> Have you actually tried connecting a new phone to your google account without access to any old "burned down" device?
Yes
> My mother's phone got stolen and I had a lot of trouble trying to get into here Google account for her
The first time, my phone bricked itself (you get what you pay for. Don't buy $30 smartphones). I have 2fa. I use both Authy (syncing) and WinAuth (local, with encrypted backups) to manage my secrets. Entering the code is enough to sign in.
The second time, I was moving from an old phone to a new phone; I turned off the old phone to remove the SD card before turning on the new one, and it worked fine without turning on the old one until after signing into accounts, when I needed to transfer data for some FOSS apps (termux, Fdroid, etc).
Yes
> My mother's phone got stolen and I had a lot of trouble trying to get into here Google account for her
The first time, my phone bricked itself (you get what you pay for. Don't buy $30 smartphones). I have 2fa. I use both Authy (syncing) and WinAuth (local, with encrypted backups) to manage my secrets. Entering the code is enough to sign in.
The second time, I was moving from an old phone to a new phone; I turned off the old phone to remove the SD card before turning on the new one, and it worked fine without turning on the old one until after signing into accounts, when I needed to transfer data for some FOSS apps (termux, Fdroid, etc).