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Other PSA: when setting up a new iPhone device-to-device, transfer/export your Authenticator app info BEFORE erasing old iPhone!

Wreckus said:
Don't use google all that much.
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Okay and? Still an option for a free functioning phone/text dead drop that doesn’t expose your actual phone number to people/sites you don’t want to have it. No need to “use Google all that much” to benefit from GV.
 
I'm really glad I saw this. I did look at the Wallet app after restoring from encrypted local backup, and I had to re-enter all my CVV codes, but I didn't think to look at Microsoft and Google authenticator apps. Sure enough, they were empty, but I was able to restore them from my iPhone 7. While I'm keeping it as a spare and not erasing it, I would have been completely clueless if I had run an authenticator on my iPhone 13 Pro and found them empty. I expected all of this to come over automatically on the restore.
 
I’ve been burned by Google Authenticator for this in the past. That’s when I started using Authy. Although I’m also glad that it’s built in to the OS now.
 
I learned this quickly before upgrading iOS without exporting since it gets wiped as well (at least Google authenticate).
 
Banglazed said:
Tap on the 3 bar lines on the left of “Authenticator” to access menus and settings. In settings, you’ll see a section for backup.

Once you set it up, you can just log in on device using recovery account.
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Banglazed said:
On your old phone, launch Authenticator, tap the 3 lines left of "Authenticator", go into settings and set a recovery email and sync to iCloud under backup.

On new iPhone, check the Authenticator app to see if it sync over. If not, tap the password section at the bottom middle tab and select an account to sync to/from and make sure it's the recovery email.
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When I tap on the 3 bar lines in Authenticator I don't get Menus or Setting. I only get:
-Send feedback
-Terms of service
-Privacy policy
-Legal notices
 
MisterSavage said:
FYI, with iOS 15 you can save 2FA codes with iCloud keychain. That would cover this scenario.
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I'd heard this though for the moment have my codes back in Authenticator. Do you happen to know if there's an easy way to transfer it into iOS? I'd certainly prefer to have it in Keychain.
 
anthonymoody said:
I'd heard this though for the moment have my codes back in Authenticator. Do you happen to know if there's an easy way to transfer it into iOS? I'd certainly prefer to have it in Keychain.
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I believe it depends on the site you've stored 2FA codes for. Some make you turn off 2FA and then turn it back on again to move your TOTP codes to another place. Bitwarden didn't do that and let me display the QR code again, which made transferring to the iCloud Keychain easy for that site.
 
I use Authy and highly recommend it! Its cloud-based so all your 2FA accounts are stored in the cloud so you can log into any device and grab them without having to worry about transferring them over to a new device. Just make sure you have a really strong password protecting your Authy account.
 
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MisterSavage said:
I believe it depends on the site you've stored 2FA codes for. Some make you turn off 2FA and then turn it back on again to move your TOTP codes to another place. Bitwarden didn't do that and let me display the QR code again, which made transferring to the iCloud Keychain easy for that site.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I experimented with one site and it let me do it via QR code which I imported into iOS keychain without issue...thanks!
 
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