Google Authenticator gets backup and restore on Android devices

One of the biggest issue with the Google Authenticator app is that when you swap devices or factory reset your device, the data in the Authenticator app doesn’t get restored. And the data that Authenticator holds is no joke. It carries all your 2-step authentication pins for various online accounts.

Thankfully, Google has now added backup and restore of preferences for the Authenticator app. What this means is that if you’ve Backups enabled on your Android device, then Authenticator app preferences will now get backed up to your Google Drive, and automatically restore when you switch to another device or factory reset your phone.

The Authenticator app also gets experimental security key (FIDO U2F) support for Chrome. These new features are probably rolling out with the recent update to Google Authenticator app with version 5.0. Before this the app was on version 4.74 which was released around same time last year.

We’re yet to test the accuracy of Google Authenticator’s new backup and restore feature. But let’s just hope that the app can now finally restore our 2-step verification pins so that we don’t have re-add them every time we change to a new device.

Play Store link

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Shivam

Shivam is our resident designer and web developer who also enjoys writing. He loves to meditate, drive on the freeways and hunt for snipers during his Call Of Duty playtime. Email: [email protected]

2 Comments

  1. I just tested it by uninstalling the app and reinstalling it and my data was wiped and never came back 🙁

  2. I just tested it by uninstalling the app and reinstalling it and my data was wiped and never came back 🙁

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