How to set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) for your Octavia account
Quick guide
- 1Install an authenticator app on your phone: Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, or Passwords (recent iPhones and Macs).
- 2Sign in to Octavia with your email and password.
- 3On the Set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) screen, open your app and add an account.
- 4Scan the square on your screen. Can’t scan it? Type the Setup key into your app.
- 5Type the six-digit code from your app into Octavia.
- 6Click Confirm and continue.
Next time you sign in: enter your password, then the six-digit code for Octavia.
Lost your phone? Ask your school administrator to email info@octavia.studio.
Want more detail? Scroll down for the full guide, with pictures.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds a second check when you sign in to Octavia. As well as your password, you enter a six-digit code from an app on your phone. This means a password on its own is no longer enough to sign in to the Octavia app.
Setting it up takes about five minutes, once. You’ll need your phone, and your usual Octavia email and password.
If your school requires MFA, Octavia shows the set-up screen the first time you sign in, and you’ll need to finish it before you can use Octavia. The steps below walk you through it.
Step 1 — Install an authenticator app on your phone
An authenticator app is a free app that shows a six-digit code, and the code changes every 30 seconds. If you don’t have one yet, install one now. Any of these work well: Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator (both free for iPhone and Android), or the Passwords app that’s already on recent iPhones and Macs (iOS 18 and macOS 15 or later), so there’s nothing to download.
To install one, open the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android), search for the app’s name, and check the publisher is Google or Microsoft before you install. Other authenticator apps work too: any app that makes six-digit codes will do. Most don’t need you to sign in or create an account to use them with Octavia.
Pick one. The pictures are only a guide: each app has its own icon in the store.
Step 2 — Sign in to Octavia as usual
Go to Octavia and sign in with your email and password, the way you normally do.
If your school requires MFA, you’ll land on a screen called Set up multi-factor authentication (MFA). The next steps happen on that screen, so keep your phone handy.
If you’re already signed in and want to add MFA yourself, open School Settings, choose My Profile, and look for the Multi-factor authentication (MFA) card. Click Set up now. If you don’t see that card, MFA isn’t switched on for your school yet.
Set up multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Your school requires multi-factor authentication (MFA). As well as your password, you will enter a six-digit code from an authenticator app on your phone each time you sign in.
If you don’t have one yet, install an authenticator app on your phone. Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator and the built-in Passwords app on iPhone and Mac all work.
Step 3 — Scan the square with your phone
On the set-up screen you’ll see a square pattern (a QR code) and, beside it, a Setup key.
Open your authenticator app and choose to add an account. This is usually a + button. Then choose to scan a QR code, and point your phone’s camera at the square on your screen. The exact words vary a little between apps.
Can’t scan it? Type the Setup key into the app instead (look for Enter a setup key or Enter code manually), or click Copy key and paste it in.
Octavia now appears in your app as a new entry with a six-digit code under it.
Open the app, choose to add an account, and scan the square below. If you can’t scan it, type this key into the app instead.
EXAMPLE7KEY2WXYZ4HJ5NQ Copy keyThe square and key above are examples. Yours will be different.
Point at the square on your screen
Your phone, scanning the square
Step 4 — Type the six-digit code into Octavia
Your app is now showing a six-digit code for Octavia. Type it into the box under 3. Enter the code, then click Confirm and continue.
The code changes every 30 seconds. If it changes while you’re typing, just type the new one.
That’s it. Octavia opens, and MFA is switched on for your account.
Your authenticator app
Type the six-digit code the app shows for Octavia.
Step 5 — From now on, sign in and then enter a code
Next time you sign in, enter your email and password as usual. Octavia then asks for a code on a screen called Enter your sign-in code.
Open your authenticator app, find the six-digit code under Octavia, type it in and click Confirm.
You’re asked for a code each time you sign in on a browser or device. While you stay signed in, Octavia doesn’t ask again.
Enter your sign-in code
Open your authenticator app and enter the six-digit code shown for Octavia.
Ask your school administrator to email info@octavia.studio. We will check it is you and help you get back in.
Step 6 — Add a second phone or app (recommended)
A second device means you can still sign in if you lose or replace your phone. In Octavia, open School Settings, choose My Profile, and find the Multi-factor authentication (MFA) card.
Click Add another device and follow steps 3 and 4 again with your other phone or another app. You can have up to three devices.
Your devices are listed with the date each was added. You can take one off later with Remove, but if your school requires MFA you can’t remove your only device.
Getting a new phone? Add the new one before you stop using the old one, and then remove the old one.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Your account asks for a six-digit code from an authenticator app when you sign in.
Your devices
- RemoveAuthenticator appAdded 18 Oct 2026
- RemoveAuthenticator appAdded 2 Nov 2026
Step 7 — If your code doesn’t work
Because you may use your authenticator app for other logins, and not just Octavia, check that you’re looking at the code for Octavia and type the current one. Codes change every 30 seconds, so if it has just changed, use the new code.
The most common cause is the clock on your phone. Your phone and Octavia each work out the code from the time, so if your phone’s clock is wrong, the codes won’t match, even though the code on your screen looks right.
To fix it, open the Settings app on your phone (this is a setting on your phone, not something in Octavia) and make sure the date and time are set to automatic. Then try the new code.
The wording differs between phones, but look for “Set automatically” or “Automatic date & time”.
If you try a lot of times in a row, Octavia asks you to wait a minute before you try again.
Still stuck? See the next step.
Step 8 — If you lose your phone or can’t get a code
Without your phone you can’t get a code, so you won’t be able to sign in until your authenticator is reset. That’s on purpose: the code is how Octavia knows it’s really you signing in.
Ask your school administrator to email info@octavia.studio for you. If you run your own studio, email us from your Octavia email address. We’ll check it’s really you by another route, then reset your authenticator. After that, sign in with your password and repeat steps 3 and 4 with your new phone.
If your phone was stolen, say so in your email so we can treat it as urgent and look at any sessions that are still open.