First, which account is this?
A work, school or business account - if your email address uses your organisation's domain, and an administrator set it up for you. If you're seeing "Your sign-in settings don't meet your organisation's 2-Step Verification policy", you cannot fix this yourself.
An administrator has to lift the restriction before you can set anything up. We wrote a separate guide for exactly that: Fix the 2-Step Verification policy error in Google Workspace.
A personal Google account - a Gmail address you set up yourself, with nobody managing it. Keep reading, the steps below are for you.
Setting up 2-Step Verification on your Google account
2-Step Verification (2SV or 2FA) adds a second check on top of your password, so a stolen password alone is not enough to get into your account. Here is how to turn it on.
How to Set Up 2SV / 2FA:
1. Access Security Settings:
Open your web browser and go to: https://myaccount.google.com/security
2. Enable 2-Step Verification:
Click on "2-Step Verification."
Follow the instructions to choose a verification method:
Authenticator app: (e.g., Google Authenticator, RoboForm, Authy) - Generates codes on your phone.
Text message (SMS): Google sends a code to your phone.
Backup codes: Print or save these codes for use if you lose access to your phone.
3. Complete Setup:
Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the setup process for your chosen method.
Important:
Backup Codes: Save backup codes in a safe place. Store them securely like passwords, they are one time keys to access your account! These are essential if you lose access to your phone or primary 2SV method.
Help Resources: For further assistance, refer to Google's official help article on 2 step Verification.
Still stuck?
If this is a work or school account, you have hit a policy your administrator controls, and there is nothing more you can do from your end. Forward this to whoever handles your IT: they need to grant a temporary exemption so you can sign in and set your phone up. If nobody at your workplace handles this, we do it for Australian small businesses every week.
If you are the person everyone comes to when this happens, untangling security policies, organisational units and bypass groups is an hour of your week you are not getting back. We are an Authorised Google Workspace Reseller and Google Cloud Partner. We either manage it for you, or set it up properly once and show you how to run it yourself.
