Importing 2FA from Google Authenticator

PrinceZuko

Hi. New user transferred from LastPass. I have all my 2FA codes stored in Authy (similar to Google Authenticator). Haven't been able to work out out how to transfer these to 1Password. Would be a useful feature.

For Authy, there is a method to export it if you have the desktop app

https://gist.github.com/gboudreau/94bb0c11a6209c82418d01a59d958c93

There probably isn't going to be a way to do it with GoogleAuth though. Just going to have to manually redo it all to get it into 1P. Which is what I did, and keeping it in Authy + Saving the QR code.

ag_josephine

Hi @DaleW,

I've passed your feedback on as well!
In regards to changing over your 2FA code, this is something that will need to be done manually for each account that you have 2FA set up; you can Set up two-factor authentication for a website by following along with our Use 1Password as an authenticator for sites with two-factor authentication article.

brandonmcconnell

Hard to believe this has been repeatedly requested sine January of last year, and still no movement on this.

ag_josephine

@brandonmcconnell,

It's true that the QR code format is known but it isn't necessarily something officially documented by Google and is primarily intended to transfer from one Google Authenticator device to another. We never want to put you in a position where you lose access to your data, and because Google is designing this for their own use, if they were to change the format of this QR code in the future, it could either fail to import, or worse, import, but subtly wrong and result in invalid one-time passwords being generated.

If Google were to ever document this in the interest of data portability, then it's something we would be happy to look at.

fziffle

@ag_josephine Yet there is code that helps you decode the export file from Google Authenticator that you should be able in incorporate / reengineer to allow importing of the code and to match to existing passwords.

ag_josephine

Thank you for your point @fziffle.

Although there may be codes available to decode the export files from Google Authenticator, we don't want to build fragile features into 1Password. If Google provided us with a documented standard for how to read and export that QR code, we could look at building a feature to meet that standard.

However, the issue at hand is there's no guarantee that Google wouldn't change how that QR code works, which could break this hypothetical feature, or just pull that functionality entirely. As such, this is why we haven't implemented a feature like this yet and instead recommend following our Use 1Password as an authenticator for sites with two-factor authentication article.

uvvckkng

Another reason this would be useful is that it sometimes is not possible to generate new 2FA credentials. For example, Adobe used to allow TOTP 2FA, but no longer allows enrolling in it. So I can't sign up fresh for 1Password, I can only use the Google Authenticator system I already have, or transfer out somehow.

https://1password.community/discussion/123784/2fa-for-adobe

uvvckkng

I was able to do this on my Android device by

1. Using the export account feature in Google Authenticator
2. Saving a screenshot
3. Adding a new account to Aegis from the screenshot (not importing accounts, just the regular button to add one new account)
4. Exporting the account from Aegis to the clipboard
5. Adding a one-time password in 1Password and then pasting from the clipboard
6. Deleting the screenshot

ag_josephine

Hi @uvvckkng,

Thank you for your feedback on this; for any updates regarding this feature, you can keep an eye on the 1Password blog: https://blog.1password.com/

TheMadCow

Google 2FA in 1Password! Almost a full year and nothing on this. Can this get bumped up the line? There's a lot of similar requests that use the same authy schema. Surely eating the lunch of competitors is worth the work?

Dave_1P

@TheMadCow

Thank you adding your voice, I've passed your comments and request along to the team internally.

Since I'm not aware of when/if such a feature will be added to 1Password, I would recommend that you begin to manually start replacing your current authenticator app with 1Password on individual websites. You can read more about using 1Password as an authenticator here: Use 1Password as an authenticator for sites with two-factor authentication

I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

-Dave

ref: PB-36216262

vaughan

It's quite a hassle to do this manually. I'm very security conscious (hopefully making me your target audience) and I have almost a hundred OTPs. I was easily able to migrate these to vaultwarden, and now that I would like to use 1password, I'm surprised that I would have to do this manually, item by item. Painful, and not worth migrating anymore, IMO.

ag_tommy

Thank you @vaughan I've shared your comments with the team.

ref: PB-38259209

TechieBrad

Is there any update on this feature? This is literally the only thing holding me back from pulling the trigger on a subscription.

ag_tommy

@TechieBrad

Sorry no, not that I know of. I know some users have found solutions on the internet. I can't speak to those. Back during the day (way back lol) I turned the feature off for my accounts and added it again in 1Password. This was way back so I doubt that will be an option for most folks nowadays. However, it is still a possibility, albeit a time-consuming one.

I hope you can find something that works for you. We'd love to have you with us.