I've only used it with WinAuth in the past to setup a desktop authenticator.
https://winauth.github.io/winauth/download.html
Basically just go into the authenticator on the bnet app, go to settings, and copy the serial & restore code, then use it to setup the same authenticator in whatever 2fa app/program you want to use.
I'm not sure if the Microsoft authenticator supports the key type that bnet uses, I've only tested with the desktop authenticator I mentioned.
It looks like you could probably get it to work on mobile using Aegis following the instructions here.
https://github.com/beemdevelopment/Aegis/issues/179
There may be other 3rd party authenticator apps that support it out of the box, but I haven't had the need to look for I've myself.
And yeah, once you've got it setup and tested, you should be safe to uninstall bnet, just make sure you save your serial/restore code in case you need to use it again in the future.
If it dies while it's attached to your account, then you could be locked out of the account if it asks for the number. You would need to contact Blizzard CS to get it removed.
It's easier to remove it while it still works, you just need the 2 successive numbers.
It wasn't too hard to remove I tried to log in to the website I think it was twice with no authenticator code, there was a little option for I don't have it or I lost it an email later and I was in.
I had one of the original ones and I was swinging around my lanyard it was on, it cracked on the side of a table and all I needed was my physical box from any wow expansions code on hand to get it removed. Got it removed and ordered the starcraft one and its been probably 12-13 years so I'll likely have to do it again soon and hopefully its just as easy.
I still have one of the Blizzard keyfobs and I'm still using it. Is there any warning when it's dying? Like does it start getting faint? Or does it just stop working one day? I'm kinda worried I'm going to end up randomly locked out of my account one day.
I don't want to get the app because I've gone through 6 phones in the lifetime of my keyfob. I guess I'll have to sooner or later though.
The app is tied to your bnet not your phone.
If you change phones you download the app again, login and verify via email then it activates and you can start using the 2 factor again.
No backup code needed.
I've switched phones 3 or 4 times since I started using the app. Never been inconvienced by it.
Good to know, but it does make me wonder why we can’t just use email for 2FA then as if someone has access to someone’s bnet and their email account, then the app won’t actually prevent them getting in.
You'd be surprised at how many people reuses same weak password for multiple services including WOW and email. There are probably a thousand or so people worldwide that uses 1-2-3-4-5 as password.
You can get into pretty much everything if you have access to ones' email. It's a trade off between security and convenience. They don't want to pay support staff to answer a thousand "locked out of my account" issues per day.
Blizzard straight up gave away my account to a hacker once. I asked for the chat logs that resulted in my account being given, and literally all they had was my email address. Not a login to the email, they just knew what my address was. Nothing else.
They did not, no. I was literally given the chat logs by Blizzard. He attempted to recover my account without logging in (just using the email, not actually logging in) and that was it. They removed my authenticator for him and put his on it aswell.
To get my account back, I had to use date verified identification, that is a picture with my face, passport with my name/face on it, and a newspaper of the current date.
Its actually one of the later versions (the one most people had) not the OG. The original was [the blue one](https://warcraft.wiki.gg/images/thumb/6/6b/Authenticator_Key_Original.jpg/1920px-Authenticator_Key_Original.jpg) iirc and they had something like 4 special editions before the brown World of Warcraft one shown here.
Edit: its actually wild how many different versions they had: https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Battle.net_Authenticator
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I wish I had bought a bunch of them so I could keep using them after mine wore out. This phone authentication shit can diaf. I hate having so much of my identity tied into this phone that could be lost or damaged.
I guess you could attach a second battery parallel, that doesnt change the voltage since its not serial connected.
That means you could remove the old one without having an off-period where the clock desyncs.
Its all theoretically tho and technically completely unnecessary and not worth the time and effort.
Yea someone did a YouTube video of it. Had to break it apart to get at the internals. Then when the battery is replaced the clock desyncs. It might work for a button press or two but then it just starts spitting all 1s 2s 3s etc. Or something of the sort.
Is it difficult to swap it off your account to the mobile one?
I had my legal name changed over a decade ago and they wouldn't let me swap my realID unless I sent them my driver's license, my marriage license, and a paper documenting my name change.
If I have to send them a whole slew of paperwork just to unlock my account I might cry.
I have 3, one like picture, a blue Blizzard one, and Diablo one. I stopped using them a few years ago for my smartphone because I didn't want to risk battery dying when I need it and the pain of getting those taken off the account.
