MS Authenticator lost all my accounts

Dushan 86 Reputation points
2021-07-30T18:47:28.847+00:00

Today I lost access to all my accounts/codes stored in the Authenticator app. When I click "Start Recovery" I get a message "There is no backup stored in your iCloud account". I had backup turned on before switching to a new phone and I was able to get recovery from backups in the past. Is there a way to check if a backup exists? Where it is stored in iCloud?

Microsoft Authenticator
Microsoft Authenticator
A Microsoft app for iOS and Android devices that enables authentication with two-factor verification, phone sign-in, and code generation.
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  1. PhantomSavage 21 Reputation points
    2021-09-24T02:32:53.743+00:00

    Please help! This exact thing happened to me tonight and half of the apps missing are ones I use for work and networking!!!

    When I turned on my authenticator app today, for some reason, I was signed out (I'm normally signed in), so I had to sign back in on my account and, as soon as I did, nothing was listed under my authenticator accounts, only "Start Recovery" or "sign in"

    I tried starting recovery, but received the EXACT same message as the original poster did, "There is no backup stored in your account, use a different personal account"

    So next, I simply tried to "sign in", and now the only thing that appears under my Authenticators is Microsoft itself... not Discord, not Steam, or half the other things I use the authenticator for.

    Now I can't sign in on my vital business applications because the apps that were there before are just simply gone now!

    4 people found this answer helpful.

  2. Alfredo Zuloaga 11 Reputation points
    2021-11-06T23:57:32.2+00:00

    I have the same problem. But, the problem was trust in Microsoft, Lesson learned next time to use Google Auth.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Sébastien BENOIT 11 Reputation points
    2021-11-08T14:06:31.427+00:00

    Same problem here: lost all my accounts suddenly. I don't think I used the backup feature. Is this a new feature ?
    An answer from Mycrosoft would be appreciated.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Christian 11 Reputation points
    2022-01-08T22:01:37.35+00:00

    Same happened here today.
    Opened my Authenticator app (Android) and everything was gone. Same goes for the cloud backups.

    MS - do you even realize what kind of problems you are causing with this and how much you are letting people down? This kind of data is absolutely critical to anybody who uses this software!
    If you only had the slightest idea about the impact this has on your customers and the amount of trust you lose by not even bothering to reply here and not trying to fix this....

    I use a variety of MS software and am happy to pay for it as it usually works.
    But Authenticator and any other piece of software I might consider critical... never ever again from MS.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Mateus Silveira 20 Reputation points
    2023-01-26T20:32:38.4433333+00:00

    Look at that.

    When I formatted the phone. I installed again.

    I signed in. Didn't recover.

    Then we go there and there is an option (BACKUP ON THE CLOUD). DISABLED.

    1- FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, EVERYONE KNOWS THAT ONCE YOU ACTIVATE. HE CANNOT ASK. YES RECOVER AUTOMATICALLY. AS HE ASKS, WHEN ACTIVATING. IT OVERWRITES YOUR BACKUP. HOW CAN A MICROSOFT BUSINESS?

    2- AND TO JUSTIFY THE (INTENTION). HE PUT IT BEFORE (LOGIN). A REVERSE UX OPTION, A UX THAT LEADS TO ERROR-INDUCTION. (LOGIN AND RECOVER THE BACK) AFTER THE LOGIN BUTTON. THAT IS, IF YOU LOG IN NORMALLY ( WHY DOES IT NOT RECOVER THE BACKUP? ) AND, IT STILL INDUCES, YOU ACTIVATE BACKUP IN THE CLOUD TO DELETE YOUR SAFE.

    3- WHAT IS THE INTENTION OF OLOCARING 2 TYPE OF LOGIN? LOGIN WITH BACKUP AND LOGIN WITHOUT BACKP? (DO JUST MAKE YOU LOSE THE KEYS). THERE IS NO OTHER REASON. BECAUSE IT IS A REVERSE UX THAT THESE COMPANIES ARE PRACTICING.

    GOOGLE, MICROSOFT, META-GROUP AND OTHERS.

    I LOST OVER 20 KEYS. EVEN SOME ACCOUNTS ARE UNRECOVERABLE, MAINLY STRATEGIC ACCOUNTS LIKE GITHUB AMONG OTHERS OF THEIR INTEREST.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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