Tresorit 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app

Tresorit is an end-to-end encrypted cloud storage service for syncing and sharing files. Tresorit calls its two-factor authentication "2-Step Verification". Once it's on, every sign-in needs your password plus a code, and that code can come by text message, email, phone call or from an authenticator app (Tresorit).

There's a catch in the order. When you first switch 2-Step Verification on, Tresorit makes email your default method. The authenticator app is something you add afterwards, as a second method, and then make primary if you want. This guide walks through that, using Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone. Any authenticator app works the same way.

How we checked this guide: the Tresorit steps come from Tresorit's own help center, linked below, which we read on October 21, 2026. The help center pages turned away our plain download, so we read the same articles through the help center's public article feed on support.tresorit.com. We haven't tested the steps on a Tresorit account, so a label may differ slightly. The Novaz steps are checked against the app, version 1.0.5.

Is it required?

For personal accounts, it's your choice. On Business plans, an admin can make it required through a policy template; users on that template must set up at least one method (Tresorit).

If your company signs you in to Tresorit with single sign-on, you won't find these settings at all. Your identity provider handles the second step instead (Tresorit).

Turn on 2FA with an authenticator app

First, switch on 2-Step Verification (Tresorit):

1. Sign in to Tresorit on the web and open your Security page.
2. Under 2-Step Verification, click Enable.
3. Select Activate. Email becomes your default method.

Then add the authenticator app:

4. Under 2-Step Verification, click Change settings.
5. Hover over the authenticator app method and select Activate.
6. Follow Tresorit's setup steps for that method. If it shows a QR code, open Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at it. If the QR code is on your iPhone's own screen, take a screenshot and use Choose a photo instead. See scanning a QR code on the same iPhone.
7. If Tresorit shows a text key, tap + in Novaz, then Enter key manually, and type it as the Setup key. See What is a 2FA setup key?
8. Type the code from Novaz into Tresorit to finish.
9. To get asked for the app code first, hover over the authenticator option and select Set as primary.

Tresorit's help doesn't describe the authenticator screens in detail, so it doesn't say what the key is called or what code settings it uses. Scanning the QR code is the safer choice, because the code carries those settings to Novaz.

No backup codes, so keep a second method

Tresorit's help doesn't mention backup or recovery codes. Its answer to a lost method is a second one: it recommends setting up at least two, so you can still sign in when one stops working (Tresorit). Since email is already on from the first step, keeping it active is the simplest backup. Make sure codes from team@tresorit.com don't land in spam (Tresorit).

This matters with Novaz, whose keys stay on that iPhone unless you turn on iCloud backup or export a backup file. See authenticator app vs. SMS for how the methods compare.

When Tresorit asks for a code

• Every sign-in, after your password.
• Sensitive actions: unlinking a device or ending a web session from the Security page (Tresorit), and moving your content to a new account (Tresorit).
• The Linux command line: the Tresorit CLI takes the code with a --totp option when you sign in with a password (Tresorit).

If the app isn't at hand, select Other verification options after entering your password and pick another method.

If Tresorit rejects your code

Tresorit's help has no advice for rejected app codes. Start with the iPhone's clock: Settings > General > Date & Time > Set Automatically. Novaz warns you if the clock is 15 seconds or more off. If you keep asking for codes, Tresorit shows a "Too many verification code requests" message, so wait before trying again (Tresorit). More 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 codes keep working. Without one, before you give up the old phone, sign in, open Change settings under 2-Step Verification and set the authenticator app up again with the new phone. Tresorit's help doesn't describe this exact step. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone.

If you lose your authenticator

• Use another method. At sign-in, select Other verification options and choose email, a text or a call, whichever you set up.
• On a Business plan, an Owner, Co-Owner or Co-Admin can deactivate 2-Step Verification for you in the Admin Center. If your policy requires it, you then set it up again from scratch (Tresorit).
• Otherwise, Tresorit's help doesn't describe a support route for a lost authenticator. You can reach Tresorit through its contact form.

Don't confuse this with a forgotten password. Tresorit can't recover passwords, and resetting the account erases your stored files (Tresorit). More in Lost the phone with your authenticator app?

Official Tresorit help

• Set up two-factor authentication (2FA)
• Tresorit policy settings explained
• Deactivate 2FA for users
• Setting up SSO for user accounts
• Unlink devices
• Account transfer for individual users
• Using Tresorit CLI for Linux
• Missing emails from Tresorit
• Reset account
• Web Access changelog