Two-Factor Authentication
How to turn on two-factor authentication, sign in with a code from your authenticator app, use recovery codes, and answer the reminder after signing in.
Two-factor authentication means signing in with your email and password also needs a 6-digit code from an authenticator app on your phone. If someone gets hold of your password, they still can't get into your account without your phone. Open My Profile from the menu under your picture or initials, and in Account Management click Set up next to Two-factor authentication. Once it is on, the button says Manage.
Any authenticator app works, such as Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator or the one built into your password manager. Two-factor authentication belongs to you rather than a business, so it applies to every business you work in, on every device.
Set Up Two-Factor Authentication
- Set up two-factor authentication: Opens the set-up popup, which takes you through four short steps.
- Password: Enter your current Work Planner password to start. This stops anyone using a computer you left signed in from changing how you sign in.
- Scan the QR code: In your authenticator app, add a new account and scan the code on screen. Work Planner then appears in the app with a code that changes every 30 seconds.
- Setup key: If you can't scan the QR code, for example because you are setting up on the phone itself, type this key into the app instead. Copy key copies it for you.
- Code: Enter the 6-digit code the app now shows for Work Planner and click Turn on. If the code is refused, wait for the next one and try again, and check the time on your phone is set automatically.
- Recovery codes: Work Planner then shows eight recovery codes. Save them somewhere safe, such as a password manager, before you click I've saved my codes. You won't see these codes again.
Signing In With Two-Factor Authentication
- Code step: After your email and password, Work Planner asks for the 6-digit code from your authenticator app. Enter it and click Verify and sign in. This works the same in the browser and in the Work Planner app.
- Use a recovery code instead: If you don't have your phone, click this and enter one of your recovery codes. Each recovery code works once.
- Your sign-in has timed out: If you wait too long on the code step, sign in again with your email and password to get back to it.
- Passkeys, Google, Apple and Facebook: Signing in with a passkey, or with Google, Apple or Facebook, doesn't ask for a code. Those are already protected by your device or that account.
The Reminder After Signing In
Until two-factor authentication is on, Work Planner offers to set it up each time you sign in, however you sign in, as long as your account has a password. It waits until any other popup, such as What's new, has closed.
- Set up now: Opens the two-factor authentication page with the set-up popup ready to start.
- Skip this time: Closes the reminder. It appears again the next time you sign in.
- Don't remind me again: Stops the reminder for good. You can still set up two-factor authentication any time from My Profile.
Once It Is On
- Recovery codes left: The page shows how many recovery codes you have left, as each one stops working once it is used.
- Get new recovery codes: Asks for your password, then shows eight new codes. Your old recovery codes stop working straight away, so save the new ones.
- Turn off: Asks for your password, then turns two-factor authentication off. Signing in only needs your password again.
No Password on Your Account
If you only ever sign in with Google, Apple, Facebook or a passkey, your account has no password, so there is nothing for two-factor authentication to protect. The page says so instead of offering set-up, and the reminder after signing in doesn't appear. You can still connect Xero, which otherwise needs two-factor authentication.