MELKEM.

Lost your phone? How to get back into your accounts

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Short answer

The short answer

To get back into your accounts, use the backup codes or recovery options you saved before you lost your phone, then set up your sign-in codes again on the new one.

What works depends on what you set up in advance. With nothing saved, some services can still recover the account, but they say it takes time.

More guides: what two-factor authentication is, why you should never share your 6-digit code, and which apps and websites work with an authenticator app.

Right away

What to do right away

  1. Sign in on a device you still have and open the service’s security settings. For a lost phone, Google’s help page says to “Sign out of the lost or stolen phone.” and “Change your Google Account password.” Other services have their own pages.
  2. Use a backup option. For someone who has “lost access to your primary phone”, Google lists another phone signed in to the account, another phone number you added, a backup code you saved, a hardware security key, or a passkey created on another device.
  3. Ask your carrier. Google says: “If you lose your phone, you can ask your carrier to transfer your phone number to a new phone or SIM card.” That matters if a service texts you codes.

Backup codes

Backup codes

A backup code is a single-use code you save in advance. Google’s are 8-digit codes, and its page says: “You can get a new set of 10 backup codes whenever you want.” “After you use a backup code to sign in, that code becomes inactive.” A new set replaces the old: “When you create a new set of codes, the old set automatically becomes inactive.”

To use one, sign in with your password, choose Try another way, then Enter one of your 8-digit backup codes. Google suggests where to keep them: “To store your backup codes somewhere safe, like where you keep your passport or other important documents, you can print a copy of them.” Keep them away from the phone you might lose.

“Do not share your backup codes with anyone. Google never asks for a backup code other than at sign in.” Other services number their codes differently.

Recovery keys

Recovery keys and waiting periods

Apple describes its recovery key as “a 28-character code that you can use, along with a trusted phone number and an Apple device, to help you regain access to your Apple Account.” It carries a warning: “If you set up a recovery key and can’t provide it when you lose access to your account, you’ll be locked out of your account permanently.”

Apple also says: “Don’t store your recovery key in your Apple Passwords app, iCloud Photos, Notes, or iCloud Drive. If you lose access to your Apple Account, you won’t be able to open these apps to find it.”

With neither a trusted device nor recovery factors, you can ask Apple to start account recovery, and “this process could take a while — several days or more.”

Sources

Sources

Google Account Help: Fix common issues with 2-Step Verification and Sign in with backup codes.

Apple Support: Set up a recovery key for your Apple Account and If you forgot your password and can’t sign in to your Apple Account.

Our turn

If you use MELKEM Authenticator

MELKEM Authenticator keeps your setup keys in the iPhone’s Keychain, on that device. They aren’t synced to iCloud, and there is no MELKEM account, so we can’t restore them if every copy is lost. If this iPhone is lost, erased or replaced, your codes are gone unless you made an encrypted export.

The way back is that export, made earlier with a passphrase you chose. On the new iPhone, open Settings › Import from an export, choose the file and enter the same passphrase. The passphrase can’t be recovered: without it, nobody can open the file.

Before you replace or erase an iPhone, open Settings › Create encrypted export and save the file somewhere you can reach from the new one, and keep the recovery codes each service gives you. More answers are on the support page.

Ask MELKEM