This wikiHow teaches you how to move your Google Authenticator accounts to your new Android or iPhone. The Authenticator app now has a built-in "export" feature, which means you can quickly transfer all of your accounts without making changes on multiple websites. The catch is that you must have your old phone handy, as you'll need to scan a QR code from its screen to do the transfer. If you don’t have your old phone, things get tricky—you'll need to sign in to all sites where you use Authenticator and change your settings to a new phone.
Steps
Method 1
Method 1 of 2:
If You Still Have Your Old Phone
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Install Authenticator on your new phone. You can download the Google Authenticator app for free from the App Store (iPhone/iPad) or Play Store (Android).
- You will need to have both your old and new phones handy to transfer the accounts in Authenticator to another phone. [1] X Research source Because of changes in Google Authenticator, you won't need to log into all of the websites and update your 2-factor verifications after doing so.
- Using this method will transfer all of your Google Authenticator accounts to your new phone, not just Google accounts.
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Open Authenticator on your old phone. You'll need to have both your old and new phones nearby to transfer the accounts.Advertisement
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Tap the three-dot menu on the old phone ••• . The three dots are at the top-right corner of Authenticator. A menu will expand.
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Tap Transfer accounts on the menu. This takes you to the Export Accounts screen. Tap Export accounts from Export Accounts screen.
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Tap the Export Accounts button. It's at the bottom-right corner.
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Enter your PIN or other security code. The code you'll need to enter depends on your security settings.
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Select the accounts you want to transfer. You can transfer up to 10 Authenticator accounts at a time. If a checkmark appears in the account's corresponding circle, that means it's selected.
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Tap Next . It's at the bottom-right corner. A QR code will appear on the screen.
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Open Authenticator on the new phone. If it's your first time opening up the app, move through the setup screens until you see the Set up account option.
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Tap Get started . If you don't see this option, tap the + at the bottom-right corner of Authenticator instead.
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Tap Scan a QR code . This opens up a camera screen, although you may have to give permission for the app to access your camera first.
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Align the QR code in the camera or QR reader lens. The new phone will automatically scan the QR code once it's in view. Once the code is scanned, the Authenticator data from your old phone will be added to the new phone. You will no longer receive codes on the old phone.
- If your camera can't scan the QR code, it could be because you're trying to export too many accounts at once. If you selected 10 accounts, go back and try again with only 5 or 6, and then do the rest separately afterward. [2] X Research source
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Method 2
Method 2 of 2:
If You Don't Have Your Old Phone
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Install Authenticator on your new phone. You can download the Google Authenticator app for free from the App Store (iPhone/iPad) or Play Store (Android).
- If you no longer have your old phone, you'll need to log in to all of the services you used with Authenticator and manually change your 2-step verification settings over to your new phone. Sadly there's no quick way to restore all of your original codes. We'll cover doing this with Google for your Google account(s), but the steps will vary for other services you're using with Authenticator.
- If you are not able to log in to a website to change your settings because you've lost access to your phone, you will need to contact the support team for that site.
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Go to https://myaccount.google.com/signinoptions/two-step-verification on a computer. This is Google's 2-step verification page.
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Log in to your Google account. You'll have to verify your username and password before you can make any changes.
- Hopefully you won't be asked to use Authenticator on your old phone to sign in. If you are asked, look for options to try another method, such as receiving a text message or email. If you can't use another method, you won't be able to access your account unless you can get back into your old phone.
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Click CHANGE PHONE under "Authenticator app."
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Select iPhone or Android . After making your selection, a QR code will appear on the screen.
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Open Authenticator on the new phone. If it's your first time opening up the app, move through the setup screens until you see the Set up account option.
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Tap Set up account . If you don't see this option, tap the + at the bottom-right corner of Authenticator instead.
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Tap Scan a QR code . This opens up a camera screen, although you may have to give permission for the app to access your camera first.
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Align the QR code in the camera or QR reader lens. A new 6-digit code will appear in Authenticator.
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Enter the 6-digit code on your computer and click Verify . Once you've confirmed the 6-digit code on Google's 2-step verification site, Authenticator is officially moved to the new phone. You can now use Authenticator to receive 2-step verification codes from Google.Advertisement
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Tips
- You can't keep a copy of Google Authenticator on multiple phones at the same time. Nor can you make backups of your codes. If you're worried about losing your phone and thus access to your Authenticator accounts, try Authy , an alternative that works just like Authenticator except it also lets you make backups.Thanks
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References
About this article
Article Summary
X
1. Install Authenticator on the new phone.
2. Open Authenticator on the old phone.
3. Tap the three-dot menu and select Export accounts
.
4. Tap Continue
and enter your PIN.
5. Select the accounts and tap Export
.
6. Open Authenticator on the new phone and tap Set up
or +
.
7. Tap Scan a QR Code
.
8. Scan the QR code on the old phone with the new phone.
Did this summary help you?
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 18,561 times.
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