Monday, April 2, 2012

Google Authenticator Upgrade Horror Tale

When Google fails, it fails in epic ways.

So here comes their new authenticator. The old one issues a stern warning about the upgrade, and well, since my accounts are kinda somewhat important to me, I do install it.

Gotcha! say bright kids at Google. Should've been more careful and paid attention to the fact that this is a different application. All the account information is gone.

Guess what, you're screwed now. Catch-22.

  • In order to get to your account, you need 2-factor authentication.
  • In order to add a 2-factor account to the phone, you need to be logged in.
  • Which is not possible since you need the 2-factor app with the account already added.

And not a word about it ANYWHERE.

Lemme see if I have my backup codes backed up now...