Before you connect
Lancer signs in to Upwork as you, from its own private browser (to Upwork it looks like a new laptop). So your Upwork login needs an email and password, and any extra sign-in check must be an authenticator app. In your Upwork security settings:
Signing in with Google or Apple: Lancer can only sign in with an email and password. In Upwork, open Settings → Password & Security, disconnect Google/Apple and set a password. You can keep using Google/Apple for your own sign-ins. The connect form shows these steps and asks you to confirm before it continues.
Text message (SMS) two-step verification: Lancer can't read texts sent to your phone. Switch to an Authenticator app and enter its setup key in the connect form — see How to find your Authenticator setup key.
"Approve on my phone" (Upwork app notification): Lancer can't tap Approve for you. Switch to an Authenticator app as well.
Connecting your account
Open Connected Accounts and click Connect.
How do you sign in to Upwork? Choose Password, Google or Apple. Google/Apple first show a short "add a password in Upwork" fix.
After your password, does Upwork ask for anything else? Choose Nothing else, Authenticator app, Text message or Approve on my phone. The last two can't be submitted — the form shows how to switch to an authenticator app.
Enter your login: Upwork email, password, the answer to your Upwork security question (Upwork asks it on new devices, and Lancer's browser is a new device to Upwork), your Authenticator setup key if you use one, and where you usually work from (country, plus an optional state or region). Lancer signs in through a connection in that country so Upwork sees a login from where you normally are. Iran, Russia and Belarus are not offered in the country list, because Upwork does not serve those countries.
Submit. The same panel turns into a live progress view.
Connecting is safe — your credentials are encrypted and Lancer is built to behave like normal human activity. See How does Lancer ensure account safety?
Watching the progress
After you submit you see the current step, how long it has been running and roughly how many minutes are left. The steps are:
Getting ready
Opening a private browser
Signing in to Upwork
Answering your security question / Entering your authenticator code (only when Upwork asks)
Reading your profile
Syncing your agencies
Final checks
Ready to bid
The Connected Accounts list shows the same on the account's row (for example "Step 3 of 7 · Signing in to Upwork"). A connect takes several minutes; you can leave the page and come back.
Each page shows its own little animated scene over the real page while it works:
Upwork accounts: a knight rides to a castle as sign-in progresses and stops at a signpost if Upwork asks the security question. At the end the gate opens.
Inbox: pigeons post your chats into mailboxes, one per pipeline column, with live counts.
Pipeline: the knight sorts your past contracts into Won and Not hired. Your past Upwork hires that were still untouched in New Leads are moved to Won automatically, dated by the day the client hired you; deals you have already moved yourself are left alone.
You can close the window at any time; it shrinks to a slim banner at the top of the page (click it to reopen) and the work carries on. If a page finished while you were away, you get a short replay the first time you open it, with a Skip button. If something fails, a dragon shows up and the card says what happened (for example "Sign-in failed", "Inbox paused" or "Past wins paused") with what to do next. If it takes longer than usual (over 25 minutes for sign-in, over 55 minutes for the inbox and past wins), the card says so, and if it is stuck it offers Try again and Message support.
Last step: link it to a campaign
Connecting an account isn't the same as using it. Open your campaign's Configuration tab and select this account so the campaign bids from it.
If it fails
A failure shows a plain-language headline, whose move it is, and what to do next. What you typed is kept, so you only fix the field and retry. The common ones:
"Upwork didn't accept that email and password": check both on upwork.com in a private window, update them in the form and retry.
"Upwork said the security answer is wrong": type the answer exactly as you set it in Upwork (Settings → Password & Security → Security question).
"Upwork asked for an authenticator code" / "The authenticator setup key didn't work": add or re-copy the setup key from Upwork — see How to find your Authenticator setup key.
"Upwork sent a code by text message" / "Upwork asked you to approve the sign-in on your phone": switch two-step verification in Upwork to an authenticator app, then add its setup key.
"Your Upwork login uses Google": add a password to your Upwork login (see Before you connect) and reconnect with it.
"This Upwork login has no freelancer profile": Upwork signed in but treats this login as a client account, so there is nothing to bid as. Reconnect with the Upwork login that owns your freelancer profile, or create a freelancer profile in Upwork first, then retry.
"Upwork didn't finish signing in": if Upwork emailed you about a new sign-in, approve it, then retry.
"This Upwork account is already in your Connected accounts": you already have an account with that Upwork email (capitals and spaces are ignored), so a second one is not added. Use Reconnect on the existing account instead — see Reconnecting your account.
"Another task was using this account": a previous connect is still running. Wait a minute, then retry.
Messages that say it's on our side (e.g. "Connecting took too long", "Our browser didn't start", "We couldn't open a working connection in your country", "We lost track of this connection"): Lancer is alerted automatically and trying again usually works. A connect with no progress for 15 minutes is closed automatically as stalled.
"Upwork does not support accounts in <country>": Upwork does not serve Iran, Russia or Belarus, so an account can't be connected from there. Pick the country you usually work from among the supported ones, or message us in the chat if you are unsure which applies.
Still stuck: message us in the chat and we'll connect it from our side.