BACKUP NOT FOUND

Question

BACKUP NOT FOUND

Lakshay _ 0

I just reset my phone and when I tried to setup Microsoft Authenticator using backup, I get failed message that says backup not found. I have never turned off the backup and I had recovered countless times using the same method, Now I can't and so many of my accounts are lost. Does anyone have any solution to this?

Carolyne-3676 1,136 Reputation points

2026-03-18T12:38:41.26+00:00

Hello Lakshay!
Make sure you’re restoring on the same device type and using the same recovery store/account the backup was created with (iOS = iCloud Drive + iCloud Keychain + iCloud Backup; Android = the personal Microsoft account used for backup, and choose **“Restore from backup/Begin recovery” before signing in) — if Authenticator still says “backup not found,” you’ll need to re-add accounts and re-enroll MFA per service/org because Authenticator is only a code generator and can’t reconstruct missing backups.

If you’re on iOS and accidentally signed in instead of restoring (a common cause of the missing-restore path), the workaround reported is to toggle Authenticator off in iCloud settings and reinstall so “Restore from backup” appears again; otherwise follow Microsoft’s restore guidance and, if unrecoverable, fall back to each provider’s recovery/reset process.