Moving phones, backups and recovery

Autothenticator · Updated 18 October 2026

Moving to a new device (old device still in hand)

Free, no account needed.

1. On the new device, choose Move from another device on the first screen. It shows a QR code and a code to type, such as K7Q2 9F4M · 042 917.
2. On the old device, unlocked, choose Move to a new device and scan the QR code (or type the code).
3. The vault goes across end-to-end encrypted through the relay. The relay can't read it, and only the device showing the code can receive it.
4. The new device asks for the passphrase. It's the same vault, with the same passphrase and recovery kit.
5. The old device then offers to keep its copy or remove it. Remove resets the app on the old device.

Details:

• Works across platforms: iPhone to Android, Android to iPhone, phone to browser and so on. Sites and app bindings are kept.
• The move window: it lasts 15 minutes. A wrong code is refused and can be tried again.
• Several accounts in one app (see The Autothenticator vault: encryption and unlocking) move together. The new device asks only for passphrases that differ.
• What doesn't move:
  • passkeys kept in a device's secure hardware. They can't be copied, by design. The old device lists them first ("2 passkeys stay on this phone");
  • biometric unlock, which is set up again on the new device.
• Synced and work vaults don't use this. The app says to turn on sync on the new device and approve it instead, which also keeps the device list right.

Backups (for a lost, broken or wiped device)

• Automatic backup:
  • Android: pick a folder once, with Android's own picker: Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox or a folder on the phone. After any change the app writes a backup there when it goes to the background, and keeps the newest five.
  • iPhone, iPad, Mac: the same, with a folder in Files (iCloud Drive by default).
  • Browser extension: browsers can't write files by themselves, so it reminds instead, and Back up now downloads the file.
• Reminder: with no sync, every app shows Back up your codes when something has changed and the last backup is more than 14 days old. Not now hides it for 7 days.
• One format everywhere: an Android backup restores in the browser or on an iPhone, and the other way round.
• A backup file is encrypted, so keeping it in cloud storage is safe. Keep the recovery kit somewhere else.

What you need to restore

The recovery kit

• What it is: a page to print or save as a PDF, made when the vault is created. It holds:
  • the recovery key: 256 bits, written as groups of letters and digits, with a QR code;
  • the device secret.
• Making a new one: possible at any time in settings. The old kit stops working. On a synced vault, making a new kit also replaces the vault key, so whoever finds the old kit gets nothing new.
• Keep it like a passport. Whoever has it, together with a backup file (or a sign-in to the account), can open the vault.

Not built in on purpose

• The Android app is excluded from Google's backup and from Android's phone-to-phone transfer. It's a security choice: the keys live in the phone's hardware and can't move anyway. Use Move to a new device, a backup or sync.
• Winfrasoft support can't recover a vault. There is no back door. Only the person's devices, their recovery kit, or (for work vaults) their organisation's key service can.

Lost sign-in (sync users)

When none of the account's sign-ins work any more (a closed Google account, say):

• Proof: use a device that still syncs (Lost your website sign-in?), or the recovery kit.
• Choose a new sign-in.
• It's added after 7 days. Every device, and the account's email address, are told. Anyone who still has a device can Cancel it. This stops a stolen kit or device quietly taking over the account.