[HOWTO] Restore credentials of Work or School account(s) in Microsoft Authenticator App

Unfortunately, switching smartphones (Android to Android) is still a hassle – especially when it comes to restoring Work or School account credentials…

Yes, you can create a cloud backup and restore it on your new smartphone, but for Work or School accounts, only the account names are restored and you will need to sign in again! You will realize this at the latest when you see the following message in the Microsoft Authenticator app under Work or School account credentials.

Action required
To fully recover this account, scan the QR code provided by your account provider

In case you lost or broke your previous device and if you don’t have at least a second MFA method registered, your provider has to reset the multi-factor authentication for your user. That can be really tedious, especially if you have lots of work or school account credentials…

To avoid this situation, it’s a good idea to always register more than one multi-factor authentication method (security key, hardware token, phone, …).

Let’s assume you have your previous (non-broken) smartphone with cloud backup enabled which got successfully restored on the new smartphone.

Next, proceed as follows for every Work or School account credential within your Microsoft Authenticator app.

1. Open https://mysignins.microsoft.com/ in a browser
2. Sign in to your Microsoft Work or School account
3. Click on the organization icon (top right corner)
   
4. Click Manage organizations
5. Click again the organization icon (top right corner)
6. Select the organization under Other organizations you belong to
7. Click again the organization icon (top right corner)
8. Select the desired organization under Other organizations you belong to
9. Navigate to My Account > Security info
10. Click on Add sign-in method
    
11. Select Microsoft Authenticator
12. Click Next until the QR code appears
13. Open Microsoft Authenticator app on your new smartphone
14. Search for the organization you selected in step 8
15. Tap on Action required
16. Scan QR code in your browser
17. Click Next and follow the wizard in the browser
18. In the last step, click Done

For more details about Restore account credentials from Microsoft Authenticator, see here.