The Three Import Choices¶
Every import, whichever way the accounts arrive, ends with the same question: How should this affect your existing accounts? Here is what each answer does.
| Choice | Accounts already on the phone | The accounts you're importing |
|---|---|---|
| Delete All & Import | Every one is deleted | All added |
| Replace Duplicates | One with the same name and description as an imported account is updated: it gets the imported setup key and code settings, and keeps its own name, description, tags and archived state | Those with a match update it; the rest are added as new |
| Import All (Keep Duplicates) | Left exactly as they are | All added as new, even if an identical one already exists |
Face ID or Touch ID confirms whichever you choose, and nothing changes until it has.
Which one to pick¶
- A new or empty phone: any of them; there's nothing to affect.
- You've already added a few accounts by hand and are now importing the rest: Import All (Keep Duplicates), or Replace Duplicates if some of the same accounts are in both places.
- A website gave you new setup keys and you exported them from another app: Replace Duplicates, so the old accounts get the new keys without losing their tags.
- You want the phone to hold exactly what's in the import, and nothing else: Delete All & Import. If your accounts sync through iCloud Keychain, the deleted ones disappear from your other iPhones as well; the app warns you on the way.
The finer points¶
- Same name and description is compared ignoring capital letters and surrounding spaces. If two existing accounts both match one imported account, the app can't tell which you meant and adds the imported one as new instead.
- Accounts imported from other apps arrive with no tags. Accounts restored from a Private Authenticator backup bring their own tags, archived state and order, and a replaced duplicate takes the backup's tags too.
- Delete All & Import adds the new accounts first and deletes the old ones only when every one has been added, so a problem part-way through never leaves you with nothing.
Continue to Exporting to Another App.