New Phone and Google Keeps Asking for a Code

It all comes down to one thing: do you still have the old phone, and does it still turn on? Start there.

If you still have the old phone

1. On a computer, go to myaccount.google.com/security and sign in.
2. Approve the sign-in on the old phone.
3. Under How you sign in to Google, click 2-Step Verification. Sign in again if it asks.
4. For Google prompts, simply sign in to your Google account on the new phone. Prompts follow the account and will start arriving there.
5. If you use the Google Authenticator app for six-digit codes, those do not move on their own. Open Authenticator on the old phone, tap the menu, choose Transfer accounts, then Export accounts, and scan the QR code with the new phone.
6. Back on the security page, remove the old phone from your list of devices once the new one is working.

Do not skip step 6. If the old phone stays on the list and you later sell it or trade it in, that is a working key to your account sitting in somebody else's hands.

If the old phone is gone

Try these in order.

Use a backup code

If you printed or saved backup codes when this was set up, enter one on the code screen. Each code works once.

Once you are back in, go to myaccount.google.com/security, then 2-Step Verification, then Backup codes, and generate a fresh set. Save them somewhere that is not your phone.

Use another device you are already signed in to

A tablet, a home computer, or any other device already signed in to the same account can approve the prompt for you.

Try another way

On the code screen, click Try another way. If a text or a call to a recovery number is offered, take it.

If none of that works

Text or call us. We can issue you a backup code directly.

Have ready:

• The email address you sign in with
• Your new phone, unlocked and next to you

Why we cannot just email you a code instead. The whole point of this step is that somebody who has your password still cannot get in without your phone. If we could switch it off with an email, so could anyone who had got into your email. The few minutes this costs is the protection doing its job.