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# Can you use two-step verification with multiple people?

> Give each colleague their own login, so everyone can use their own phone for the verification code.

If you share a single login with colleagues and two-step verification is enabled, the code is always sent to one phone. Anyone who does not have that phone will not be able to log in. This is not due to an incorrect setting: a second step belongs to an individual, and the system sees a shared login as a single person.

With a single login, you cannot link an authenticator app on multiple phones, add a second phone number or set a second recovery email address. The second step is linked to the login, not to the device.

## Give everyone their own login

Give everyone who works in the account their own login. Each user can then set up their own second step on their own phone, and nobody has to wait for a colleague. Moreover, only with individual logins can you see in the results who did what.

You can create extra users via Login → Users. You can read how to do this in [Create extra users for your colleagues](/hoe-maak-ik-voor-collegas-extra-logins-aan). In a free account, you can create three users in total, including yourself. With a paid account, there is no maximum.

> **Note**
>
> If a colleague already has their own Laposta account, you cannot add them as a user with that same email address. Choose a different login for that person instead.

## Prevent only one person from having access

The opposite of a shared login is just as common: an account that only one person can access. Due to a lost phone, a departed volunteer or a closed mailbox, nobody can access the account any more. In that case, there is no colleague who can give you a new login either.

Here is how to prevent this risk:

* Create a second user with administrator rights, for example for a colleague or another board member. This is also possible in a free account.
* Set both the login and the recovery email address to an address belonging to the organisation, not to one person's private address. You set the recovery email address when enabling two-step verification, and you can choose which address to use. Pay particular attention to the email address of the login: after a reset via the recovery email address, the new password is sent to the login address. If that colleague has left, you will no longer be able to access that email.

## Logging in when the colleague with the phone is not there

Are you still sharing a single login for the time being and is the colleague with the phone not around? On the screen where you enter the code, under ‘Lost access?’, you have two options:

* Log in with one of your recovery codes. Ten codes were created when enabling two-step verification, and each code works once.
* Log in with your recovery email address. This resets the two-step verification so you can set it up again. You will need the password for the login to do this. Afterwards, you set a new password via an email sent to the login address.

You can find the exact steps in [Solving problems with two-step verification](/problemen-met-tweestapsverificatie). Have you run out of recovery codes and has no recovery email address been set, or can nobody access the mailbox of the login any more? Then you can no longer log in yourself and only the [helpdesk](mailto:helpdesk@laposta.nl) can help you.

If you do share a single login, store the recovery codes in a place that the whole group can access, rather than on one person's phone. Do treat this as a temporary solution, however. As long as you share a login, you run the risk that someone will not be able to log in when a colleague is on holiday.

## Related articles

#### [How do you solve problems with two-step verification?](/problemen-met-tweestapsverificatie)

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