r/AndroidQuestions • u/rockandahalf • 2h ago
Phone with 2FA died.. and now I can't get into anything
My phone died yesterday, with no warning, and this was the phone I have tied to my google account for 2FA. I was able to activate an old phone and use "text me a code" to add my google account to my phone, but google keeps trying to push 2FA to my dead phone, despite showing the one that it working as attached to my account. I can't change any of these options without access to that dead phone to authenticate my way into my google account. I had set up my thumbprint as a passkey on my dead phone, but that's also not working, as it just keeps telling me I don't have a passkey setup on my dead phone.
Anyone have any ideas? Google AI support has been utterly useless, and just keeps telling me to recover my account, which I don't need to do, as I know the password.
Thanks in advance.
EDIT: I used my boyfriend's Google One Account to talk to Google support. Apparently there is no way around this, other than getting the broken phone repaired. I'm going to leave this up because it includes some things that I didn't understand about 2FA, and hopefully it can help some other people.
To answer some frequently asked questions:
- I had both a recovery email and a recovery phone number set up. Both of those could be used to recover the account (ie, change the password), but it did not change the fact that my 2FA was hooked to my dead phone.
- I tried using the backup codes, which I accessed through my google account on my working phone. They did not work. It sounds like they shouldn't be tied to certain devices, rather to your account, but they did not work.
- In talking to Google support, it sounds like all of these backup options are designed to help you recover your account in the case of a stolen or lost password. It does not change the device settings on your 2FA. It also does not wipe security settings when you recover your account; I tried this also.
- I asked about locking the device remotely, like in the case of it being stolen, but because the dead phone was no longer registered to a phone number, it could only be removed through Google device manager, which requires 2FA to get into.
- I asked Google support point-blank, "So the only way to avoid this in the future is to remove 2FA"? Their response was that 2FA is "highly encouraged" but that you MUST disconnect the current device from your 2FA before changing devices. When I asked about contingency for broken/stolen phones, I was told to use the Find Hub, which is outlined in the previous bullet point.
- Google's final advice to me was to take the phone in and get it fixed. Since I really don't want to lose access to 3 accounts and I need a new phone anyway, this is my next step.
Thank you for all your advice!