Lost your phone? Getting back into your account

If two-step verification is on and you can't get a code from your authenticator app, here's how to get back in. Which steps you need depends on whether you still have your backup codes.

If you have your backup codes

1. Sign in as usual, with your password or Google.

2. On the Enter your code page, choose Use a backup code instead.

3. Enter one of your backup codes and choose Continue. Each code works once.

Once you're in, replace the lost phone:

1. Open your avatar menu, then Settings, then Sign-in & security.

2. Under Two-step verification, choose Turn off. If you're asked for a code, choose Use a backup code instead.

3. Choose Turn on two-step verification, scan the code with your new phone, and save your new backup codes.

Turning it off removes the old authenticator, so codes from the lost phone stop working. Your old backup codes stop working too.

If you've lost your backup codes too

On the Enter your code page, under Lost your phone and your backup codes?, choose Contact support. Write from the email address on your account if you can, and tell us what happened.

Before we change anything, we have to confirm that the account is yours. Two-step exists to keep out someone who already has your password, so we check carefully, and this can take a little time. Depending on your account, we may ask for details only you would know, or for a short video call.

Never send us a password or a code. We won't ask for one.

Once we've confirmed it's you, we turn two-step off and sign you out on every device, and you get an email saying so. Then sign in with your password or Google, and turn two-step back on in Sign-in & security. Save your new backup codes somewhere safe.

If you locked yourself out

After 5 wrong codes, tries pause for 15 minutes. If you've found your phone or your codes, wait and try again.

We also email you when this happens. That email has a Get help with your account link, which opens a short form with your name and email already filled in, and sends your message straight to us. The link works once, for 7 days. After that it opens our Contact page instead.

If you didn't try to sign in, someone may know your password. Change it as soon as you can. See Changing or resetting your password.

If you've forgotten your password too

Reset it first, with Forgot password on the sign-in page. Two-step stays on after a reset, so you'll still need a code or a backup code to finish signing in.

If you can't reach your email

Contact us from another address and tell us what happened. We can't change a sign-in on a request from a new address alone, so we'll need other proof that the account is yours, and this takes longer.

So this doesn't happen again

• Keep your backup codes somewhere that isn't your phone.

• Use Make new backup codes when Sign-in & security says you're running low.

• Before you give up an old phone, move two-step to the new one. See Moving to a new phone.