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# Two-factor recovery codes: use them and get new ones

# Two-factor recovery codes: use them and get new ones

Recovery codes are your way back into SimplyPrint when you can't use your authenticator app or security key, for example after losing or replacing your phone. This guide explains where your codes come from, how to sign in with one, and how to get a new set.

## Table of contents
- [What recovery codes are](#2-what-recovery-codes-are)
- [Save your codes when you set up two-factor](#2-save-your-codes-when-you-set-up-two-factor)
- [Sign in with a recovery code](#2-sign-in-with-a-recovery-code)
- [The email you get each time](#2-the-email-you-get-each-time)
- [See how many codes you have left](#2-see-how-many-codes-you-have-left)
- [Get new recovery codes](#2-get-new-recovery-codes)
- [Related articles](#2-related-articles)

## What recovery codes are
When you turn on two-factor authentication, SimplyPrint gives you 10 recovery codes. Each looks like `k7m3p-x9q2r` and works once, in place of the code from your authenticator app or your security key.

You can use a recovery code to:
- finish signing in, after your password
- confirm a sensitive action while you're signed in, like removing your authenticator app

|| Keep your recovery codes somewhere safe that isn't your phone, like your password manager or a printed sheet at home. Without your phone, your security keys and your codes, getting back into your account takes an identity check.

## Save your codes when you set up two-factor
Right after you set up your authenticator app, the **Save your recovery codes** step shows your 10 codes.

1. Click **Download** to save them as a text file, or **Copy** to paste them into your password manager.
2. Click **Done**.

![The Save your recovery codes step, with the 10 codes and the Download and Copy buttons](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/f/2/2/ff22a914001c1000/new-recovery-codes-save-recove_xk81qg.png)

You won't see these codes again. If you didn't save them, get a new set (see below).

## Sign in with a recovery code
1. On the login page, enter your email and password and click **Sign in**.
2. When you're asked for your second step, click **Use a recovery code instead**. If the link says **Try another way**, click it, then **Enter one of your recovery codes**.
3. Type one of your codes and confirm.

Capital letters, spaces and dashes don't matter, so `K7M3P X9Q2R` works just as well as `k7m3p-x9q2r`. Older, longer codes are the exception: type them with the same capital letters.

![The Enter a recovery code step at sign-in](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/f/2/2/ff22a914001c1000/new-recovery-codes-enter-recov_m6d596.png)

Once you're in, SimplyPrint tells you how many codes you have left. Click **Open security settings** to go straight to where you can set up two-factor on a new phone and get new codes, or **Not now** to carry on.

If you lost your phone, set two-factor up again now, so you don't burn through your codes: on the **Security & password** tab, remove the **Authenticator app** (confirm with another recovery code), then set it up on your new phone. That gives you 10 new codes. See [Lost 2 factor authentication app](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/lost-2-factor-authentication-app-165ug/).

## The email you get each time
Every time one of your recovery codes is used, SimplyPrint emails you, whatever your login alert settings are. The email says how many codes you have left and where the code was used from: the device, the approximate location, the IP address and the time.

||| If you get this email and it wasn't you, someone knows your password and has one of your recovery codes. Change your password and get new recovery codes right away.

## See how many codes you have left
The **Recovery codes** row in the **Two-Factor authentication** section of the **Security & password** tab shows how many codes you have left. When you're down to 2 or fewer, the row warns you and **Get new codes** turns into the main button.

## Get new recovery codes
Do this when you're running low, when you've lost your saved codes, or if you think someone else has seen them.

1. Click your name in the top-right corner of the panel and choose **Your account**.
2. Open the **Security & password** tab.
3. In the **Recovery codes** row, click **Get new codes**.
4. Confirm it's you with a passkey or security key, a code from your authenticator app or one of your current recovery codes.
5. Save the 10 new codes with **Download** or **Copy**, then click **Done**.

Your old codes stop working the moment the new ones are made.

|| If your codes are longer, two blocks of 10 characters, they're from before this update. They keep working until you get new ones. Type them with the same capital letters.

If you turn two-factor off, your recovery codes are deleted along with it. You get a new set when you turn it on again.

## Related articles
- [Lost 2 factor authentication app](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/lost-2-factor-authentication-app-165ug/)
- [How to enable 2 factor authentication](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/how-to-enable-2-factor-authentication-1lcott7/)
- [Use a security key (YubiKey) for two-factor authentication](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/use-a-security-key-yubikey-for-two-factor-authentication-6czrgb/)
- [The Security tab: passwords, two-factor, login alerts and active sessions](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/the-security-tab-passwords-two-factor-login-alerts-and-active-sessions-m05p2f/)