Note that as of release 1.68.0 (released in late Jun 2026), there is a mfa_deleter role that can remove MFA from a user.

Please see the release notes for more details.

Since we can’t store API keys in code,

FYI, with the release of 1.64.0, you now can store secrets elsewhere and have lambdas retrieve them.

See the documentation for more details.

As of 1.62.0, FusionAuth supports pre-verification of emails and phone numbers.

More details:

https://fusionauth.io/docs/lifecycle/manage-users/verification/identity-pre-verification-using-email

https://fusionauth.io/docs/lifecycle/manage-users/verification/identity-pre-verification-using-phone

You have a couple of options.

• If you use the hosted login pages/authorization code grant, disabling all grants in the application settings page will prevent people from logging in.
• If you use the login API and have customer-based API keys, you could turn on the 'require API key for login API' and then disable the customer's API key.
• If you have the Enterprise plan, you could set up an IP ACL for a unroutable IP range.

However, the easiest way to make sure an application cannot be logged into is to deactivate the application.

Is there a way to disable logging into an application without disabling/deleting it?

Per https://github.com/FusionAuth/fusionauth-issues/issues/1810 I'm not clear what my options are.

Lots of options!

• Self-service password recovery — SMS or Email based forgot password flows out of the box, with hosted pages that require no custom UI. If a user's login ID is a phone number, the reset is delivered via SMS automatically.
• API-driven recovery — The full forgot password flow is triggerable via POST /api/user/forgot-password with an email, phone, or username as the login ID, giving teams complete control over the UI and recovery experience.
• Admin and support-assisted recovery — Support staff can trigger resets or force password changes directly from the admin UI, no email required.
• Admins can also remove MFA methods directly from the user record.
• MFA recovery — Recovery codes generated at MFA enrollment let users bypass a lost second factor.
• Self-service MFA configuration — Users can add, remove, and manage their own MFA methods (TOTP, SMS, email) from a hosted self-service account page without any admin involvement. Removing a method requires completing an MFA challenge first, which prevents unauthorized removal. If an admin removes a user's MFA method and the tenant or application policy is set to Required, the user will be prompted to set up MFA again on next login.
• Webhooks and event-driven recovery — FusionAuth fires events like user.login.failed and user.password.reset that your backend can listen to and act on, enabling custom recovery logic, audit trails, and downstream notifications.
• Account linking and IdP recovery — For users who log in via a social or enterprise IdP, FusionAuth can be configured to link that identity to a FusionAuth user record. If the IdP connection is the issue, the user can still go through the standard forgot password flow as long as an phone number or email is on their account, so recovery isn't solely dependent on the IdP being available.

What are account recovery options available with FusionAuth?

You want to use search parameters like those outlined in this sample script.

• use a key limited to POST on /api/user/search
• set accurateTotal on the request
• set numberOfResults to 1 on the request

In the response, look at the total field.

This will let you get exact numbers while reducing load on your instance.

How can I get an exact number of users with some attributes? I'm using elasticsearch.

Beginning in version 1.65.0, FusionAuth offers Complete Registration. Full docs here.

How this would work:

• enable a registration form for the application your users are logging into
• select certain attributes as required. If you are using a basic form, you could select 'birth date'. If you are using an advanced form, you can select whatever profile attributes you need
• set the Registration mode to Complete registration. This setting means that users cannot self-register, but can complete missing information from an existing registration.
• save the application

Now, your admin user can create a user with a minimal amount of data (perhaps just an email address).

The user will, at first login, be prompted to fill out their profile data, including all fields you've marked required.

This is not full progressive registration, but can be useful in certain circumstances.