How to Transfer Microsoft Authenticator Account to New Phone

If you get a new phone and need to transfer over all your 2FA codes, you’ll need to set up a backup on your old phone using these steps. Keeping multi-factor authentication working smoothly across a whole team is exactly the kind of cybersecurity housekeeping our team handles for clients.

If you do not have a backup on your old phone because it was never setup and you can no longer access the phone then there is no way to recover the Microsoft authenticator codes.

Microsoft Authenticator app backup and recovery screen used to transfer accounts to a new phone

Verify Backup Settings On Your Old iPhone:

Go to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Backup > See ALL
Check that Microsoft Authenticator is listed under Apps Using iCloud and toggled on
Open Microsoft Authenticator app, go to SETTINGS and turn on iCloud backup
Make sure to provide the email account you use in your iCloud backup from step 1
If there is already a backup then you can skip to the next section

Recover Backup Settings To Your New iPhone:

Download and Install Microsoft Authenticator on your new iPhone
Open the App, if it asks you can skip the sign in option
On the main screen you should see the option to BEGIN RECOVERY (if you don’t see this then uninstall and reinstall the Microsoft Authenticator app)
Provide the email account from the steps you used to backup your settings

Verify Backup Settings On Your Android Phone:

Open the Microsoft Authenticator app click on the 3 dots and go to Settings
Under BACKUP
Turn on Cloud Backup and provide an email address

Recover Backup Settings To Your New Android Phone:

Download and Install Microsoft Authenticator on your new Android Phone
Open the App, if it asks you can skip the sign in option
On the main screen you should see the option to BEGIN RECOVERY (if you don’t see this then uninstall and reinstall the Microsoft Authenticator app)
Provide the email account from the steps you used to backup your settings

How To Transfer Microsoft Authenticator To A New Phone Without The Old Phone

Sorry, there is no way to recover your authenticator codes if you did not setup a backup on original Authenticator phone

In short: to transfer your authenticator app from your old iPhone or Android, you have to back up your codes to the cloud on your old phone before you recover them on your new one.

Setting up MFA and account recovery correctly across a whole company is exactly the kind of managed IT services we provide for Chicagoland businesses.

Contact LME Services and We Will Fix This For You