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Guide

How to move your 2FA codes out of Google Authenticator

Export, scan, check, then clean up, without getting locked out of anything.

By the TriPass team · Published 12 October 2026 · General security information, not a guarantee about any product.

The short answer

In Google Authenticator, open the menu, then Transfer accounts and Export accounts. Select your accounts and it shows one or more QR codes. Scan each one with the new app (in TriPass: Auth tab, +, Scan QR code). Check that every code matches before you remove anything from the old app.

Before you start

  • Keep Google Authenticator installed until you have checked every code works in the new app.
  • Find your backup codes for your most important accounts (email, Apple or Google account, bank). They are your way in if anything goes wrong.
  • Treat the export QR codes like passwords. They contain the secret keys themselves. Anyone who photographs them can make your codes, so do this somewhere private and don’t screenshot them.

Step 1: Export from Google Authenticator

These are Google’s own steps, on the phone that has your codes now:

  1. Open Google Authenticator and open the menu.
  2. Tap Transfer accounts, then Export accounts, and unlock the phone if asked.
  3. Select the accounts to move and tap Next.
  4. The app shows a QR code. If you selected several accounts, it may show more than one, one after another.

If your codes are saved to your Google Account, Google Authenticator also syncs them to any phone where you sign in to it. Exporting still works, and is the way to move them to a different app.

Step 2: Scan them into the new app

Most authenticator apps that support Google’s transfer format work the same way: choose to add a code by scanning, then point the camera at the export QR, one QR at a time.

In TriPass for iPhone: open the Auth tab, tap +, choose Scan QR code and scan the first export QR. TriPass lists the accounts it found and lets you choose which to add. If Google Authenticator showed several QR codes, scan the next one the same way.

TriPass imports time-based accounts (the usual kind, codes that change every 30 seconds). Counter-based accounts, which only change when you press a button, are skipped; set those up again from the website’s security settings.

Step 3: Check every code

  1. Put both phones (or both apps) side by side and compare the code for each account. They should match, apart from the moment one changes.
  2. Sign in to one or two important accounts using a code from the new app.
  3. Only then remove the accounts from Google Authenticator. Removing a code from the app does not turn off two-factor authentication on the website.

If something goes wrong

  • “No accounts found”: make sure you are scanning the export QR from Transfer accounts, not a QR from a website.
  • A code doesn’t match: check the phone’s date and time are set automatically; codes are made from the clock.
  • An account is missing: it may be counter-based, or it may have been on a later QR. Scan the remaining QR codes, or set the account up again on the website.
  • You have lost the old phone: exporting isn’t possible. Use each site’s backup codes or account recovery, then set up two-factor authentication again in the new app.

Moving out again later

The transfer format works in both directions. TriPass can show any codes you choose as a Google Authenticator transfer QR, which Google Authenticator and other compatible apps can scan. Wherever you keep your codes, make sure you can get them out.

New to authenticator codes? How authenticator app codes work explains what is inside them. TriPass is not on the App Store yet; see what it does.

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