There are a lot of questions like how do I retrieve my 2FA keys from Google Authenticator App after I lost my phone?
And for the further notice the given tutorial will work on a rooted devices or devices who have root pre-installed by manufacturer. So, for this you need to connect your Android device to a PC or a laptop, if you're running Linux OS execute this command in terminal:
adb pull /data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator/databases/databases ~/2FA
For the PC running Windows OS using a command line execute:
adb pull /data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator/databases/databases C:\2FA
Do note! That the "2FA" folder has to be created before executing those commands. This action will copy all of your 2FA keys database stored on your device and will save it on your PC. After that you can copy it to your new device the same way. Or you may open and read it on your PC or Android as well using any SQlite reader. If you'd like to read this file on Android and save it to your cloud notepad, etc. You can install Total Commander or any other file manager that can be found on Google PlayStore but with a root capability and navigate to this path: /data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator/databases/databases to open it on Android device use any SQlite reader you prefer I use QuickEdit which can be installed from Google PlayStore as well after you click on a databases file allow root permission to QuickEdit to read the file and then you'll see your accounts and all the 2FA keys that you've saved on your device. They might look a little odd more like a code at the first sight but if you look closer those are all the keys that you have saved in your 2FA app. Now you can copy them or write them down on a piece of paper, send them to a cloud storage, whatever you want.
As of security issues, nothing is perfect. As you can see the one who hacks into your device can get to that file and retrieve that information and use it for personal purpose and he doesn't need your fingerprint to open 2FA App. This can happen either to Android or IOS as well. So for the future, just do backup your 2FA private keys using this method or if you do not have root on your device then save those keys when creating 2FA access to your business or personal account, etc. When you create a 2FA access to a website, etc. it prints you QR code and the texted key as well, which you can copy and save. Because in some cases when you lost your phone and you don't have backed up keys, for some internet websites it'll be extremely difficult to regain access once you have setup 2FA there.
