New Phone

What Are Backup Codes, and Why You Need Them?

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A black and white image of a man holding a paper with codes.

As a responsible person, I’ve quickly realized the importance of having backup codes for my accounts. From my Google account to Discord, I’ve found that having these codes has been a lifesaver in more ways than one. In this blog post, I’ll discuss backup codes, why you need them, and how to set them up for different online services. Backup codes are unique, one-time-use codes generated by service providers to access your account if you lose access to your primary …

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What if I lose my phone with Google Authenticator on it?

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Laptop on the desk with Google Account Recovery option on the screen

Ok, so your phone was lost or stolen, and you had a Google Authenticator on it. It happened to me, so I am pretty familiar with the process. I had enough when I lost my phone with Google Authenticator on it. Then I discovered 1Password Password Manager, an excellent alternative to the Google Authenticator if you are currently searching for a good Password Manager. By the way, did you know that the 1Password has an Authenticator application built into it …

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Extract Secret Keys from Google Authenticator QR Code

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Extract Secret Keys from the Google Authenticator QR Codes.

If you are reading this article, I’m sure you are aware that the QR codes generated by the Google Authenticator app when transferring accounts are unreadable by other similar applications capable of generating the TOTP codes. For example, applications like Authy, Microsoft Authenticator, LastPass, or 1Password, to name a few, will return an error message when attempting to scan the QR code. The whole idea of extracting Secret Keys from Google Authenticator came about when I wanted to export my …

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Backup Google Authenticator before Factory Reset

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Backup Google Authenticator before Factory Reset

Days where only contact details needed to be saved before making a factory reset of your phone are long gone. Today, the device in your pocket is a fully-fledged computer, and you should be prepared to make a backup of your device from time to time. Unfortunately, although you can easily back up all your pictures, videos, and other data either in the cloud or locally on your computer drive, that’s not the case with the Google Authenticator. I will …

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Restore Microsoft Authenticator on a New Phone

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Restore Microsoft Authenticator app on a new phone.

I had to recently transfer the Microsoft Authenticator to a new phone after damaging my old device. Luckily for me, the process is straightforward, and if you have a Microsoft account and Cloud or iCloud Backup enabled, it should take you no longer than a few minutes to complete. Although the process of transferring the Microsoft Authenticator app to a new phone seems easy, you may encounter a few problems along the way. The first thing to remember is to …

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Transfer Google Authenticator 2FA codes to New Phone

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Transfer Google Authenticator app to a new phone.

Until not a long time ago, transferring your Google Authenticator 2FA codes to a new phone was a challenge. It required either visiting each account and rescanning the QR codes with your new phone or rooting your device, risking losing the warranty. The option to transfer Google Authenticator codes to a new phone was a highly anticipated update, and it is not hard to see why. It becomes common to have 20, 30, or even more accounts in the Google …

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Deleting Google Authenticator? – Do this First

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Deleting Google Authenticator - Do this first.

If you are thinking of removing Google Authenticator from your phone, please wait for a minute and let me explain what you should do first to save yourself a lot of trouble. Whether you don’t like the design of the Google Authenticator app or are upset about the lack of a backup option, or perhaps you bought a new phone, follow the steps below to make sure you won’t regret it. Make sure to copy the Backup Codes, QR-Codes, or …

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