Blizzard mobile authenticator

[kyrax12]

So I did a factory reset without disabling the mobile authenticator and now I can't get into my battle.net account.

The only option I see on their website is that I have to send them a picture of my government I.D and I want to refrain from doing that if possible.


I am going to call them up tomorrow and I have the information that I used to pay for the games.

Anyone have this issue before?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Yeah, but I didn't have to send them I'd, just answer some security questions and email tech support.

 

[Elcs]

Yeah, but I didn't have to send them I'd, just answer some security questions and email tech support.

I used their Android Authenticator program and had an issue with my phone, causing a complete wipe.

I followed the same procedures as dave_the_nerd. Blizzard were okay about unlocking it and never requested ID from me. Might be different with me coming from the EU but I doubt it.

 

[Lil Frier]

Same. My mobile authenticator went awry, not sure why. It just stopped letting the codes work, so I had to e-mail them to remove it from my account. No call was necessary, I don't think, nor did I have to send a photo ID. I never put it back on because I never trusted it after that.

 

[kyrax12]

Yeah, but I didn't have to send them I'd, just answer some security questions and email tech support.

Wait did you call them? Or is it a new thing that you have to provide them government issued I.D?

 

[Raduque]

I had this exact same problem just a few hours ago. Factory reset and sold my phone without removing the authenticator from my account. I put in a support ticket and used my secret question answer. The support guy removed the authenticator and I could log in.

 

[KidNiki1]

I just did this a few days ago. I reset my phone and forgot about the authenticator. I just removed the authenticator from my account, which required only me answering security questions, and then added one, like I started from scratch. No ID or call/email to support needed. Took less than 5 minutes.

 

[Tweak155]

Same. My mobile authenticator went awry, not sure why. It just stopped letting the codes work, so I had to e-mail them to remove it from my account. No call was necessary, I don't think, nor did I have to send a photo ID. I never put it back on because I never trusted it after that.

It's really your best protection from headache. My wife and I didn't have one back when we played WoW, and I suspected an addon we used gave away our credentials. We were both wiped.

We both added one after that and no problems since.

 

[Seven]

Happened to me as well and they asked me for the ID card and I had to provide it which is no big deal.

 

[VashHT]

I've had to do this twice, first time I called and they asked a few security questions, second time I just e-mailed a picture of my drivers license through the online recovery thing and it was done within an hour.

 

[smackababy]

I've used the iPhone one for a long time. I did have a problem and called support. I had to give them the CD key used on the account for them to remove it. I added another right away though (WoW guild at the time required it) and have never been hacked. I keep it on my account now, but it is set for 30 days unless it is a new IP / MAC / whatever they use to determine a new location.

 

[Lil Frier]

It's really your best protection from headache. My wife and I didn't have one back when we played WoW, and I suspected an addon we used gave away our credentials. We were both wiped.

We both added one after that and no problems since.

Well, like I said, it went awry. I finally gave in and used it, and after a few months, the codes just stopped working. I had to get it removed because the thing somehow stopped accepting the codes, not sure why. Given that I had never been hacked before, I wasn't concerned. After that, I got hacked once, but Blizzard's so good at fixing those things that it only took 15 minutes for me to get it restored.

I don't even play WoW anymore, but given that I had the same number of problems with the mobile authenticator (1) in a few months as I did with getting hacked (also 1) in 5 years, I was willing to risk it. Plus, getting my stuff restored was a faster move than getting the authenticator removed. It was just more trouble than it was worth.

 

[ChairShot]

Happened to me as well and they asked me for the ID card and I had to provide it which is no big deal.

same thing for me last year when I lost my phone.

 

[Aikouka]

Hm... are those of you with issues after resetting or changing phones using Android? I thought Google backed up app data? I've performed a factory restore on my iPhone and even swapped to a new phone, and I've never had an issue with the authenticator. Although, it would be silly of me to just trust it to always work, so I also keep my restore information on record just in case!

