App-specific passwords are single-use passwords for your Apple ID that let you sign in to your account and securely access the information you store in iCloud from a third-party app. For example, use app-specific passwords with Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or other mail, contacts, and calendar services not provided by Apple. App-specific passwords maintain a high level of security and help ensure your Apple ID password won’t be collected or stored by any third-party apps you use.
To generate and use app-specific passwords, your Apple ID must be protected with two-factor authentication.
You also need an app-specific password for your devices that use Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 and earlier or iOS 5 and earlier. If you don’t have devices that can be updated to iOS 9 or OS X El Capitan, you can set up two-step verification and generate app-specific passwords.
How to generate an app-specific password
- Sign in to your Apple ID account page.
- In the Security section, click Generate Password below App-Specific Passwords.
- Follow the steps on your screen.
After you generate your app-specific password, enter or paste it into the password field of the app as you would normally.
How to manage app-specific passwords
You can have up to 25 active app-specific passwords at any given time. If you need to, you can revoke passwords individually or all at once.
- Sign in to your Apple ID account page.
- In the Security section, click Edit.
- In the App Specific Passwords section, click View History.
- Click
next to a password you want to delete, or Revoke All.
After you revoke a password, the app using that password will be signed out of your account until you generate a new password and sign in again.
Any time you change or reset your primary Apple ID password, all of your app-specific passwords are revoked automatically to protect the security of your account. You'll need to generate new app-specific passwords for any apps that you want to continue using.