Why does it keep saying my verification code is incorrect?

Answered by Willian Lymon

There can be several reasons why your verification code is being shown as incorrect. One common reason is incorrect time settings on your mobile device. This happens when your device’s time and date are not accurately synchronized with the correct time.

To fix this issue, you need to ensure that your device’s time settings are set to automatic. This will allow your device to automatically adjust the time and date based on your current location. By doing this, your device will be able to generate and validate the correct two-step verification security codes.

Incorrect time settings can cause discrepancies between the time generated by your device and the time used by the authentication server to generate the verification codes. As a result, the codes you enter may not match the expected code, leading to an “incorrect code” error message.

By setting your device’s time to automatic, you allow it to constantly sync with the correct time source, such as the network provider or a time server. This ensures that the codes generated by your device are in sync with the codes expected by the authentication server.

It’s important to note that this issue is not limited to two-step verification codes. It can also affect other time-based security measures, such as time-based one-time passwords (TOTP) used by various apps and services.

I have personally experienced this issue before. I was trying to log in to a service that required two-step verification, but every time I entered the code, it was shown as incorrect. After some troubleshooting, I realized that the time on my mobile device was set manually and was a few minutes behind the actual time. Once I switched to automatic time settings, the verification code worked perfectly.

If you keep receiving an “incorrect code” message during the two-step verification process, it is worth checking your device’s time settings. Make sure that your device is set to automatic date and time to ensure accurate synchronization with the authentication server. By doing so, you should be able to generate and validate the correct verification codes without any issues.