Move your Steam authenticator to a new phone
There is a right way and an expensive way to do this, and the difference is thirteen days of not being able to trade. Transferring costs a two-day restriction. Removing the authenticator and adding a new one costs fifteen. Most people reach for the second without realising the first exists.
Every step here happens inside Steam's own app. No third-party tool can move a Steam authenticator for you, and anything offering to is collecting accounts.
What each path costs
| What you do | Restriction |
|---|---|
| Transfer to the new phone (Move Authenticator) | 2-day trade and Market restriction |
| Remove the authenticator, then add it again | 15 days, unable to trade or use the Market |
| Trades created in the first 7 days after adding one | up to a 15-day hold on those trades |
Durations quoted from Valve's Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator FAQ and Trading and Market Restrictions. Steam Support cannot lift any of them, and nothing legitimate shortens them.
1. You still have the old authenticator — transfer it
This is the two-day path, and the one to use if you possibly can. Install the Steam Mobile app on the new phone and sign in. Then on the new device, open the Steam Guard page and choose Move Authenticator. Confirm on the old device when asked.
2. Old phone gone, number still yours
Sign in on the new phone. When asked to confirm the sign-in, choose "I no longer have access to my authenticator" and follow the steps — Steam texts a code to the number on the account. This is still a transfer, so it is still the two-day restriction rather than fifteen.
3. No phone and no number — the recovery code
The recovery code removes the authenticator without needing any device. This is the fifteen-day path, because removing an authenticator is what it is — but it works from any browser when nothing else will.
4. None of the above — Steam Support
A help request to remove the authenticator, with proof the account is yours: purchase history, the original email, payment details. It takes days by design — the delay is what stops a thief doing the same thing quickly. The full recovery order is here.
Planning ahead
If you know a new phone is coming and you are keeping the number, there is nothing to do in advance — transfer it once the phone arrives. If you are losing the number too, deal with it before the old phone stops working, while the cheap path is still open to you.
Tired of doing this every phone?
There is a second way to hold a Steam authenticator: in a file on a machine you control, rather than inside one phone. That is what desktop authenticators do — the secret lives in a maFile you can back up yourself. It is a real trade-off rather than a free win: a file can be stolen in ways a phone cannot, which is why ours keeps it encrypted and offline. And note that Steam allows only one authenticator on an account at a time, so this is a move rather than an addition — the comparison is here.