Signing in on your phone by scanning a code

Typing a long password and a two-factor code on a phone is miserable. If you are already signed in at a desk, you can scan instead.

How it goes

1. On the phone, open the app and choose to sign in by scanning.
2. On the computer, in the panel, open the device sign-in screen. It shows a code.
3. Point the phone at it.
4. Approve it on the computer. The phone waits until you do.

The phone is then signed in. You never type anything.

Why the approval step

Because a code on a screen is something other people in the room can also photograph.

Scanning on its own only starts the request. Nothing is granted until somebody already signed in at the desk approves it, which means possession of the code is not enough. If a request appears that you did not make, deny it, and nothing happens.

It expires

The code is short-lived. If you leave it on screen and come back later it will have lapsed, and you generate another. That is deliberate: a code on an unattended screen should stop being useful quickly.

Use it when

• Setting up the app on a new phone.
• Signing in on a shared or demo device, where you would rather not type your password in front of anyone.
• Any time you would otherwise be typing a password with your thumbs.

What it does not do

It does not link the devices permanently and it does not make the phone trusted in any lasting sense. It is a way to complete one sign-in. The phone then holds its own session, exactly as if you had typed the password.

Signing out on one device does not sign out the other.

If you cannot scan

Your usual email and password still work, and so does a passkey if you have one set up, which on a phone is usually the fastest route of all.

Last updated 22 September 2026.