Have you ever moved the authenticator to a new phone?
the only way i'm aware to get around that 7day block would be if your phone is rooted.. if it is, titanium backup the steam mobile app with data, and restore to another rooted phone.. any other method of backup/restore won't get the proper data.
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I've found Helium to be pretty effective at backing up and restoring applications data on a non-rooted phone.
The main drawback is that you have to initiate a connection via adb to push a background service with elevated privileges that will be killed if you need to restart the phone. Not the most effective for daily backups but really handy when moving apps from one phone to another.
As for the authenticator, I'd be worried that it would detect the change is the underlying hardware and would lock me out. For regular app, you just delete and start over if the backup/restore process created issues, but for something more sensitive like this I prefer to go through a more kosher method.
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I switched phones (same number) and got no trade lock.
I used the "Please help, I no longer have access to my Mobile Authenticator codes" or something like that to send an SMS (to the new phone with the same number) and activate steam guard on the new phone.
Don't really remember step by step how I did it, I think I also had to use the unique code you were given in case you lose access to your phone.
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That's good to know. My first instinct would have been to avoid something that says "I no longer have access to my Mobile Authenticator codes" because that's the kind of thing I would expect to trigger a trade lock.
I guess Valve just chose a very non-intuitive way to initiate the transfer.
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I don't remember what steps I took, but I don't think I received a 7 day trade lock. I kept the same phone number and switched phones and providers.
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The trade ban is pretty much what I'm trying to avoid here, if possible.
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The official method you mention in the OP is exactly what you wanna go with then,
No tradelocks, no wait periods; basically instantaneous and surprisingly simple.
I moved my authenticator from my broken phone to my fiance's phone temporarily and then back to my number like a week later (when I finally picked up a new phone) without any hastle whatsoever.
I believe (though not completely certain) that the results are still the same for any switch where you've lost access to the original number, but I never personally had to deal with that (from what I recall) since I just swtiched around micro-sim cards setting things up and then it worked flawlessly--only carrying about the device ID regardless of the active sim.
Even without specifically having trying it, I'm fairly certain that all goes through just as perfectly (and absent any holds) if you were to just use the recovery code instead (and/or switching the associated account number to the working number, but I think the first part might still just be all it takes)
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Thanks for the info. That's what I was hoping for, but with Valve you never know.
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Was the new phone automatically set as a Steam Guard authenticator? Maybe if the phone number is the same...
I'll have to try this first. Then if it didn't work, I'll do the method described on their site.
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It was the same SIM card. Steam app was on phone's external storage on the old phone, that's why it stayed when I switched SD cards. I installed the app on the new phone, logged in, it asked for the mobile code, I entered the one that the app from the old phone showed me, and for a while, I was logged in from two phones, and both showed the mobile code, and both could have been used for trade confirmations. Later I deleted the app from the old phone and started using the new one, and had no trade holds and similar shenanigans. If I'm understanding correctly, you want to switch phones, but you're afraid that because of that small period of app inactivity/deactivation, you'll have to endure the trade holds?
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I'm getting my new phone later on today and was hoping I could just transfer the activator to the new phone without any trade holds.
From the responses in this thread, I'm pretty hopeful. I'll know for sure in a few hours. :P
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Trades are put on hold for 15 days, but that should be lifted 7 days after activating the Steam Guard authenticator.
It's actually quicker to just wait 7 days before initiating the trade.
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I did it a month ago or so and I had a 15 day ban. This whole proces is worked out soo bad imo. Like Valve expects everyone to walk around with the same phones forever.
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I did it like month ago or so. I do not remember steps correctly but i didnt get any hold.
Download Steam on new phone and login
Uninstall on old
Move sim from old phone to new
Confrim new phone as new (only) device to recieve confrimations
Confrim it by sms, its ur phone
No trade hold for me. (from G3 to OnePlus 3T for ones who are into phones)
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I'm getting a new phone and was wondering if there's a way to move the authenticator from my old phone to the new one without triggering a 7-days trade lock.
The official support page is not very clear on that matter. The official method apparently consists of going through "Please help, I no longer have access to my Mobile Authenticator codes" but I'm wondering how seamless it is. (To me, it sounds like exactly the kind of situation where you would get a trade lock.)
Anyone has gone through this and can confirm whether you have to go through the 7-days cooldown when transferring this way? Is there any other known safe way to transfer the authenticator? (I was thinking about maybe using the recovery code)
UPDATE
I have successfully moved my authenticator to my new phone without any trade hold. The official method does work even though it's a bit counter-intuitive.
Giveaway
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