Bitcoin Forum

Hi,
Lost my phone with google Two Factor Authenticator on it that I needed to log into some exchanges. Because it was lost I remotely factory reset/deleted the device and then removed the device from my google account for security. After this I bought a new phone and downloaded this google 2FA app again. Cannot see the codes now which I need to log onto those exchanges. What shall I do?

If you don't have any backup key i think its impossible to recover your google 2fa..
Better to contact the exchanges and tell them that your phone was lose and you don\t have any backup key to recover your 2fa. .
I think they will ask for other proof that you own the account from exchanges like verifying identity..

You need backup code for given exchange (you were provided with before you enabled the 2fa)  ... this is what i'm sure about
or
you need to restore the entire google 2fa account (like you would move your your 2fa app to another device ) for this there are some security backup codes provided by google itself ... in this i'm not so sure. Try to investigate (will appreciate if you report back in case you succeed)

Don't use Google Authenticator. You can't easily backup your 2FA with it, and if you lose your device, recovering each of your accounts is a pain in the ass.

Instead, use a 2FA app that let's you backup your codes. I recommend andOTP:

I use Googles 2FA, and always take a picture of backup code when i enable 2FA. I then store the pictures on a USB. Works fine and would be fine in a situation like yours when you lose the phon :/

Yes, this is so annoying. Lose the unit with the Google Auth and you are in trouble if you have not made a backed up the codes. I have Google Auth on my phone and on my iPad. That way if one dies I will have the other.

As above, if you didn't make a backup of the seeds/QR codes when adding them to Authenticator (they all tell you to do this) you will need to contact the exchanges and find out from each one what their policy on restoring access to your accounts is.

Make sure that when you are setting up Authenticator again that you back up the seeds/QR codes.

FWIW, I am not a fan of the authenticator apps which back up the codes to the cloud - it just seems like another potential weak point. I believe Coinbase recommended that people move away from Authy for this reason.

I was wondering about that exact question.  If I loose my phone I loose access to my account?  The numbers cahnge so even I screddn shot the codes they would not work for future access.  I guess I better not loose my phone before I change this access.

I also have this experience and I have solved the problem. I thought I would no longer have access to my account after updating the firmware on my mobile phone where I had 2FA authentication. I solved this way. I wrote to the support center and they contacted me. I wrote the information from my account and forwarded my documents and everything was quickly resolved. So try to do it similarly and I believe they will definitely help you.

Ok so theres no way to transfer Google 2FA from one device to another?

I find it a little confusing, but I think I get the jist of it.  There is an Authenticator on my phone that I use with an Exchange, but it's not actually Google 2FA turned on. To turn that on, you have to turn it on via the website at your google account and can shut it off any time. As far as the Exchanges, I believe if you saved al the codes then you can transfer it to a new phone even if it means contacting support to help sort it out. If you have the old device, I think you can also go in and disable in there.

Hi what if I already have the high tier account status on the exchanges in which I already uploaded ID for and got it verified months ago with no account restrictions.

Will the exchanges still ask for that Document ID's hassle again?

You can recover the settings only if you have the backup code from the exchanges at the time of creation of the 2FA settings.
That's why it is secure.

Hey all.  So bittrex offers 2fa and uses authenticator.  If i have the backup key, as long as i get a new phone, then i could log into bittrex without an issue?


Does bittrex allow another form of 2fa besides google authenticator?

Yes. But I still wouldn't recommend you to use Google Authenticator. Choose a 2FA app that lets you backup your codes (I use andOTP).

Any 2FA app that supports OTP.

E.g: Authy, FreeOTP, andOTP, Authenticator Plus, etc...

Hi there.  What do you mean a 2fa that allows you to backup your codes?  So you telling me if you get a new phone, its harder to get the 2fa with google authenticator as oppose to andOTP?


Also when i put in 2FA, did i get to choose if i pick google authenticator or not?  Because i dont recall it giving me an option?

It's exactly how it sounds like. If you set up a 2FA in your Google Authenticator and lose your phone, you can't just install it in a new device and restore your codes. You would need to manually write down or save the QR you used to set up your 2FA to be able to manually import them one by one in your app. If you forget to write them down, your accounts are gone and it's going to be a pain in the ass to restore your accounts.

With andOTP, you can just click a button to create a encrypted file that contains all your 2FA codes. If you lose your phone, you can get a new one, install andOTP, move this file to your new device and import all your 2FA at once like nothing had happened.

andOTP uses the same protocol as Google Authenticator. If a website gives you the option to enable 2FA with Google Authenticator, just follow the same procedure in andOTP and the result will be the same.

Hi there.  Where can i find the QR code that i have for google authenticator?  I do not believe i wrote this down.  Also this is what is a bit confusing.  I used google authenticator on another phone... that was the phone i originally installed it on.


I then got a new phone.  I then either downloaded google authenticator on this new phone or the phone came with it?  Do phones come with it installed or not?


And when i put in 2FA for bittrex, it uses it from my phone etc.

I have the bittrex secret key written down.  Is that the code you are speaking of? 

Good information. Any way to import accounts from Google Authenticaor into this app?

Not that I know. But you can always manually disable the 2FA in each of your accounts and enable it again in andOTP.

Yes.

I think google should update Google Authenticator application. We could login to application with our gmail account. So we can recover out data. I dont know why dont they do it.

I have been trough this a few weeks ago. The only way to get back the access to you accounts is to white to the their support to remove your 2FA if you don't have your backups. For me it took around 2 weeks to get back access to all my accounts. Well sometimes they ask question so they can be sure that you are the owner of the account. Something important you need to remember, when you enable the 2FA again on your accounts, before you scan the RQ code with your phone, take a screenshot of it and print it on paper, just for backup. Do this for every 2FA you enter in the Google app and you will not have any problems in the future. In the moment you scan the QR code from the paper backup u can have access to your accounts.

I believe I have the QR seed code for poloniex. So how do I log into poloniex with this?

Do not use andOTP
App is buggy and it deletes all the codes
it was such a pain to recover all the codes and go back to Google Authy. There is saying if it isn't broken then don't fix it. Use titanium and back it up.

I have been using andOTP for over 5 months and never had any issue or heard about it. How about you create an issue in their github repo instead of posting something vague like that?

Still, your codes won't get deleted and lost if you backup them. That's the whole point of using a different 2FA app like andOTP. Enable and backup. Easy right?

It's not vague. I spent 5 hours recovering all my accounts. I tried it twice. First time andOTP got cleared. Second time I was able to backup it and then I re-open the app to see all the codes gone but then I tried to restore and that didn't work also. So I switched back to Google Authy.