Your IT Consultant

Move Google Authenticator to a New Phone

July 9, 2019

One of the pains of life is having to reinstall and reconfigure apps when you get a new mobile device. Some make it easy and some make it hard. If you use Google Authenticator for 2FA, you need to associate the new device to your account. Google intentionally makes it a little difficult to move Authenticator. After all, the point of 2FA is to increase security so it should take a little work to make sure you are who you say you are.

Leave Google Authenticator on your old phone for now and install the app on your new device. Next, login to your Google account and go to the 2-step verification page. In the “Authentication app” section, click on “Change Phone.” Choose the type of phone and click on Next. At the “Set up Authenticator” screen, you should see a barcode. Open Google Authenticator on the new phone and follow the prompts to scan the barcode. Tap “Setup,” and then “Scan a Barcode.”

Google Authenticator is now transferred to your phone. You probably have additional apps that use Google Authenticator for 2FA. You’ll need to migrate each of them, one at a time. The simplest way is to disable 2FA for the service, which will disassociate your old device. Then enable 2FA again, but use your new phone to authorize it. You can get more detail and screenshots by reviewing this post.

Email:   Phone: 703.359.0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsimek
https://amazon.com/author/johnsimek
https://senseient.com