Current Events > Holy shit, Google Authenticator is locked to your device??

(+) Yeah! (+)

I just found this out and I'm freaking the fuck out because my phone is 2+ years old and feels like it's starting to show signs of failure soon.

What the hell are you supposed to do? Choose between having your accounts at risk, and buying a new phone every year like clockwork?

Do I need to print out backup codes for every single account I'm using 2-step authentication on?

Yeah its pretty annoying, if you swap phones a few times within a few years then you realize you can't login in to something because of its tied to another device and you don't remember which one it was and god forbid you sold the device before hand.

LostForest posted...

my phone is 2+

Did you buy a dumpster budget phone or something? It should definitely last you at least five.

Sometimes it makes sense to keep a cheap back-up phone. I have a Nord N100 set up, just in case something happens and I have to wait on insurance to provide a replacement for the Google Pixel 6. I also have authy (my backup code generator) on as many devices as possible, tablets, browsers etc.

I just looked at this and there's an export button.

LostForest posted...

I just found this out and I'm freaking the fuck out because my phone is 2+ years old and feels like it's starting to show signs of failure soon.

What the hell are you supposed to do? Choose between having your accounts at risk, and buying a new phone every year like clockwork?

Do I need to print out backup codes for every single account I'm using 2-step authentication on?

I swapped phones and forgot to swap the Google authenticator. If you do remember to swap it you can generate a QR code to easily swap everything over. If you forgot and you got rid of your old phone like me then you have to wait until you sign in and get prompted for 2fa, realize you don't have it, then go through the hassle of removing 2fa, and then re-adding it on your new phone.

Turtlemayor333 posted...

I just looked at this and there's an export button.

Right, but if your current phone is stolen or broken, you can't use access that export option.

Basically, you need to know when you're getting a new phone, to transfer the codes. Otherwise you have to rely on the backup codes provided to you by your various accounts to login to said accounts, and then set up new codes in the Google Authenticator app.