Switched to new phone. How to get Authenticator to work on new phone

If the new phone is not receiving approval prompts after a phone switch, the most common cause is that the Authenticator registration did not fully transfer. For restored work or school accounts, only the account name is restored. The account must be opened and signed in again on the new phone to complete setup.

Try this in order:

1. Keep the old phone available until sign-in works on the new phone.
2. On the new phone, open Microsoft Authenticator and check the restored account entry.
   • If it shows "Sign in to add your account.", that is expected for a work or school account after restore.
   • Open that account and sign in again to complete setup.
3. If Restore from backup is not available or the account did not restore correctly, verify:
   • backup was enabled on the old phone
   • the same recovery account is being used
   • restore is being done to the same device type
4. If this is iPhone/iOS, verify on the old phone:
   • iCloud Drive is enabled
   • iCloud Keychain is enabled
   • iCloud Backup is enabled
   • in Saved to iCloud, Authenticator is turned on
   • Authenticator is version 6.8.33 or later
   • the app was opened at least once before switching phones
5. On the new iPhone, if the backup still does not appear, uninstall and reinstall Microsoft Authenticator again. The backup should then appear.
6. If the account uses passkeys for sign-in, set up a new passkey for the new phone before removing the old device. Test the new passkey first, then remove old passkeys or old devices.
7. If self-service passkey setup is blocked or the account still cannot be completed on the new phone, contact the IT admin or help desk for the approved recovery or registration process.

Important behavior to expect:

• Work or school accounts: only the account name is restored; sign-in must be completed again.
• Personal Microsoft accounts: one-time password code entries restore, but passwordless sign-in still requires signing in again.
• Third-party accounts: one-time password code entries are typically restored.

If the issue is specifically that no approval prompt appears, re-registering the account on the new phone is typically required rather than relying only on the transferred app data.

• Transfer Microsoft Authenticator account entries to a new phone
• Back up your accounts in Microsoft Authenticator
• Microsoft Authenticator FAQs
• Use a screen reader to set up and troubleshoot multifactor authentication
• Authenticator app not sending verificator pop up for outlook sign in - Microsoft Q&A
• Notification Issues on Authenticator - Microsoft Q&A