How to move Google Authenticator codes to Chrome

Google Authenticator can export all your accounts as a QR code. Never Lose Codes reads that code from a photo, a screenshot or your webcam and brings every account over at once. Your phone keeps its copy.

Before you start

Have your phone with Google Authenticator on it, and your computer with Chrome.
Install Never Lose Codes and finish setup. Setup shows your recovery key once. Save it before you move anything in.
Do this somewhere private. The export QR code holds the secrets for every account in it. Anyone who scans it can make your codes.

Step 1: Export from Google Authenticator

Open Google Authenticator on your phone.
Open the menu (⋮ or ☰) and choose Transfer codes, then Export codes. Older versions call these Transfer accounts and Export accounts.
Confirm it's you (PIN, fingerprint or face, if your phone asks).
Select the accounts to move. Picking all of them is the simplest.
The app shows a QR code. If you picked many accounts, it shows several codes, one after another. Google's Authenticator help page confirms that more than one account can produce more than one QR code.

Step 2: Get the QR code to your computer

You have three ways. Use whichever works on your phone.

Webcam: in Never Lose Codes, choose Add account → Scan with webcam and hold your phone's screen up to the camera.
Photo from another device: take a picture of the phone's screen with a second phone or tablet and send that picture to your computer.
Screenshot: take a screenshot on the phone and send it to your computer. Some phones block screenshots of this screen and save a black image. If that happens, use the webcam or a photo instead.

However you move the image, delete it afterward from the phone, your computer and anywhere it passed through (chat apps, email, cloud photo backup). It's a copy of all your secrets.

Step 3: Bring the accounts in

In Never Lose Codes, open the full view and choose Add account → From Google Authenticator.
Drop the image on the page, choose the file, or paste it with Ctrl+V. The image is read on your computer. It isn't uploaded anywhere.
You'll see the list of accounts found in that code, each with a checkbox. Leave them ticked and click Add selected.
If Google Authenticator showed several QR codes, the page tells you which one this was (for example "export code 1 of 3"). Repeat for each one.

Step 4: Check before you rely on it

Compare a few codes side by side with your phone. They should match, changing every 30 seconds for most sites. Then sign in to one important account using the code from Chrome. If one account's code doesn't match, remove it and add it again from its site's security settings.

Your phone still has every account. Moving them doesn't remove anything there. Keeping both is a good backup in itself.

Step 5: Make sure a backup exists

Never Lose Codes writes an encrypted backup file to Downloads/NeverLoseCodes a few seconds after every change. Open the Shield page and check that the backup line shows a green check. The guide How to back up your 2FA codes covers this in detail.

If something goes wrong

"No QR code found": crop the image to the code, make sure it's sharp and not glary, and try again. Or use the webcam.
A black screenshot: your phone blocked it. Use the webcam or a photo from another device.
Some accounts are missing: you probably have more than one export code. Go back to the phone and move to the next code.
A code doesn't work on its site: check your computer's clock is set automatically. Time-based codes depend on the correct time.

Not using Google Authenticator?

You can also add accounts one at a time: scan the setup QR code a site shows you, drop in a screenshot of it, or type the setup key the site shows under the code. Most sites let you set up a new authenticator from the 2FA section of their security settings.

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.