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Google Authenticator on your PC

Google Authenticator only runs on phones. There’s no app for Windows. Here’s how to get exactly the same codes in Chrome on your computer, while your phone keeps working too.

How it works

A 2FA code is made from a secret key plus the clock. Copy the key to another app and it shows exactly the same code at the same moment. Google Authenticator can hand its keys over as QR codes, through its own Transfer accounts screen. Twincode reads those QR codes and keeps the keys locked on your computer.

You’ll need Chrome on your computer, your phone with Google Authenticator, and a few minutes.

On an iPhone

  1. Add Twincode to Chrome. When it asks where your codes are now, choose Google Authenticator on iPhone. Twincode shows these steps on screen as well.
  2. Open the export screen. In Google Authenticator, tap the menu (the three dots), then Transfer accounts › Export accounts. It may ask for Face ID or your passcode.
  3. Choose your accounts and tap Next. Every account you tick goes into the QR codes.
  4. Screenshot every QR code. Press the side button and volume up together. There’s one QR code for every 10 accounts, so tap Next and screenshot each one. On iOS 26, tap ✓, then Save to Photos.
  5. Send them from your phone. In Twincode, click Send from phone and scan the code on your computer with your iPhone’s Camera app, not the Control Centre scanner. Check both screens show the same 4-digit match code, then pick your screenshots.
  6. Check the list and import. Twincode reads the pictures on your computer and lists every account it found. Untick any you don’t want, then import. The first time, you’ll choose a password and save your emergency kit.
  7. Tap Keep. If Google Authenticator offers to remove the accounts from your phone, tap Keep. Your phone stays a working copy.

Send from phone seals the screenshots on your phone so only your computer can open them. Our relay can’t read them, and they’re deleted as soon as your computer picks them up, or after 10 minutes at most. How it works.

Rather not use Send from phone?

  • Webcam: skip the screenshots and hold each QR code up to your computer’s camera.
  • iCloud Photos for Windows: your screenshots appear in File Explorer › iCloud Photos.
  • A cable: plug your iPhone in and tap Trust. It shows up in File Explorer as Apple iPhone.
  • Email: send the pictures to yourself, save them, then delete the email.

Then drop the pictures into Twincode, or paste them with Ctrl+V.

On an Android phone

Android doesn’t allow screenshots of Google Authenticator’s export screen, so show the QR codes to your webcam instead.

  1. Add Twincode to Chrome and choose Google Authenticator on Android.
  2. Open the export screen. In Google Authenticator, open the menu, then Transfer accounts › Export accounts. It may ask for your fingerprint or PIN.
  3. Choose your accounts and tap Next.
  4. Hold each QR code up to your webcam. There’s one for every 10 accounts, so tap Next for each.
  5. Check the list, import, and tap Keep if Google Authenticator offers to remove the accounts.

No webcam? Photograph each QR code with another phone or a tablet, get the photos onto your computer and drop them into Twincode.

Check it worked

Open Twincode and your phone side by side. The same account shows the same six digits at the same moment, and both change together. That’s it: from now on, click the code on your computer instead of reaching for your phone.

Adding sites from now on

Twincode copies your accounts once. There’s no live link between your phone and your computer. When you set up 2FA on a new site, click Twincode and choose Scan QR on this page, then scan the same QR code with Google Authenticator on your phone, so both have it.

Delete the screenshots properly

Those QR codes hold your 2FA secrets, so don’t leave them lying around once your accounts are in Twincode. A deleted photo isn’t gone straight away.

  1. Delete them in Photos on your iPhone. Select each screenshot and tap the bin.
  2. Empty them from Recently Deleted. In Photos, open Albums › Recently Deleted, select the screenshots and delete them. If iCloud Photos is on, this removes them from your other Apple devices too, but check each one.
  3. Clear any copies on your computer. Delete them from wherever you saved them, such as Downloads or iCloud Photos, then empty the Recycle Bin.
  4. If you emailed them to yourself, delete the email from your inbox and your sent items, then empty the deleted items folder.

Google Authenticator is a trademark of Google LLC. Twincode is not affiliated with Google.