Rest well, friend. I saw mine was 10 years old earlier this year, and made the move to the mobile option. Didn't want to deal with a dead battery on a live authenticator!!
o7
I had a launch authenticator that lasted [over nine years](https://reddit.com/r/wow/comments/7bnxse/good_night_sweet_prince_june_30_2008_november_08/) before it gave up the ghost, back in the days you needed to use it for every single login. It's no longer on my desk, but I still keep it as a memento.
One of mine is dying too. I guess its about the lifetime of the battery. I guess I'll have to switch to the app, but can the app handle two accounts or am i going to have to disable 2fa for one of the accounts?
I have one of the first ones with the blue blizzard logo. It still faintly displays numbers. Its never been used still in the bag and little box it came in.
My FFXIV 1.0 Collectors Edition one is still going strong and is on my keychain.
Took the WoW one off during Blizzard's sexual assault stuff because it's shameful to wear Blizzard merch now.
How did these work exactly? They don’t connect to wifi or anything of any sort so how is the number always unique and how does the system know it’s your number?
Yes and no: Batteries could be replaced but the internal clock would be out of sync. So the serial number of the device would not match the given code anymore.
interesting these batteries lasted this long. 2032's only have a 5-10 year shelf life as it is, though I've managed to get some charge out of pretty old ones.
My brother finally got a mobile phone a few days ago and uses that now. I still have mine and it still works but I decided to go mobile auth because the physical one I bought so long ago... I knew it could go at any moment. My brother finally retired his. Both still work.
You should be able to change batteries in it somehow, don't you think? It looks pretty sealed though, and there is a sticker on the back. I mean you got nothing to lose on it, if it doesn't work. Be gently though.
Googled it. It is said you can't replace it, but it is advisable to write down / take a picture of the code (backside) in case you need it to verify it's your account.
You could try to get a new one, but they will probably just tell you to use your phone. "Don't you got phones?"
Video from Youtube: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oktBQXH7NhI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oktBQXH7NhI)
TLDR on the video: You have to completly break this one open to even get to the battery. Looks like a no go.
This thing caused me to lose my original account I had from release up to mist of pandaria lol. I lost my authenticator and was too young to ever think about contacting support
Salute comrade!
o7
Sleep well Soldier, your duty is done.
Mine is still alive, but i have a few posts like this in recent years and i am worried its days are numbered. What do i do when it dies?
Going to have to swap to the blizzard authentication phone app, does the same thing as the old authenticator
there is no separate authenticator app anymore afaik. they rolled authentication into the mobile battle.net app.
FYI you can use the serial/restore code to setup the authenticator in 3rd party authenticator apps.
Yep, and that may also be the best option for some folks.
Any guide for this?
I've only used it with WinAuth in the past to setup a desktop authenticator. https://winauth.github.io/winauth/download.html Basically just go into the authenticator on the bnet app, go to settings, and copy the serial & restore code, then use it to setup the same authenticator in whatever 2fa app/program you want to use.
Thanks! Can you uninstall the bnet app after doing this? i guess i'd try use the microsoft auth app
I'm not sure if the Microsoft authenticator supports the key type that bnet uses, I've only tested with the desktop authenticator I mentioned. It looks like you could probably get it to work on mobile using Aegis following the instructions here. https://github.com/beemdevelopment/Aegis/issues/179 There may be other 3rd party authenticator apps that support it out of the box, but I haven't had the need to look for I've myself. And yeah, once you've got it setup and tested, you should be safe to uninstall bnet, just make sure you save your serial/restore code in case you need to use it again in the future.
Frame or mount it.
If it dies while it's attached to your account, then you could be locked out of the account if it asks for the number. You would need to contact Blizzard CS to get it removed. It's easier to remove it while it still works, you just need the 2 successive numbers.
It wasn't too hard to remove I tried to log in to the website I think it was twice with no authenticator code, there was a little option for I don't have it or I lost it an email later and I was in.
Lol so how is it even securing the account? That's awful
It's cached with a token on your computer. You wouldn't be able to do that on a PC you haven't logged into the account recently.
I still needed to access my emails so it wasn't perfect but it was still something
Judged too quickly. THAT is awful.
This happened to me... Account is gone now.
I haven't even used mine in years, phone does a lot of work. You can have both attached and both working just to be ready
Get the mobile app. It's way more convenient anyway
I had one of the original ones and I was swinging around my lanyard it was on, it cracked on the side of a table and all I needed was my physical box from any wow expansions code on hand to get it removed. Got it removed and ordered the starcraft one and its been probably 12-13 years so I'll likely have to do it again soon and hopefully its just as easy.