 

[Kelvrick]

I think I went through this prompt to get authenticator off my account.

https://us.battle.net/account/support/find-account.html?requestType=REMOVE_AUTHENTICATOR

I didn't have SMS protect enabled and I didn't want to send my ID either. I think I may have ended up providing a serial number for one of the games I owned (I think Diablo 3 was luckily right on my desk) to prove my identity. I have since added SMS protect.

 

[kyrax12]

Update: Sent in a ticket, answered a security question(s) and boom done.

Thanks Blizzard!

 

[Stuka87]

Hm... are those of you with issues after resetting or changing phones using Android? I thought Google backed up app data? I've performed a factory restore on my iPhone and even swapped to a new phone, and I've never had an issue with the authenticator. Although, it would be silly of me to just trust it to always work, so I also keep my restore information on record just in case!

Anytime I have upgraded my iPhone I forget to remove the authenticator, and then have to call support unless I save that little number (Which I have done now).

Also I have had to send them a photo of my drivers license.

 

[Aikouka]

Anytime I have upgraded my iPhone I forget to remove the authenticator, and then have to call support unless I save that little number (Which I have done now).

Also I have had to send them a photo of my drivers license.

When you upgraded, did you restore your new phone to your old phone's settings via your back-up? iTunes backs up my phone every time I plug it in, and as long as I restore from that, I don't have any problems. As I mentioned, I do keep the number available just in case. I think I only ever had to use it when I didn't restore from a back up one time (my authenticator was setup a few phones ago), or when I wanted the authenticator on my iPad as well.

...and yes, I'm one of those weird people that actually hooks their phone up to their computer to perform a back up and update apps.

 

[Stuka87]

When you upgraded, did you restore your new phone to your old phone's settings via your back-up? iTunes backs up my phone every time I plug it in, and as long as I restore from that, I don't have any problems. As I mentioned, I do keep the number available just in case. I think I only ever had to use it when I didn't restore from a back up one time (my authenticator was setup a few phones ago), or when I wanted the authenticator on my iPad as well.

...and yes, I'm one of those weird people that actually hooks their phone up to their computer to perform a back up and update apps.

Yes I restored my 4S backup to my 5S when I got it. The backup was all of 10 minutes old. I figured it was because the authenticator uses a hardware ID or the like(Maybe the MAC address or something) to use as a unique identifier, so when I switched phones, that changed causing it to break.

 

[Aikouka]

Yes I restored my 4S backup to my 5S when I got it. The backup was all of 10 minutes old. I figured it was because the authenticator uses a hardware ID or the like(Maybe the MAC address or something) to use as a unique identifier, so when I switched phones, that changed causing it to break.

Yeah, it does use hardware-related identifiers. Although, I did read that Apple was pushing developers away from using that.

Anyway, I think I figured out why I don't have a problem. I must have used a restore code at some point in the past (I've had phones replaced at the Apple Store, so I've swapped a few times). I'm guessing that using a restore code causes the mobile authenticator to place the information in a file among the app's data. So, that code then gets stored in your back-up, and is then put back whenever you perform a restore.

 

[Raduque]

I just did this a few days ago. I reset my phone and forgot about the authenticator. I just removed the authenticator from my account, which required only me answering security questions, and then added one, like I started from scratch. No ID or call/email to support needed. Took less than 5 minutes.

Well, I couldn't log into my account at all because none of the Authenticator codes worked, and you need to log in to remove it from your account

 

[smackababy]

When you upgraded, did you restore your new phone to your old phone's settings via your back-up? iTunes backs up my phone every time I plug it in, and as long as I restore from that, I don't have any problems. As I mentioned, I do keep the number available just in case. I think I only ever had to use it when I didn't restore from a back up one time (my authenticator was setup a few phones ago), or when I wanted the authenticator on my iPad as well.

...and yes, I'm one of those weird people that actually hooks their phone up to their computer to perform a back up and update apps.

I don't do that for updating apps, but I do backup daily (mostly because I have a dock on my desk and it does it automatically). The most I will lose is 24 hours of data if I lose my iPhone.