Replace Your Phone Without Ruining Your MFA
Now that MFA is ubiquitous, ITS occasionally runs into cases where an employee replaced their phone and lost access to various accounts. Let's prevent that disaster scenario!
Backups are key to digital technology. It's easy to drop your phone or knock it off the counter. Most phone operating systems have a way to back up data, or maybe multiple backup methods. When setting up a new phone the data and settings are easily restored to the new phone.
An individual app used for MFA may also have its own backup process. Some piggyback onto the phone's backup but they may have their own that you need to set up inside the app.
While some apps (Duo) completely restore accounts to a new phone as one would expect, others do not. Microsoft Authenticator, in particular, will "restore" Microsoft 365 accounts so they are listed, but leave them disconnected/deactivated. In that case an easy way to recover is to go to https://mysignins.microsoft.com/security-info, which will require approval on your old phone to log in. On that web page, click "Add sign-in method" to add your new phone. Choose to set up Microsoft Authenticator and scan the QR code in the app on your new phone. Once it is working you can remove your old phone from the account.
Verify MFA approval works for all accounts on your new phone before erasing or turning in your old phone.
June 2026
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