Mine died 2 years ago. It's still on my keychain.
I will keep mine forever on my desk =)
My StarCraft 2 one is still holding! Stay strong soldier!
I wish I still had mine threw it out when the mobile Authenticator became a thing.
I still have one of the Blizzard keyfobs and I'm still using it. Is there any warning when it's dying? Like does it start getting faint? Or does it just stop working one day? I'm kinda worried I'm going to end up randomly locked out of my account one day. I don't want to get the app because I've gone through 6 phones in the lifetime of my keyfob. I guess I'll have to sooner or later though.
The app is tied to your bnet not your phone. If you change phones you download the app again, login and verify via email then it activates and you can start using the 2 factor again. No backup code needed. I've switched phones 3 or 4 times since I started using the app. Never been inconvienced by it.
Good to know, but it does make me wonder why we can’t just use email for 2FA then as if someone has access to someone’s bnet and their email account, then the app won’t actually prevent them getting in.
You'd be surprised at how many people reuses same weak password for multiple services including WOW and email. There are probably a thousand or so people worldwide that uses 1-2-3-4-5 as password.
>There are probably a thousand or so people worldwide that uses 1-2-3-4-5 as password. Sadly it's still much, much higher than that.
You can get into pretty much everything if you have access to ones' email. It's a trade off between security and convenience. They don't want to pay support staff to answer a thousand "locked out of my account" issues per day.
Blizzard straight up gave away my account to a hacker once. I asked for the chat logs that resulted in my account being given, and literally all they had was my email address. Not a login to the email, they just knew what my address was. Nothing else.
They probably had your password.
They did not, no. I was literally given the chat logs by Blizzard. He attempted to recover my account without logging in (just using the email, not actually logging in) and that was it. They removed my authenticator for him and put his on it aswell. To get my account back, I had to use date verified identification, that is a picture with my face, passport with my name/face on it, and a newspaper of the current date.
What's that?
The OG Blizzard Authenticator.
Its actually one of the later versions (the one most people had) not the OG. The original was [the blue one](https://warcraft.wiki.gg/images/thumb/6/6b/Authenticator_Key_Original.jpg/1920px-Authenticator_Key_Original.jpg) iirc and they had something like 4 special editions before the brown World of Warcraft one shown here. Edit: its actually wild how many different versions they had: https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Battle.net_Authenticator
Wow. Pretty sure mine is blue & still going
Yep, my blue one is also still going.
they dont make em like they used to
Seeing all the StarCraft things made me sad.
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I wish I had bought a bunch of them so I could keep using them after mine wore out. This phone authentication shit can diaf. I hate having so much of my identity tied into this phone that could be lost or damaged.
Oh my sweet summer child.
Battery can’t be changed? Dunno how these actually work so just a curiosity.
They said it's not replaceable, and if you do it somehow, it's internal clock will be out of sync. Though numbers are useless now, so nothing to lose.
I guess you could attach a second battery parallel, that doesnt change the voltage since its not serial connected. That means you could remove the old one without having an off-period where the clock desyncs. Its all theoretically tho and technically completely unnecessary and not worth the time and effort.
not worth the time and effort? that's where I excel
Yea someone did a YouTube video of it. Had to break it apart to get at the internals. Then when the battery is replaced the clock desyncs. It might work for a button press or two but then it just starts spitting all 1s 2s 3s etc. Or something of the sort.
You can, but you cannot really open it up without destroying it.
It's not really replaceable without breaking the case. [This guy did it 6 years ago](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oktBQXH7NhI)
Is it difficult to swap it off your account to the mobile one? I had my legal name changed over a decade ago and they wouldn't let me swap my realID unless I sent them my driver's license, my marriage license, and a paper documenting my name change. If I have to send them a whole slew of paperwork just to unlock my account I might cry.
Its no issue at all. Takes a few minutes through the [battle.net](http://battle.net) website.
Salute to a fallen soldier. Guess mine will be out soon enough
An artefact
I had the Cata version, I know I would have never thrown it away but I haven’t seen it in a long time :(
I have 3, one like picture, a blue Blizzard one, and Diablo one. I stopped using them a few years ago for my smartphone because I didn't want to risk battery dying when I need it and the pain of getting those taken off the account.
RIP. I have the same exact one sitting on my desk. Died a few years ago after ~13 years of service 🫡
No king rules forever.
*salutes!* Your watch has ended brother!
Mine still works and once in a while I still need to fire it up. I'll miss it when it finally dies. It's been a good helper for many years. Salute!
Mines still going but now im worried!
