Register a new 2FA code into 4OTP

Whenever a website or application offers you to secure your sign-ins with a time-based second factor (TOTP), you can add the code to 4OTP in just a couple of steps.

How does it work on the website or application

Either right when you sign up for a new website account, or usually at any time later, they may offer you to add two-factor authentication to your account. That’s good, do it!

The actual steps to take on the website may vary but it will always be something like the following:

Sign in and start the “Add second factor” process
The website shows you either a QRCode to scan, a short string of random characters (we call it the 2FA code secret key), or both
Scan the QRCode or copy/paste the characters into 4OTP
4OTP shows you a 6-digits 2FA code. Enter it in your website confirmation input box
Validate and it’s done

Of course, the details of that is specific to the actual website you are dealing with, but it will always follows these steps, often on a single screen in fact.

How does it work on 4OTP

Once you have the website showing you a QRCode or a secret key, open 4OTP and click on the + New button at the bottom of the screen. The next screen offers to select a method:

Select a method:

Which method to use?

Typically, you should scan a QRCode with a phone and tablet, while you copy/paste the secret key when on a desktop computer.

scanning the QRCode requires one device to sign up to the website, and another with 4OTP to scan
when copy/pasting the secret key, this is more easily done on one computer - although it’s just fine to do it all on your phone

Scan the QRCode on your computer screen

Scanning a QRCode is only available on phones and tablets. On a computer, copy/paste the secret key instead.

OR copy/paste the secret key

Entering a secret key manually or through copy/pasting

This is the method used when 4OTP is running on a computer. Simply copy/paste the secret show displayed by the website or application into 4OTP input field.

Often websites only show by default the QRCode, and not the secret key. They almost always will have a button to press to display directly the secret key instead, so that you can copy it.

Type in back the resulting 2FA code

After scanning a QRCode, or pasting in a secret key, 4OTP shows you the following page:

4OTP new code validation screen, showing the current code for the secrete key

In 4OTP: enter a name for the code
On the website: type in the 6-digit code displayed by 4OTP into validation input field

Validation

When you enter the 6-digits code from 4OTP into your website, they can check all went well and you indeed registered the correct secret key into 4OTP.

As all is well, you can then press Save new code in 4OTP and also the Save or validate button on the website to complete the process.

When you save the new code, 4OTP automatically assigns it an icon. It has an extensive library of known websites and apps icons, and matches the name you give to the code with that list of icons:

Icon attribution

Sometimes the automatic icon attribution may not get things right. You can go back and edit the name of any code stored in 4OTP.

Each time you save an item with a new name, 4OTP will re-check the icon used and possibly change it.

Changing the name a bit may help finding a proper icon. For instance, typing Chase bank instead of just Chase may help pick the proper icon.

Automatic synchronization

Adding a code as described here only adds it to one device running 4OTP. Subscribe to 4OTP Sync so that this new code is instantly sent to all your other devices running 4OTP.