Google Authenticator codes disappeared? Where they went and how to get them back
You open Google Authenticator and your codes are gone. Before you panic, check where they're saved. Since version 6.0 on Android and 4.0 on iPhone, Google Authenticator can keep your codes in your Google Account (Google's Authenticator help page), and that changes where to look.
1. Check you're signed in, to the right account
Google's answer for disappeared codes: "you may have been signed out of your Google Account. Click on the profile icon at the top right to confirm you are signed in." You may also have saved codes with another Google Account, so switch accounts and check each one (Google's Authenticator help page).
2. New phone? Sign in, or transfer
- If your codes were saved to your Google Account: "When you sign in to your Google Account within Google Authenticator on a new device, your codes are automatically synced to this device." (Google's Authenticator help page)
- If you used Authenticator without an account: the codes stayed on the old phone. On the old phone, tap Menu, then Transfer codes, then Export codes. On the new phone, tap Menu, then Transfer codes, then Import codes, and scan the QR code (Google's Authenticator help page).
3. Know what deleting does
If you sync codes to your Google Account and delete one, Google says it's "deleted from all devices where your codes are synced" (Google's Authenticator help page). Choosing Use Authenticator without an account moves codes off your Google Accounts and onto that one device (Google's Authenticator help page).
4. If the codes are really gone
Then the way back into each account is that site's recovery: backup codes you saved (Google's are explained on Google's backup codes page), another sign-in method, or the site's account recovery. Lost your authenticator codes? What to do now walks through the order.
5. Keep a second copy from now on
Google's own best practices include syncing your codes to your Google Account and enrolling in more than one form of 2-Step Verification so you don't lock yourself out (Google's Authenticator help page). If you'd rather also have a copy you hold yourself, on your computer and in an encrypted file, that's what Never Lose Codes is for. It imports all your Google Authenticator accounts at once from the export QR code, and your phone keeps its copy: How to move Google Authenticator codes to Chrome.
Never Lose Codes can't recover codes that were never backed up. It protects the accounts you put in it from then on.
Never Lose Codes is a Chrome extension that keeps your 2FA codes encrypted on your computer, with backup files you hold and a recovery key. See how it works.