Microsoft Accounts and Authenticator on older Android phones

Question

In the last couple of months, I've received a few emails, purporting to be from Microsoft Accounts. They've been sent to my Junk folder. Normally I don't have the time to look at them, as other urgent tasks are at hand, then I have to take off to go somewhere, etc. However, tonight I had more time, so I looked at the one I have in my Junk folder. This email said that someone in Russia logged into my account. I can see why Outlook.com would consider it could possibly be junk mail and send it into my Junk folder. But I thought it would be a good idea to check it out, by logging into my Microsoft and checked on the activity on my Microsoft account. Sure enough, there was an attempt (not successful) to get into my Microsoft account by someone in Russia on the day in question. I'll take measures tonight to take care of this.

But one of them has concerns for me. That would be to use 2FA or MFA with my Microsoft Account. I have Microsoft's Authenticator app on my phone. My phone is an older Samsung phone, but it is feeling its age. I am concerned that if I turn on 2FA/MFA, then start using it with MS Authenticator, that my phone just might go belly up, then I'm locked out. I'm sure this is an issue that is faced by many people. So, what do I do if my phone bites the dust and I must authenticate to get into my Microsoft account?

Answer 1

I don't have backup enabled in my MS Authenticator. I didn't even know that was possible. Thank you for informing me of that.

However, backing up my Authenticator and the accounts in it, is questionable to me. That's because I wonder what would happen if Authenticator disabled my personal account? Authenticator does disable accounts, at random. I have 6 accounts in Authenticator, three of them are disabled. I've had this problem with Authenticator before. The three disabled accounts are still valid accounts, so why does Authenticator disable them? And once it's disabled them, I cannot do anything with them. i.e.: I cannot remove those accounts. I've written about this before and called Microsoft about it. Their solution was to have me delete Authenticator from off my phone, then install it again. That worked, at least for a few months. Now I'm back to three useless accounts out of six. And two of them are my personal Microsoft accounts; one of them is disabled and the other is not. Honestly, I'm worried that Authenticator might disable the other, working personal account. And if I had MFA enabled with my personal Authenticator account, I'd be really stuck.

Answer 2

You can restore from backup (assuming there was one) but make sure no accounts have been added to the newly install app. Then sign on with recovery account to do the restore.

You can recover your account credentials from your cloud account, but you must first make sure that the account you're recovering doesn't exist in the Microsoft Authenticator app. For example, if you're recovering your personal Microsoft account, you must make sure you don't have a personal Microsoft account already set up in the authenticator app. This check is important so we can be sure we're not overwriting or erasing an existing account by mistake.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/back-up-and-recover-account-credentials-in-the-authenticator-app-bb939936-7a8d-4e88-bc43-49bc1a700a40

Make sure that the Ways to prove who you are section in your microsoft account security are up-to-date should you need to recover it. Add other ways to verify. (just in case)

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