help page adds that older accounts knew it as the "deactivation code".

Unless you've backed up Novaz with iCloud backup or a backup file, its keys exist only on your iPhone, so this code is your way back in if the phone is lost or wiped. Store it away from the phone, in a password manager or on paper. StartMail also warns that reinstalling an authenticator app can reset it and lose your codes, which applies to Novaz too: removing the app removes its keys. More on storing codes in 2FA backup codes.

Don't mix it up with StartMail's one-time recovery code. That one is for a forgotten password: you use it to set a new password, and you create it with Generate recovery code in Settings (StartMail, StartMail). It doesn't replace the 2FA backup code, so keep both.

When StartMail asks for a code

Once 2FA is on, you need a code from the app every time you log in (StartMail). StartMail's help doesn't say whether the mobile app or email clients that use a trusted-device (IMAP) password also ask for one. Those device passwords are created separately in the webmail under Trusted devices/IMAP (StartMail).

If StartMail rejects your code

StartMail's help doesn't cover rejected codes. The usual cause is the iPhone's clock: open Settings > General > Date & Time and turn on Set Automatically. Novaz warns you when the clock is 15 seconds or more off. Also check that you're typing the newest code, not one that just expired. Other causes are in Authenticator code not working?

Changing phones

StartMail doesn't describe moving 2FA to a new phone. If you use Novaz's iCloud backup or a backup file, restore your accounts on the new iPhone and the StartMail codes keep working. Without one, use what the help does cover: turning 2FA off while you still have your codes (below). So, with the old phone still working, turn 2FA off, then turn it on again and scan the new QR code with the new iPhone. Setting it up again takes you through the same steps, ending with a backup code, so save the one you get then. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone.

If you lose your authenticator

Use the backup code (StartMail):

1. Go to the StartMail login page and log in with your username and password as usual.
2. Instead of a 2FA code, click Lost access to your device?.
3. Enter your 12-digit 2FA backup code.

This turns two-factor authentication off, and you're in. Turn it back on in Settings with your new phone if you want to keep using it.

If you have neither the app nor the backup code, StartMail's help is blunt: you won't be able to access your account. It doesn't describe a support route for that case. More in Lost the phone with your authenticator app?

Turning 2FA off

With your authenticator still working, click Settings, go to Account settings > Login settings > Two-factor authentication, and click Disable. Enter your password and click Disable again. A confirmation message appears at the bottom of the screen (StartMail). In Novaz, you can then open the StartMail entry and tap Remove account.

Official StartMail help

• Two-factor authentication (2FA)
• One-time Recovery Code
• I forgot my password - now what?
• Configure a trusted device / IMAP password