Thanks!

That means I'm free! Now hopefully my PC doesn't get infected with a nasty virus or something...lol

(Rather late) UPDATE: I was able to successfully ACCESS my funds!
Thanks guys, I can't thank you enough!

I was able to access the funds through the seed and then disable 2FA and send the money to an exchange.

Thanks, man!
I'm pretty sure I have the right seed, as I even wrote the version number in my notes, but do you think I can try once to see if it's the right seed and if that fails then try to extract the 16-character GA data? Or trying to recover the wallet from the seed would mess things up?

Yeah, I intend to run Electrum from my Debian 12 daily driver, which I believe is pretty secure.
I wish I could just use apt to get it on Linux, but apparently it's an appimage. I'll make sure it's the right URL (https://electrum.org/), spend the UTXOs into an exchange address and then convert into fiat immediately.
My main stash is on Bitcoin Core and offline copied across several USB thumbdrives. In hindsight, I wish I had never used Electrum. Don't even remember why I didn't consolidate everything into Bitcoin Core because it was so long ago, but I wish I had.

Interesting!
I though you needed to place the wallet.dat file AND then provide the seed, but apparently I only need the seed? Is this the case?

Thanks! That's good.

From what I gather, Google just deletes your old codes when you update, unless maybe if you decide to sign in using a Google Account.
I'll try upgrading and signing in with a Google Account (might not work since GA wasn't originally linked to any Google accounts to begin with),
and if that doesn't work I'll try installing using the seed.

I just pray to good I have the right seed...

So it looks like I need the enter the seed no matter what, right? That sucks, but what choice do I have?

Just to be 100% sure (sorry if it's a stupid question), but when you say download the wallet to a new phone, this can also be done on a laptop right?
I can install Electrum to my computer, verify the signature, and then restore the wallet via seed there.

Yes, the Google Authenticator 2FA app.
From what I gather, the logo has changed and the phone wants me to update the app, but it's still the same old phone and the app is the same.

Oh, I see.

I don't have the 16 characters, but the thing, I'm still using the same phone. It's just that I'm running iOS 15.8 and the phone wants me to update the app. Should I just go ahead and update and see if the codes are still there?

[/quote]
Not unfortunately because it is not secure and not recommended. Best is to backup the backup code offline in two or the different locations.
[/quote]
Yeah, I don't like online storage. That's why I write everything down on a piece of paper by my desk. The problem is it's been such a long time I don't remember everything  and I'm scared of messing up and losing my life savings.

Hmm, looking at my old notes here I wrote down a 12-word combination under the title 'ELECTRUM', so I'm pretty sure that's the seed, but you say 16 secret characters? Not words?

What do you think will happen if I update Google Authenticator?

Thanks! I will!

So here's the deal folks: I haven't touched my wallets in approx. 7 years and now I need to sell some BTC to pay medical bills and buy a piece of rural land.

Issue is my phone is old (Iphone 7) and Google Authenticator (which is linked to the electrum wallet for 2FA purposes) has stopped working.
It say I need to upgrade, but something tells me that when I do I'll lose all my previous information and will therefore forever lose access to my funds.
So the question is: is it safe to upgrade the app?

Worst case scenario, I think I still have the seed, so I can disable 2FA altogether and move the money, but I'm not 100% sure on this front here, either.
I wrote A seed down and I THINK it's for this wallet, but I'm not 100% sure.

Please help, as it's a good chunk of money we're talking about and I don't make much money from my job. This is a matter of life and death for me.