About Time sync for Google Authenticator on Android

The codes that Google Authenticator generates depend on the correct time on your Android device. If your verification codes generated by Google Authenticator aren’t working, it might be because the time on your Android device is incorrect. To fix this, you can use the Time sync feature on the Authenticator app. Time sync will confirm whether an incorrect time is the root cause of the issue, and, if so, will sync your time to that of Google’s servers.

You can sync the time on your Google Authenticator app by following these steps:

1. Open the Google Authenticator app.
2. Tap More Settings.
3. Tap Time correction for codes.
4. Tap Sync now.

On the next screen, the app will confirm that the time has been synced, and you should now be able to use your verification codes to sign in. If the app says that the time is already correct, we suggest you look at our Common issues page to help you determine why your verification codes aren’t working.

The sync will only affect the internal time of your Google Authenticator app, and will not change your device’s Date & Time settings.