I actually noticed this, but I consider this a feature, not a bug. In raivo, you are able to export an encrypted zip file, which I did and saved to a flash drive and put it next to my old iphone 6 in a drawer under my bed. It's reassuring in a sense, that if someone does obtain access to that encrypted backup file, they wouldn't be able to do some fuckery and automatically "recover" the backup on a phone that is not mine.

I will say that what surprised me about the exported backup encrypted zip file - it did not work the way I expected. I thought it was going to be some .txt file with a bunch of numbers and things I would have to input into a new 2fa app manually - but no, it's legitimately a a very nice html document that has every 2fa account laid out neatly with a QR code, section by section. When transferring these codes to my old iphone 6 (before I turned on icloud sync), I just held my phone up to my laptop screen and moved it inch by inch every 1 second (tapping accept in between) to scan and add 20+ codes with the camera. It took me 5 minutes to add them initially as I doubled checked the veracity of the 2fa codes generated... but truthfully you could probably add 20+ accounts in under a minute. If not quicker.

I don't consider the lack of an automated way to import the manual backups a bad thing. The encrypted icloud sync works remarkably well. The exported zip backup would, in in the worse case scenario, be where I lost my iphone 12, I lost my macbook air, someone stole my ipad mini, and in the same day, someone broke into my house, went under my bed, and additionally stole the beat up looking iphone 6 in the back of the drawer. But again, since the codes are backed up encrypted in iCloud, just because my devices are stolen doesn't mean I lost access to them. I could also drive 30 minutes downtown, walk into an apple store, buy an iphone on the spot, download raivo from the app store and have it automatically sync my codes from iCloud, and have access to my 2fa codes, all within an hour. Or I could go to craigslist and find someone selling an old ipad, iphone, or whatever and buy it off them for 50 bucks and have access to my codes. My wife also has an old iphone 7 that is laying unused on the bookshelf in our living room, which I could also just log in and access my codes as well.

Basically, what I'm saying, is that as long as an encrypted copy of my 2fa codes exist in icloud, I can log into any idevice and have access to my 2fa codes. The chance of me having to manually use my encrypted .zip backup is virtually nil. The only scenario I can envision is if someone stole every device I own, burned my house down, sim swapped my phone and stole my cell phone number, burned down the local google data center (likely centers) where my iCloud user data is stored on Google Cloud, and also bought every iphone, ipad, macbook, and apple device in a 100 mile radius, including used models, and including breaking into and robbing every apple store in the vicinity so I couldn't procure a new idevice. That is legitimately the only scenario I can foresee in where I would lose access to my 2fa codes.

Apple devices are ubiquitous in the US. I still have a windows laptop and desktop that I had considered as my "main" computers for the longest time. I had a real come to jesus moment several months ago when I realized my way of thinking was a bit outdated. I had thought that in order to reduce the attack surface, I would need to manually backup all my codes, print them out, make several copies so I wouldn't lose one of them, and use my 2fa codes only on one device. But truthfully - there is another way of ensuring ubiquitous access to my 2fa codes, and it didn't involve much more effort on my part.

I want to switch devices, install the app, put in my password and have all my codes sync'd into the app directly. I don't want to bother with scanning 50+ accounts (I use 2fa for everything), by hand in the name of pseudo security. After 2+ years, that feature should be fixed.

But that is what happens, when you use the icloud backup. You log in, you you create a new passcode, and the app automatically looks in your icloud folder for a backup, then restores it automatically. There is no account creation involved in the process. What you are asking for already exists.

What you are asking for is the manual backup you create to automatically restore.

Oh interesting! That wasn't clear to me... thanks for the help!