How to Move Google Authenticator to a New Phone

Signing into the same Google account is the easiest way, but you have to enable one setting to make it work

By
Jennifer Karner
Jennifer Karner
Writer
    Jen Karner is a former Lifewire writer and expert on VR and Android phones. Her work has appeared on AndroidCentral, iMore, WindowsCentral and others.
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    Updated on May 20, 2024
    Reviewed by
    Jessica Kormos
    Reviewed by Jessica Kormos
    • Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College
    Jessica Kormos is a writer and editor with 15 years' experience writing articles, copy, and UX content for Tecca.com, Rosenfeld Media, and many others.
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    Android

    What to Know

    • From the first phone, go to profile icon > email address > Allow to save your codes online.
    • Then, sign in to the same Google account on the new phone. Your 2FA codes are available immediately.
    • The other way is to export the codes: menu > Transfer accounts > Export accounts.

    This article explains how to move all your Google Authenticator accounts from one phone to another.

    How to Keep Your Google Authenticator Codes When Switching Phones

    There are two easy ways to do this, and they don't require you to re-add all your accounts.

    Log in to the Same Google Account

    Google lets you back up your Authenticator codes to your Google Account, making it incredibly easy to move all your codes to your new phone. The only catch is that you have to turn on this backup option. Follow these steps to get your Google Authenticator codes on your new phone pronto:

    1. On your old phone, open Google Authenticator and tap your profile icon at the top.

      If the small cloud icon is green (not grey), then your codes are already being backed up and you skip down to Step 4.

    2. Tap your email address from the menu.

    3. Choose Allow on the prompt about saving your codes to your Google account.

    4. On your new phone, open Google Authenticator and log in to the same Google account you used on your old phone; tap your profile icon to switch accounts). All the same accounts will show up instantly (close and reopen Authenticator if you don't see them).

    Export the 2FA Codes

    Another way this works is by exporting the accounts. This lets you move your Google Authenticator codes to the other phone if it's using a different Google account, or if you plan to use Authenticator without an account. Here's how to export your Google Authenticator accounts:

    1. From the old phone, tap menu > Transfer accounts > Export accounts. You'll see a QR code.

    2. From the new phone, go to menu > Transfer accounts > Import accounts > Scan QR code.

    3. Point the camera at the QR code on the old phone. You'll see a success message indicating how many accounts were copied over; tap OK.

      At this point, you're done and can close both apps. However, if you tap Next on the old phone, you'll be given the option to remove the exported accounts. The choice is yours, but unless you're keeping both devices, we recommend erasing the codes (just make sure they work correctly on the new phone first!).

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