Recovery codes

Recovery codes let you sign in when you do not have your phone. You get ten of them when you set up two-step sign-in. Each one works once.

Save them

1. After you turn on two-step sign-in, the page Save your recovery codes shows ten codes, like abcd-efgh-jkmn-pqrs.
2. Copy them somewhere safe and private. A password manager is best. A printout in a locked drawer also works.
3. Click Continue.

The codes are shown only once. If you click Continue without saving them, we cannot show them again. If you reload the page, it shows only a Continue button.

Do not keep them on the same phone as your authenticator app, and do not email them to yourself.

Use one

1. Sign in with your email and password.
2. On Enter your code, type a recovery code in Code. Dashes and capital letters do not matter.
3. Click Continue.

You are signed in. That code is now used up. Each use leaves you with one fewer.

When they run out

You cannot make a new set yourself yet. Before you run low, contact us. We reset your two-step sign-in, and you set it up again at your next sign-in. That gives you a new authenticator and ten new codes. See Troubleshooting.

Not available yet

Making a new set of recovery codes, or moving your authenticator to a new phone, from your own account is not available yet.

If something looks wrong

• That code didn't work. A recovery code works once. Check you did not already use it, and that you typed all 16 characters.
• I never saved them. Contact us to reset two-step sign-in, as above.
• More: Troubleshooting.