How to export Google Authenticator codes

Google Authenticator can export your accounts as QR codes. Here's how to do it on iPhone and Android, how to move the codes to a new phone, and how to get them onto your Mac.

Updated 23 September 2026 · [Author name]

Export your accounts

The steps are the same on iPhone and Android.

1. Open Google Authenticator and tap the Menu.
2. Tap Transfer accounts, then Export accounts.
3. Unlock your phone when asked (Face ID, fingerprint or passcode).
4. Select the accounts you want to move, then tap Next.
5. Your phone shows a QR code containing those accounts. Keep it on screen while you scan it with the other device.

Exporting copies your accounts. They stay in Google Authenticator on your phone until you delete them yourself.

When there's more than one QR code

If you export several accounts, Google Authenticator may split them across more than one QR code. Scan every code, one after another, on the device you're moving to. If you only scan the first one, only some of your accounts will arrive.

Move them to a new phone

1. Install Google Authenticator on the new phone.
2. Tap Menu › Transfer accounts › Import accounts.
3. Scan the QR code, or codes, shown on your old phone.
4. Check that a code or two matches on both phones before you delete anything from the old one.

Get them onto your Mac

Google Authenticator doesn't have a Mac app. AuthentiCat reads the same export QR codes, so your accounts can live in your Mac's menu bar instead:

1. Export your accounts on your phone, as above.
2. In AuthentiCat, choose Import from Google Authenticator.
3. Choose Scan with Mac camera and hold your phone up to the camera. For more than one QR code, show each in turn.
4. Review the accounts it found and add them.

No camera? Take a screenshot of the QR code on your phone, send it to your Mac, and use Choose QR image… instead. Delete the screenshot afterwards.

AuthentiCat is coming soon to the Mac App Store, with a one-time price. Get notified at launch.

What about signing in with your Google Account?

If you sign in to your Google Account inside Google Authenticator, your codes are backed up and sync automatically to Google Authenticator on a new device. That's the easiest route if you're only moving between phones. Sync only works between copies of Google Authenticator, though. To use your codes in any other app, including on a Mac, you still need the export QR codes.

Keep the QR codes safe

An export QR code contains the secret keys behind your 2FA codes. Anyone who scans it can generate your codes.

• Only show it to a device you control.
• Don't post it, email it or keep a photo of it.
• If you used a screenshot, delete it, and empty Recently Deleted too.
• Keep each site's recovery codes somewhere safe, separate from your authenticator.

If something goes wrong

• Some accounts are missing: the export probably had more than one QR code. Scan them all.
• The scan won't read: turn up your phone's brightness, hold it still about 20–30 cm from the camera, and avoid glare.
• Codes don't match: check your Mac and phone both set their time automatically. Codes depend on the clock.
• AuthentiCat shows an error code (M01–M10): see what each code means.