Google Authenticator gets dark mode, ability to transfer accounts on iPhone

By Oliver Haslam
published

Google Authenticator on iPhone
Google Authenticator on iPhone (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Google Authenticator has been updated with support for dark mode as well as the ability to migrate accounts to a new device.

Google Authenticator for iPhone has had some attention lavished on it, with the new app featuring a redesigned interface that also includes support for dark mode for the first time.

Alongside the new look, Google has also added a new feature that allows users to export their accounts for use on another device – a huge deal for those who regularly switch phones. The process for switching phones was ess than ideal before, often taking far too long and involving many different steps.

People use Google Authenticator to generate two-factor codes for logging into apps and services more securely. Whether you're using this app or another one, enabling two-factor authentication across everything is pretty much always a good idea.

Google Authenticator 3.1.0 includes:

  • Added the ability to transfer accounts to a different device, e.g. when switching phones
  • Refreshed the look and feel of the app
  • Dark Mode support

The app, which is free for everyone to use, is available for download from the App Store (opens in new tab) now.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

1 Comment
  • I gave up on GA for the very reason that it didn't have this ability. But then when I started using Yubikey's authenticator app, I realized that Google Authenticator and similar apps are not as secure. Why? Because the YubiKey app only shows your data when the key is plugged into, or connected to your computer, iPhone, iPad. More secure because your data is nowhere but in the key. It means you have to program each key you own separately. So I print out PDFs of the QR code so that when I get new keys I can continue to use the same data. Then I store the PDF in 1Password so that there's no way to steal the PDF in a decrypted state.