Is there a Google Authenticator app for Mac?

No. Google makes Authenticator for Android, iPhone and iPad only: its App Store listing names iPhone and iPad, and Google’s help covers the phone and tablet apps, with nothing for a computer (checked 13 October 2026). You can still have the same codes on your Mac. In Google Authenticator on your phone, export your accounts as QR codes, then bring them into a Mac authenticator that reads Google’s export, such as Crest or Proton Authenticator. Apple’s free Passwords app is the other route: it adds codes from each site’s setup key, one account at a time.

Last updated: October 2026

Written by the developer of Crest on 13 October 2026. Google’s steps are quoted from its own help pages for Android and for iPhone and iPad, read that day; the other apps are described from their makers’ pages, listed under Sources, and were not installed. Crest’s part comes from Crest 6.5.0’s own words and source code.

What Google offers instead

Google’s answer to having your codes on another device is your Google Account. Its help page says: “When you sign in to your Google Account within Google Authenticator on a new device, your codes are automatically synced to this device.” That new device is a phone or a tablet. Google’s help covers only the Android and the iPhone and iPad apps, and the iPhone app’s App Store listing names iPhone (iOS 16 or later) and iPad (iPadOS 16 or later), with no Mac.

So on a Mac you use a different authenticator app, filled with the same codes. A code comes from the account’s secret and the time, so any app holding the same secret shows the same code (the method is the open standard RFC 6238).

Move your codes to your Mac, step by step

First, Google’s own steps on the phone:

1. Open Google Authenticator and tap Menu. On an iPhone or iPad, tap Transfer accounts, then Export accounts. On Android, tap Transfer codes, then Export codes.
2. Unlock your phone when asked, select the accounts you want to move, and tap Next. Google says: “If you transfer more than one account, your old device may create more than one QR code.”

Then, in Crest on your Mac:

1. Press Control-Option-K to open your codes, click Add a code, then import from another app, and pick Google Authenticator.
2. Show Crest each QR code: in a window on your Mac that you pick, or as a screenshot or a photo of the phone’s screen dropped into Crest. If a screenshot isn’t possible, a photo taken with another device works too. With several QR codes, Crest reads each one and asks for the rest by number: “Now show QR code 2 of 3 on screen.”
3. Check the list of accounts Crest found and add them. Then delete the screenshots or photos: anyone who has them can make your codes.

The import is a copy, not a link. A code you add to Google Authenticator later won’t appear in Crest, and the other way round. The codes you moved keep working on your phone too, so keep them there as a second way in, or remove them when you’re done.

Which Mac apps read Google’s export

Why some apps can’t read it: Google’s export QR codes aren’t ordinary setup codes. Each one holds an otpauth-migration link that packs several accounts into one code, and a big export spans several codes, so an app has to know Google’s format to read them. In September 2024 a user on Apple’s forum reported that Passwords on macOS Sequoia answered “A verification code could not be created from this image” to a Google export. Apple’s own guide for Passwords on a Mac adds codes from a site’s setup key, so with Passwords you set up each account again from its site.

Microsoft Authenticator and Authy are the same story

Microsoft says: “Microsoft Authenticator is not available for PC or Mac, because authenticator apps are designed for smartphones for security reasons.” Authy had desktop apps until Twilio ended them on 19 March 2024 (what to use instead). Neither app exports codes, so their accounts move to a Mac app one at a time, from each site’s security settings. For an app that runs on your Mac and your phone, see the best authenticator apps for Mac; for codes in the notch, how Crest’s Authenticator works and what Crest Pro costs.

Sources

Everything about the other apps was read on 13 October 2026 on these pages; none of them was installed or run for this page. Prices change, so check before you buy.

• Google: Get verification codes with Google Authenticator (its Android and its iPhone and iPad versions) and the Google Authenticator App Store listing.
• Crest: version 6.5.0 of 13 October 2026, its release notes, and its own source code and on-screen words, which is where every Crest detail here comes from. What the sync server keeps is in our privacy policy.
• Apple: Use verification codes in Passwords on Mac, About the Passwords app, Show Passwords in the menu bar, Import passwords and the iCloud Passwords extension for Chrome. User reports on Apple’s forum: a Google export QR code refused (September 2024) and the Choose QR code Image button (November 2025).
• Microsoft: Download Microsoft Authenticator.
• Twilio: User guide: End-of-Life (EOL) for Twilio Authy Desktop app (updated 12 September 2025), the Twilio Authy App Store listing and authy.com/download.
• Proton Authenticator, Ente Auth and 1Password’s one-time passwords guide and pricing.

FAQ

Keep reading: Crest’s Authenticator · Best authenticator apps for Mac · Authy Desktop alternatives · Clipboard history on a Mac · Crest overview