My cel phone that had my Authenticator app crashed and I can't approve log ins

Contact Microsoft Support by phone and request tenant-lockout recovery through the Data Protection team, because you are the only administrator and none of your registered authentication methods remains available.

Recover access to the tenant

1. Open Microsoft’s support page and select the Work account tab to find the customer-service number for your country or region ^1^.
2. Tell the agent:
   • This is a Microsoft Entra tenant lockout.
   • You have a work or school account.
   • You are the only Global Administrator.
   • Your old phone is unavailable.
   • Sign in another way offers no usable methods.
   • You need the Data Protection team to verify tenant ownership and restore access.
3. Complete Microsoft’s identity and tenant-ownership verification process. Microsoft documents phone support as the recovery route when a tenant lockout prevents access to the portals; after ownership is verified, Microsoft restores access to the existing tenant ^2^.

A matching sole-administrator lockout case was resolved by engaging the Data Protection team through a support ticket ^3^.

Installing Authenticator or restoring its backup on the new Pixel will not independently resolve this lockout. For work or school accounts, Authenticator backs up only the account name—not its credentials—so the account must be registered again ^4^.

Register the new Pixel after access is restored

1. Install Microsoft Authenticator on the new Pixel.
2. Sign in to the Security info page for the recovered work account.
3. Select Add sign-in method and choose Microsoft Authenticator.
4. Follow the QR-code setup and approve the test notification on the new phone.
5. Remove the old Authenticator registration after confirming that the new one works.
6. Register at least one additional authentication method to reduce the risk of another lockout. Microsoft recommends multiple methods per user ^5^.

If Microsoft instructs you to re-register MFA as part of the recovery, the corresponding Entra operation removes the old Authenticator registration and prompts for a new method at the next sign-in ^6^.

References

1. [Work account](https://support.microsoft.com/support/#microsoft-365-volume-licensing-support)
2. Plan for tenant recoverability
3. Locked out as sole Global Admin – lost Authenticator and no backup methods - Microsoft Q&A
4. [Android](https://support.microsoft.com/authenticator/restore-account-credentials-from-microsoft-authenticator#what-information-is-restored-in-authenticator)
5. Recover user authentication methods using Microsoft Entra Backup and Recovery
6. Manage user authentication methods for Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication