Remember: When Changing Phones...

Pablo888 Serial expat

884POSTS

6 months ago

April 4, 2026

I just upgraded my phone (twice) recently. The upgrade path was easy but one thing I did not do before wiping out my old phone is:

Make sure to login in both the old and new phone and transfer the account from the old to the new by QR code transfer.

I did not do this for both my Caixa and Claro accounts. And now, I cannot access both my bank and mobile phone accounts. Having the account on the computer does not help.

Remember: make sure to login to all of the apps that you use in Brazil before you wipe out the old phone.

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hagece8690 Active member

84POSTS

6 months ago

Why are you dealing with Caixa ?

That is the bank for the "pobre premium" class.

Do not deal with government banks here. It is those banks that get tapped to finance the pet projects which the standard commercial banks won't touch for various reasons. Because they are government run, the government tells them what to do if necessary. If I were you, I'd stay out of BdB and Caixa altogether.

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Peter Itamaraca Serial expat

970POSTS

6 months ago

@hagece8690

For those of us that have investments on the island of Itamaracá-PE, Caixa is the only local option...

1 member reacted to this post

abthree Brazil Expert

6518POSTS

6 months ago

04/05/26 @Pablo888. Happy Easter! If you're not currently in Brazil this won't be of much use to you until you are, but the last time I got a new phone I had to authorize it for my Banco do Brasil account at a BB ATM. The process was quick and relatively straightforward and didn't require dealing with a human being, but it did require me to be physically in front of an ATM at the bank for a few minutes. Caixa probably has a similar process.

I'm surprised about your Claro account; my TIM account was available on my new phone as soon as I moved the SIM. All Brazilian cell carriers are bad, but they're bad in different ways. Sadly, there may be a visit to a Claro store in your future. Sorry about that.

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Mikeflanagan Serial expat

476POSTS

5 months ago

Basically for banking apps and such to avoid any scams or the likes - you need too transfer and authenticate any government or banking apps during a transfer.

No big headache there - just a quick trip to your bank ATM and you will be sorted asap

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