On bachtrack.com, the purpose of Two Factor Authentication (2FA) is to protect against unauthorised access to your user account. If 2FA is enabled, a hacker who guesses or steals your password cannot sign in to your account unless they also have the mobile device on which you have set up 2FA.
Note that even if you have 2FA set up, it will be bypassed if you choose to sign in by email rather than by a password. That's because the fact that you have successfully received an email is considered an appropriate "second factor".
You will need an iOS or Android mobile device (usually your phone, but a tablet is fine too) on which you have installed the Google Authenticator app.
By the way - although the documentation refers specifically to Google Authenticator, there are several other apps which use the same standard. This has been tested on Microsoft Authenticator also, which appears to behave identically.
If you haven’t already, sign in to bachtrack.com. Go to your profile (by clicking on the person icon and selecting Profile from the drop-down menu).
Under the heading Two Factor Authentication, you will see a link Set up 2FA. Click on it to go to a page which shows a QR code.
Install Google Authenticator on your phone and sign in using your Google Account. Now press Add a code, followed by Scan a QR code. This will show a camera frame: point it at the QR code on the screen.
On the Authenticator screen, you will now see a six digit number which changes every 30 seconds. Type that code into the box immediately above the Verify the code button and press it.
A button labelled Enable two factor authentication now should now appear. Press it immediately (the screen will time out in 60 seconds).
2FA is now set up. The system will sign you out and require you to sign in again.
Go to the sign in page and type in your email address and password as usual and tick the remember me flag if wanted.
Open your Authenticator app and choose your Bachtrack account. You will see a six digit number, which is changing every 30 seconds. Type it into the box provided (immediately above the Sign in button) and press the button.
You may want to do this because you’re changing phones, or you may want to use an additional phone as a backup.
Download the Google Authenticator app onto the phone you want to use.
If the phone is yours:
- Sign into the Authenticator app with the same Google account. It should start displaying the same codes as you main phone.
If the phone is not yours (or, for whatever reason, you don’t want to sync to your Google account):
- On your main phone, go to the Authenticator app. From the hamburger menu in the top left, select “Transfer accounts”, then hit continue.
- This will give you a QR code that you can use to set up the new device.
- If you have been using this as a backup, ignore the instruction to delete the account on this device!
You may need to reset 2FA, for example if you are about to migrate to a new phone. To do this, sign into bachtrack.com as normal and go to your profile. Under the Two factor authentication heading, you should see a link Reset 2FA, which will clear out your record.
If you have lost your phone and are unable to sign in to bachtrack.com, you will need to contact your webmaster.
If things have gone wrong and you need to start again, deleting your account on Google Authenticator is easy if you know how, but not obvious:
- Open the Google Authenticator app
- Press and hold on the box with the six digit code
- Press the pencil
- Press the trash icon on the top right of your screen
v1 2023-08-25