Google Authenticator App Now Syncs 2FA Codes to the Cloud

Your Google Account can now connect with the Authenticator app to make recovering access to your accounts easier if you ever lose your smartphone.

With the meteoric rise of two-factor authentication, many people (and apps and services) have turned to authenticator apps to make login verification more manageable. Except, if you lose the device the Authenticator app is on, those logins become much more difficult—which is why Google is adding support for your Google Account.

The addition is primarily due to user feedback, which Google says brought to light the potential lock-out that can occur if someone's phone is lost or stolen. In such a case, users would often need to manually recover all their connected accounts individually, then reconnect them to a new Authenticator to finish setting up 2FA. Synching Authenticator to your Google Account acts as a secondary backup, which sidesteps the need to reset everything.

When the Authenticator app is connected to your Google Account, those one-time passwords (OTP) generated for your 2FA logins will be cloud-synced across your other connected devices. Meaning you can still get into your accounts by locating the codes via your Google Account on a different platform.

Synchronization support between Google Accounts and the Authenticator app is rolling out today for Android and iOS. All you need to do is update the app to its latest version when prompted, then follow the on-screen instructions.