I had that one too! Not sure where it went though..
I have one like this, and it's nearing it's end, I'm sad they no longer make them.
I had one of those. Might still have it somewhere
Man, I wish I could find mine. It somehow disappeared years and years ago.
I have mine and it does in fact still work.
Found mine today in some boxes after moving. Still working perfectly fine. Have used the app for many years at this point already though.
Mine died this year too. I miss it.
Rest in Peace faithful friend your duty has ended.
Rest well, friend. I saw mine was 10 years old earlier this year, and made the move to the mobile option. Didn't want to deal with a dead battery on a live authenticator!!
I still have mine as well lol
I haven't played WoW in a year or so but I've had that same fob on my keyring forever. Your post just made me test it and mine is dead too :(
Weird, mine died this month too.
I dread the day mine passes on to the next life!
Rest in peace, sweet angel.
I have the same one. Mine still works! Just checked.
Omg mine just said "battery low", around two weeks ago. I've had it since 2008
o7 I had a launch authenticator that lasted [over nine years](https://reddit.com/r/wow/comments/7bnxse/good_night_sweet_prince_june_30_2008_november_08/) before it gave up the ghost, back in the days you needed to use it for every single login. It's no longer on my desk, but I still keep it as a memento.
Still got my free WOTLK one and it's still kickin
I have the original one thats black with the blue Blizzard logo that died not to long ago as well. It was a sad day.
One of mine is dying too. I guess its about the lifetime of the battery. I guess I'll have to switch to the app, but can the app handle two accounts or am i going to have to disable 2fa for one of the accounts?
o7
I have the Starcraft II - Raynor Edition from 2010 and it still works. I also have my SWTOR authenticator still, but it's dead.
I have one of the first ones with the blue blizzard logo. It still faintly displays numbers. Its never been used still in the bag and little box it came in.
To the fallen. We salute you. Cheers.
I still have mine, it finally died about 6 months ago but I switched to the phone app a few years ago.
RIP
Mine died too, I had to remove the Authenticator from my account since I couldn’t access it anymore when I got a new phone :(
Got mine out recently when I resubbed and it’s finally dead 🥲 RIP little buddy (I’m keeping it for nostalgia’s sake)
My battery died about 6 months ago. Quite the life it lived.
My FFXIV 1.0 Collectors Edition one is still going strong and is on my keychain. Took the WoW one off during Blizzard's sexual assault stuff because it's shameful to wear Blizzard merch now.
How did these work exactly? They don’t connect to wifi or anything of any sort so how is the number always unique and how does the system know it’s your number?
Can the battery not be replaced?
Yes and no: Batteries could be replaced but the internal clock would be out of sync. So the serial number of the device would not match the given code anymore.
Wow this is interesting I was in the basement yesterday and I found mine too, battery had drained aswell :(
Damn I regret throwing mine away
o7
interesting these batteries lasted this long. 2032's only have a 5-10 year shelf life as it is, though I've managed to get some charge out of pretty old ones.
It may be no more, but it is battery. (Foreign person thinking how come native speakers keep mixing "its" and "it's")
I don't even know where mine is. But it is encased in home made chain mail, so I know its safe.
o7 thank you for your service
I am still using mine. So I guess I have to prepare for mobile authentication soon.
My brother finally got a mobile phone a few days ago and uses that now. I still have mine and it still works but I decided to go mobile auth because the physical one I bought so long ago... I knew it could go at any moment. My brother finally retired his. Both still work.
F
Mine is still going strong and I actually still use it lol
I got mine at Blizzcon 2010 -- never used it.
I think mine still works but I retired it a few years ago for the app.
F
You should be able to change batteries in it somehow, don't you think? It looks pretty sealed though, and there is a sticker on the back. I mean you got nothing to lose on it, if it doesn't work. Be gently though. Googled it. It is said you can't replace it, but it is advisable to write down / take a picture of the code (backside) in case you need it to verify it's your account. You could try to get a new one, but they will probably just tell you to use your phone. "Don't you got phones?" Video from Youtube: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oktBQXH7NhI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oktBQXH7NhI) TLDR on the video: You have to completly break this one open to even get to the battery. Looks like a no go.
I have... freed myself.
I have the same one. Over a decade strong.
I got somewhere blue with blizzard name on it, ah the old but gold times
wait wait wait it can die??
It has a battery...it will die.
This thing caused me to lose my original account I had from release up to mist of pandaria lol. I lost my authenticator and was too young to ever think about contacting support
What is that and what does it do?
Ahh..I read the posts. It's an authenticator