Switch Your Google Authenticator Accounts Each Time You Swap Telephones

This story is a part of 12 Days of Suggestions, serving to you benefit from your tech, dwelling and well being throughout the vacation season.

Utilizing a two-factor authentication app like Google Authenticator is the popular solution to shield your accounts (higher than textual content), and for those who’re a person, it is necessary that you just transfer your data over if you get a brand new smartphone, just like the iPhone 14 or Pixel 7, for instance (it is the tip of the yr, and many individuals might be swapping telephones after getting a brand new one over the vacations!).

Doing so will guarantee you possibly can nonetheless entry your two-factor codes and register to these accounts in your new cellphone. With out these codes, you might very effectively find yourself locked out of your on-line accounts. Fortunately, each iPhone and Android allow you to simply switch your accounts from one cellphone to a different.

Two-factor authentication provides an additional layer of safety to your on-line accounts by requiring a randomly generated six-digit code after you’ve got entered your password. As privateness considerations proceed to rise amid breach after breach, two-factor authentication (together with a password supervisor) is a vital step that may assist fortify your on-line safety by making it more durable for others to take over your accounts. 

Most web sites provide the choice to obtain your 2FA codes by SMS texting or through the use of a devoted app reminiscent of Google Authenticator, however we do not advocate utilizing SMS. Hackers have had a variety of success tricking wi-fi carriers into switching the SIM card related to an individual’s cellphone quantity and receiving the two-factor codes despatched to your cellphone quantity. In 2019, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Twitter account was taken over after his cellphone’s SIM card was modified. 

Here is what you may have to do to switch your accounts from one cellphone to a different. It should not take too lengthy, nevertheless it’s a good suggestion to put aside a while to verify all of it goes easily.

Use the import device to hurry up the method

When you’re switching from one Android cellphone to a different, make your life simpler through the use of the app’s switch device. Be sure you have the most recent model of Authenticator in your outdated cellphone by checking for updates within the Play Retailer on Android or the App Retailer on iPhone. You will have to have Authenticator put in in your new cellphone, too: Obtain right here for iPhone or Android.

Then comply with these steps in your outdated cellphone

1. Open Authenticator then faucet the three-dot menu icon adopted by Switch accounts.

2. Choose Export accounts and enter your PIN code when prompted. 

3. Choose the accounts you wish to switch then faucet Subsequent. 

In your new cellphone

1. Open Authenticator, faucet Get Began, 

2. Faucet Import present accounts? positioned on the backside of the display screen.

3. Choose Scan QR code.

Your outdated cellphone could have only one or a number of QR codes so that you can scan. Comply with the prompts to complete the switch course of. You will see a affirmation immediate for every profitable switch.

The old fashioned means nonetheless works

If the switch device would not give you the results you want, you possibly can nonetheless arrange Authenticator utilizing the outdated technique of manually transferring your accounts, one after the other. Here is what you may have to do to switch your Google account:

1. Set up Authenticator in your new cellphone. 

2. In your laptop, go to Google’s two-step verification web site and log in to your Google account. 

3. Click on Change Telephone within the Authenticator app part. Choose the kind of cellphone you may be utilizing and comply with the prompts. If you wish to disable Google Authenticator altogether, click on on the trash can icon and make sure your resolution. Google will then revert to delivering your 2FA codes by way of SMS.

4. Open the Authenticator app in your new cellphone and faucet Start > Scan barcode. Scan the QR code displayed on Google’s web site with the Authenticator app, then enter the six-digit code to confirm every thing is working correctly. As soon as that is accomplished, the codes in your outdated system will not be legitimate.

Repeat this course of for every service you at present use with Google Authenticator, be it Apple, Fb, Dropbox or Amazon. Do not delete the Authenticator app off your outdated cellphone till you’ve got moved all accounts to your new cellphone, in any other case you may be locked out of these accounts — and no one desires that.

Now that you’ve got transferred Google Authenticator to your new cellphone, take a while to study the entire iPhone’s hidden options or grasp Android’s hidden options. Nonetheless making an attempt to determine what to do with that outdated cellphone? We now have some solutions for iPhone
and Android alike.