Okta Self Service Registration Activation Emails Are Not Sent to Secondary Email Addresses

During the Okta Self Service Registration (SSR) flow, users can provide a secondary email address when creating an account. However, Okta sends activation emails only to the primary email address. This is expected behavior for the SSR flow.

• Okta Identity Engine (OIE)
• Okta Classic Engine
• Self Service Registration (SSR)
• User Activation

Why does Okta send activation emails only to the primary email address during Self Service Registration?

When a user creates an account using the Self Service Registration flow and provides a secondary email address, Okta sends the activation email exclusively to the primary email address. This is expected behavior.

Does this email behavior apply to admin-initiated activations or password resets?

This specific email routing logic applies only to the Self Service Registration flow. When an administrator activates a user through the Admin Console, or when Okta generates password reset emails, standard email delivery rules apply. These standard rules allow Okta to send notifications to the secondary email address.