How to move your accounts from Google Authenticator to HostSpica, step by step
SHORT ANSWER
How do I move my Google Authenticator accounts to HostSpica Authenticator?
In Google Authenticator choose Transfer accounts, then Export accounts, select the accounts and show the QR code. In HostSpica Authenticator choose Add account, then Scan QR code, and scan it. If you have many accounts, scan each page in turn. Check the codes match before you remove anything from the old app.
Key takeaways
- The export QR code holds your real secrets. Treat it like the secrets: do not photograph it or leave it on screen.
- Large exports come in several QR pages. HostSpica reads them in any order and shows progress.
- Keep the old app until every account's code has been checked on its own site.
- Afterwards, make an encrypted backup of the new app.
Before you start
- Have both apps on phones you control. You can do it on one phone by switching between the apps, or use two phones.
- Do this somewhere private. The QR code you will show contains the secrets for your accounts.
- Do not use Google Authenticator's option to reset or delete accounts until the last step.
Step 1: export from Google Authenticator
- Open Google Authenticator and tap the menu (your profile picture or the three lines, depending on the version).
- Choose Transfer accounts, then Export accounts. You may be asked to verify with your screen lock.
- Select the accounts to move and continue. A QR code appears. If you selected many accounts you will see more than one, shown one after another.
Menu names change between versions. If you cannot find them, search for "transfer accounts" in the app's help.
Step 2: import into HostSpica
- In HostSpica Authenticator (or the Authenticator tab of HostSpica Identity) tap Add account, then Scan QR code.
- Point the camera at the QR code on the other phone's screen. Hold steady and keep the code fully inside the frame.
- If there are several pages, the app tells you how many it has seen. Scan them one after another; the order does not matter and a page scanned twice is ignored.
- When the last page is read, the accounts appear in your list.
If the scanner struggles, raise the other phone's brightness and move the phones slightly apart. Dense QR codes are hard to read off a screen, which is why exports with many accounts are split into pages of at most ten. See inside Google Authenticator's export QR code.
Step 3: check before you delete anything
- For each important account, compare the six-digit code in HostSpica with the one in Google Authenticator. They must match at the same moment.
- Better, sign in to the site once using the code from HostSpica.
- Only after every account passes, remove the accounts from Google Authenticator. Use the site's own security settings if you want to replace the old secret with a new one.
Step 4: protect the new copy
- Make an encrypted backup (Settings, then Back up everything) with a long passphrase, and store the passphrase separately.
- Keep each site's recovery codes somewhere offline.
Frequently asked questions
Does moving accounts change my codes?
No. The secret is the same, so both apps show the same code at the same time until you remove the old one.
Is it safe to use the QR code export?
It is safe only if nobody sees or photographs the code. It holds the secrets unencrypted. Do the transfer in private and close the screen afterwards.
Can I move back later?
Yes. HostSpica can export accounts as a Google Authenticator-compatible QR code from the Authenticator settings.
References
Review status
Last technical self-review by the author on 4 October 2026. No independent reviewer yet. If you spot an error, write to [email protected] and we will correct it and note the change.
Rohan builds HostSpica's Android apps — Authenticator, Passkey and Identity — and writes up how they work, including the mistakes along the way.
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