Proton Authenticator Tutorial How to Secure Your 2FA Codes & Never Get Locked Out of Your Account

Proton

Getting hacked isn’t just about losing a password anymore. A single breach can expose your entire digital life.   Two-factor authentication (2FA) protects you, but most authenticator apps trap your codes on one device, leaving you locked out if your phone breaks or gets stolen.  In this step-by-step tutorial, we’ll show you how to set up Proton Authenticator, the open-source 2FA app that gives you:  🔑  Cross-device sync – access your codes on phone, laptop, and desktop 🔒  End-to-end encryption – no one can access your codes (not even Proton) ☁️  Automatic backups – restore your codes in minutes if you lose your device 📱 Offline access – your codes work even without an internet connection  We’ll walk you through: ✅ Installing Proton Authenticator on all your devices ✅ Importing existing codes from Google Authenticator and others ✅ Creating new 2FA codes for your accounts ✅ Enabling cross-device sync and automatic backups ✅ Securing your codes with biometrics and encryption  Take 15 minutes to set this up now and save yourself days (or weeks) of account recovery later.

Transcript

00:00I didn't buy that my password's been hacked getting hacked isn't just about losing your

00:11password anymore when someone breaks into one of your accounts they can access everything

00:15your bank your email your entire digital life the good news two-factor authentication prevents

00:23exactly this kind of attack even if hackers get your password they can't access your account

00:28without those six-digit codes meaning we can't access them but here's the problem most people

00:33don't think about until it's too late what happens when your authenticator app crashes your phone breaks

00:38or you switch devices you're locked out of your most important accounts with no way back in there

00:45are loads of 2FA apps out there but most of them create this exact problem your codes get trapped

00:50on one device today I'm going to show you how to set up proton authenticator the 2FA app that protects

00:57you from hackers and never locks you out of your account let's be honest about the problem with

01:04most authenticator apps their single points of failure can avoid a single point of failure your

01:10codes are trapped on one device if that device breaks gets stolen or you switch devices then

01:16you're locked out of everything and I mean everything your bank your email your work accounts your social

01:23media sure you can go through account recovery for each service but that takes days or weeks some

01:29services make it nearly impossible what you need is an authenticator that works across all your devices

01:34backs up your code securely and gives you control of your entire digital life that's exactly what

01:41proton authenticator does differently let's get you set up first you need to download proton

01:49authenticator for your devices head to proton dot me and click on proton authenticator then download it

01:57for your platform it's available for Windows Mac Linux iOS and Android I recommend installing it on at

02:07least two devices right away your phone and your computer once it's installed open the app you'll see a

02:14clean simple interface with an option to start adding your first 2FA code if you're already using

02:23another authenticator app you don't want to lose those codes proton authenticator makes it easy to import

02:29them if you don't have any code yet tap or click import codes or you can tap or click settings then import

02:38you'll see a list of popular authenticator apps select the one you're currently using proton

02:43authenticator will show you step-by-step instructions for exporting codes from your current app each app

02:49is different so follow the specific instructions for yours most apps will let you export as a CSV file

02:56or QR codes if your app only exports via QR codes like Google authenticator you won't be able to export

03:04without a secondary device with the camera some apps unfortunately don't allow exporting at all you'll need

03:10to manually re-add your codes to proton authenticator it's a bit of work now but it's worth it for the

03:16security and flexibility you'll gain once you've exported your codes importing them into proton

03:24authenticator is pretty straightforward from the instructions menu tap import and select your file

03:30proton authenticator will import all your codes at once for apps that require a QR code tap import and then

03:38scan the QR code with your camera again you'll need a secondary device to scan the QR codes within

03:45seconds all your codes will be imported and ready to use and you can immediately start generating two

03:51FA codes for all your accounts if you're starting from scratch or you need to manually re-add your codes to

04:00proton authenticator the process is also pretty straightforward simply tap create new code and then scan the site or

04:07application's QR code to create a new authentication code or you can set it up manual if you've

04:14already imported codes you can also tap the plus button and follow the same instructions now here's an

04:23optional step that many people find helpful setting up cross device sync but first let me be clear proton

04:29authenticator works perfectly without this some people prefer to keep their two FA separate from any online

04:35account and that's totally fine but if you want the convenience of having your codes available on

04:40multiple devices here's how to set that up in settings tap sync between devices you'll be prompted to

04:47either log into your existing proton account or create a new one if you don't have a proton account

04:53creating one is free and just takes a few minutes once you're logged in the sync toggle will switch on

04:58automatically now any code you add on one device will instantly appear on all your other devices where

05:05you're logged into proton authenticate finally let's set up automatic backups so you never lose your codes

05:14in settings you'll see a backups toggle switch this on if you're on an apple device your codes will

05:21automatically back up to icloud if you're on android you can choose where to store your backups and how

05:28often they're updated i recommend setting backups to update daily this way if something happens to

05:33your devices you can restore your codes quickly let's talk about security for a moment your 2fa codes are

05:42incredibly sensitive they're literally the keys to your most important accounts proton authenticator

05:48uses the same end-to-end encryption that protects proton mail and all our other services your codes

05:54are encrypted on your device before they're synced or backed up for added protection you can also set

06:00up secure access with biometrics and with proton authenticator you can always access your codes offline

06:07this means no one can access your codes not hackers not the government not even proton plus proton

06:14authenticator is completely open source anyone can verify we're doing exactly what we say we're doing

06:20no hidden back doors no secret data collection your digital life depends on 2fa codes don't wait until

06:27your phone breaks or your authenticator app fails to think about this set up proton authenticator today

06:32while you still have access to everything two-factor authentication should make your life more secure

06:37not more complicated if this tutorial helped you secure your digital life please like our video

06:43and subscribe to our channel and hit that notification bell for more proton security tips got questions

06:48about proton authenticator drop them in the comments below or join our community on reddit stay secure out

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