Archiving Instead of Deleting¶
Private Authenticator has no button to delete a single account, on purpose. Deleting a setup key by mistake can lock you out of a website. Instead, you archive an account: it disappears from your lists, but it is still there if you ever need it back.
Archiving an account¶
On the Recent tab, swipe the account's row to the left and tap Archive. The row vanishes. That's it.
Finding archived accounts¶
Turn on the Archived pill above the Recent list, or above the Tags list, and archived accounts reappear with an ARCHIVED badge. You can open their codes as usual.
[Screenshot: the Recent tab with the Archived pill on and an account showing the ARCHIVED badge]
Bringing one back¶
Either swipe the row on Recent (with the Archived pill on) and tap Unarchive, or open the account's code screen and tap its ARCHIVED — Tap to Unarchive badge.
When you really do want it gone¶
The only delete in the app is Delete All Data at the bottom of the Info page, which removes every account at once. It asks whether to keep your tags, and it needs Face ID or Touch ID. There is no undo, and if your accounts sync through iCloud Keychain they are removed from your other iPhones too. Make a backup first if there is any chance you'll want any of them back.
Archived accounts and the rest of the app¶
- Archived accounts are not sent to your Apple Watch, and are removed from it when you archive them. Unarchiving sends an account back once you open its code on the iPhone.
- Archived accounts are included in backups, marked as archived, so a restore puts them back exactly as they were.
- A tag's count on the Tags tab counts only unarchived accounts; the Archived pill adds the rest in red.
Continue to The Menu, the Info Page and Landscape.