Microsoft Authenticator Backup Restore

Just to add to this, since it didn't quite work for me:

1. On your old phone, go to the App Store, search for the Authenticator app, open it's app page, and hit update (Update will not show in the summary view, helpfully)
2. New phone: delete Authenticator
3. Old phone: force an iCloud Backup (won't take long)
4. New Phone: re-download Authenticator, and open it. All the logins should appear again

the issue is due to Microsoft changing how they backup the credentials, so both apps have to be up to date to leverage the (new) Keychain backup, rather than having to rely on another Microsoft account.

Thanks for this... This worked for me too. I had been fiddling round with this for ages and hadnt considered that my original iPhone had a different older version of the app installed....

Thanks this really helped as the Microsoft Support forum did not cover the steps for "On your old phone, go to the App Store, search for the Authenticator app, open it's app page, and hit update". Once I did this and installed the app on the new phone everything was there.

Comments like "Contact Microsoft. Authenticator is a Microsoft product." are not helpful. I tried there and contacting Microsoft Support can be.. challenging. The app leverages Apple technology and we are Apple users so we gather here.

This is the best forum for support for any app on the Apple ecosystem

You're right!!! Updating the app was the key. You have to open the Authenticator app page in App Store to see the update button.

That's saved me hours. I can enjoy my new phone now.

Cheers!

I seem to be very messed up. every single time i try to re-install, or perform the above on the new phone ( I already deleted the old phone) , or anything similar, the authenticator app still constantly asks for me to log in to my microsoft account and never the restore option shows. ive completely locked myself out of my own medical records as 'my chart' customer support says they have no way to reset my 2fa on the back end. they keep telling me to disable 2fa on my icloud account :(

ms kicked their authenticator to the kerb and force people to rely on ms edge now

[PSA] Microsoft is killing Authenticator password manager app and deleting the passwords on August 2025 : r/androidapps

more

ms discontinue Authenticator - Google-

I made the same mistake of logging in on my new iPhone and missed the recovery option. I finally see my logins on my new iPhone after updating the app and forcing an iCloud backup on the old iPhone. Both devices are receiving Authenticator notifications. What I am not seeing is the backup & recovery option under Authenticator settings on either iPhone. Not sure what to do now. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

None of these solutions have worked for me. I have wiped my old phone, so that solution is not possible. I tried all the other options and they don't work. I have upgrade my iPhone many times over the years and never had this issue before. Just one more thing to check any time I upgrade my phone. It is extremely frustrating that all of my 2FA accounts are going and I have to re-add them. If backup is enabled for Microsoft Authenticator in iCloud and it doesn't work, this is an Apple issue.

Will just restoring from an older iCloud backup resolved the issue?

Thanks!

Microsoft changed the way their Authenticator backs up. And it seems they didn’t auto update users to the latest version or notify people. That’s a Microsoft design problem.

That's not entirely accurate. They've killed the password autofill feature of authenticator. The did not kill authenticator. It's still supported and extremely useful for 2 factor authentication.

Unfortunately, they changed the backup/restore scheme for it recently which has resulted in problems for more than a few people when switching devices.

Contact Microsoft. Authenticator is a Microsoft product.