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🔐Hippo Login: Without Phone Authenticator

When to use this: A team member needs to log in to Hippo but cannot install an authenticator app on their phone (older device, work restrictions, or no smartphone). This sets up the free Proton Authenticator on their Windows PC instead, so no phone is nee

Before you start

  • You will move between two windows: the web browser (the Hippo login) and the Proton Authenticator app. Each step says which one you are in.

  • Proton Authenticator is free, needs no account, and runs on Windows.

  • Download it first if it is not already installed: go to proton.me/authenticator/download, click the Windows app, and run the installer (Next, Next, Finish).

  • The screenshots are mockups and completely anonymised.

  • Please let us know (support@hippolabs.co.uk) if you need help and we can sit you through this on a call.

Part A — Open Proton Authenticator

  1. (Proton app) Open Proton Authenticator. If it asks you to sign in or create a Proton account, close or skip that. You do not need one.

  2. You will see a screen that says No codes yet. Leave it open and move to Part B.

Part B — Get your Hippo setup key

  1. (Browser) Log in to Hippo. On the Welcome screen, type your email and password, then click Continue.

  2. You reach a screen headed Secure Your Account showing a square QR code. Underneath the QR code, click the blue link Trouble Scanning?

  3. The screen now shows a long code made of letters and numbers, with a Copy code button under it. Click Copy code. Leave this browser window open, do not close it.

Part C — Add the key to Proton

  1. (Proton app) Switch to Proton Authenticator (click it on the taskbar). Click the blue Create new code button. (If you do not see it, click + Add in the top left instead.)

  2. A box headed New code opens. Fill in only two fields:

    • In Title, type: Hippo Labs

    • Click inside the Secret box, then paste the key you copied by holding Ctrl and pressing V. The long code should appear.

  3. Leave Issuer and Advanced options exactly as they are. Do not touch them.

  4. Click Save code.

  5. Proton now shows a Hippo Labs entry with a 6-digit number and a small circle counting down next to it. That number is your code, and it changes every 30 seconds.

Part D — Enter the code and finish

  1. (Browser) Back on the Secure Your Account screen, click into the box labelled Enter your one-time code and type the current 6-digit number from Proton. Type it quickly, before the circle runs out. If it changes while you type, just use the new one.

  2. Click Continue.

  3. You reach a screen headed Almost There! showing a recovery code. Click Copy code and save it somewhere safe (written down and kept locked away, or in a password manager). This is your backup for logging in if the app is ever unavailable.

  4. Tick I have safely recorded this code, then click Continue.

    You are now logged in.

Every future login

Open Proton Authenticator, read the current 6-digit number next to Hippo Labs, and type it into Hippo when asked. That is the only extra step each time. And no phone needed!

If a code is rejected

This is almost always the PC clock. Go to Windows Settings → Time and language → Date and time and turn on Set time automatically. Then try the next fresh code.

Each user sets this up once and gets their own unique secret and recovery code, so the same steps work for anyone on the team who hits this issue.

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