Reminder: Save your mobile authenticator serial number before you upgrade your iPhone
by Matthew Rossi 
Jun 22nd 2010 at 3:00PM
All you need to do is write down the serial number of the authenticator application you have on your phone. This way, if you need to deauthorize for any reason (or an update causes any issues) you can do so quickly and easily at battle.net without having to wait for a phone service call or what have you.
This is particularly important for those folks getting the latest iPhone OS, iOS 4. If the upgrade goes haywire for any reason, you'll likely lose all your data off the phone; including the authenticator serial number. This means if you're going to upgrade your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad to iOS 4, you must write down your authenticator serial number to be safe.
Filed under: News items, Account Security
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Moo Jun 22nd 2010 3:05PM
Done! Thanks. I had no idea. I'm clueless about such things.
Astrovar Jun 22nd 2010 4:50PM
i hope mine doesn't go haywire; as i didn't write mine down.... and my phone is in the middle of its update now... lol *cross fingers*
motodale Jun 22nd 2010 3:09PM
where is it, you dont specifically tell how to do this step by step
Ringo Flinthammer Jun 22nd 2010 3:14PM
Fire up the app. The serial number is on the info settings screen, as I recall.
motodale Jun 22nd 2010 3:19PM
found it thank you, guess i was fail at looking hard enough
Melvyl Jun 22nd 2010 3:11PM
I always remove the authenticator from my account before I do a major iPhone upgrade. I really wish Blizzard had picked a different day to take battle.net offline for hours.
cj Jun 22nd 2010 3:14PM
so i did the dumb thing and didnt do this, and am now locked out of my account..do i need to call blizz?
Pow Jun 22nd 2010 3:22PM
Not necessarily... you should be able to restore your (I'm assuming) iPhone/iPod Touch using the backup made by iTunes before the upgrade was installed. I had to do this way back with the 3.0 update, and worked just fine.
Sarsella Jun 22nd 2010 3:31PM
I did the same thing with the developer's preview of iOS4, and I ended up having to call Blizzard, and was on hold for almost 90 minutes before speaking to a human. Good luck.
crunk Jun 22nd 2010 3:32PM
Yup. You screwed yourself bud. Sorry to say that. You'll have to contact Blizz on the phone, tell them that you did an upgrade, without knowing it would lock you out. Have any info like Original WoW CD Key, Secret Question Answer to your account, etc. Or else, you'll be really freaking screwed. BY that I mean, if you don't have anything proving you're the owner of the account, you'll have to fill out an application form, plus provide a picture of a photo ID, or Birth Certificate, and snailmail or fax it.
I know this because I went through this freaking crap 6 months ago, locking myself out of my account, and pretty much screwing myself completely. I no longer have access to the account, because I don't have original WoW CD Key, or the box itself. This is mainly due to the name that is registered on the account, which is not my name. It is my brothers name, who gave me the account three years ago when he went to Iraq.
Which is why i will never use the authenticator app ever again. Hell a rep even told me on the phone not to use the app, and to buy the little keychain thing instead.
Mike Jun 22nd 2010 3:36PM
@crunk And when the battery dies on that you'll have to go through the same process again. The lesson here is not to avoid Authenticators, it's to comply with the terms of use your brother agreed to when he bought the game: the account is his and only his and he's not allowed to share it with anyone else.
Me Jun 22nd 2010 7:02PM
Alright looks like people are spreading some BS about what happens if you don't write down your serial number or take the authenticator off your account.
This happened to me just a couple of months ago when I installed a custom ROM on my Droid and wiped all the data. I got worried when I was reading what to do to get the authenticator taken off with every post I found saying that I needed the Authenticator serial number or the CD-key or the credit card number used to purchase game time. I obviously didn't have the first one, the second one was long gone, and I never purchased game time with a credit card.
Well all my worries were put to rest two days after I sent an email to Blizzard Support. All I had to do was fill out and sign a form with the name the account was opened under, and attach a copy of an official ID card. Filled out the form, scanned it in along with my drivers license, and the next day my account was back.
tl;dr IF YOU MESSED UP AND CAN'T GET INTO YOUR ACCOUNT YOU *WILL* BE ABLE TO GET IT BACK!
Task Jun 22nd 2010 3:15PM
I may be wrong about this, they haven't said as of yet if Canadian iPhone users (like me) will be able to get the iOS4 patch update. I've only heard that it will be only for the 3GS iPhones and iPads. The 3G iPhone users will be stuck with 3.1.3 unless they patch to a more up to date version. :(
Arednel Jun 22nd 2010 3:17PM
I'm in the UK with a 3GS and I upgraded to iOS4 last night, love it already :D
Arednel Jun 22nd 2010 3:18PM
Sorry I didn't see you saying you're not sure, I THINK 3G can but you don't get full functionality. best way is to back it up first, write down your serial number and then hit the check for update button on iTunes.
Box Jun 22nd 2010 3:57PM
From what I've gathered from other sites iOS4 is terribly slow on 3g models so you might want to hold off anyways.
Carr0t Jun 22nd 2010 3:17PM
iOS4 is perfectly valid for people outside the US. I've downloaded it here in the UK onto my 2nd gen iPod Touch, so I see no reason for it to be invalid for people in Canada.
The only thing is unless you have an iPhone 3GS or an iPod Touch 3rd gen there's not a huge amount of point to upgrading, as most of the really swanky features people have been waiting for don't work for you.
Amnesiatic Jun 22nd 2010 3:21PM
Updated my iPod, didnt do anything to my authenticator.
SaintStryfe Jun 22nd 2010 4:43PM
Same here, but it never hurts to be safe.
What I do personally is have a screen shot (press Lock and Home at the same time) of my security key uploaded to private FTP space, in an encrypted .zip file named generically (archive.zip for instance). I keep the file updated every few months, and just before large updates.
peon47 Jun 22nd 2010 7:32PM
And when they say "write it down" that means with pen and paper. Do NOT save it on your computer, or put it in an e-mail. If the hackers/keyloggers get it, you are proper screwed.