Import your Google Authenticator codes into KeyNesta

Guide · updated August 2026 · takes ~5 minutes

Google Authenticator has a built-in export designed for moving to a new phone. KeyNesta reads that exact format, so migrating is a scan — not an afternoon of re-enrolling accounts one by one. Everything is decoded on your device; the export never touches our servers.

Step 1 — Export from Google Authenticator

1. Open Google Authenticator on your old phone.
2. Tap the menu and choose Transfer accounts → Export accounts.
3. Select the accounts to move (or keep all selected), and continue.
4. You will see one or more QR codes. Keep them on screen — and treat them like passwords: they contain your real 2FA secrets.

Step 2 — Import into KeyNesta

1. Open KeyNesta and unlock your vault.
2. Choose Import → Google Authenticator.
3. On a phone, scan the QR with the camera. In the web app, upload a screenshot of the QR instead.
4. Review the preview — every account, issuer, and username is listed — then confirm. If the export produced several QR codes, repeat for each; duplicates are detected.

Step 3 — Verify before you burn the bridge

Keep both apps side by side for a moment. Codes for the same account must match exactly (they refresh on the same 30-second clock). Check your critical accounts — email, banking, password manager — then delete the export screenshots and, once satisfied, remove the accounts from Google Authenticator.

Coming from somewhere else?

KeyNesta also imports Aegis and 2FAS backup files, plus generic JSON and CSV — always with an on-device preview before anything is written. Moving from Authy? That path is different (Authy has no export) — see the Authy guide.

After importing: make yourself unloseable

Two minutes of setup ends the "lost phone = locked out" problem for good: create an encrypted backup file (yours to store anywhere) and optionally enable zero-knowledge sync for a second device. Details in backing up and syncing your 2FA codes.