Keeping our online accounts secure is becoming increasingly critical in today’s world of cyber-attacks and data breaches. The most reliable way to protect your account is via two-factor authentication or 2FA. This requires both a password plus a one-time access code for login success.
Google Authenticator has been the go-to app for this purpose. But with an unfortunate drawback: if you lost your device, there was no easy backup plan! However, that’s about to change.
Google has now announced a new cloud backup feature that syncs 2FA codes to your Google account. This allows you to use Authenticator on multiple devices.
Previously, OTPs were stored locally. Making it almost impossible to retrieve them if you lost the device with Authenticator installed on it. Now, OTPs backed up to your Google account. If you sign in to Google Authenticator on other devices, you can access the codes from those devices.
Also Read: Google Added Passkey Support to Chrome and Android
Interestingly, Google’s new cloud backup feature not only saves your OTPs but also backs up your settings. So, when you set up a new phone and log in to your account. Google Authenticator will be ready to go without requiring any setup process. This also means that if you lose your phone or it’s stolen, accessing your OTPs won’t be an issue. As long as you have access to your Google account.
But there’s a catch. If you have 2FA configured on your Google account, you need to generate backup codes or add a recovery phone number for that account to preserve access to the OTPs in Google Authenticator.
Therefore, it’s vital to always keep your Google account password and recovery options updated and secure.
For Android users, you’ll need Google Authenticator v6.0 to access the new feature, while iOS users will require v4.0.
Google’s cloud backup feature in its Authenticator app comes as a huge relief to anyone who has struggled with losing access to their 2FA codes. With this new feature, you can rest assured that if you lose or replace your phone, you can still access all your encrypted accounts with a simple tap or two.
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