On October 1st, Apple increased the security of iCloud accounts by adding app-specific passwords, a feature of two-step verification that allow you to sign in to iCloud securely when you use third party apps.
The feature allows you to sign in securely to your iCloud account while using third-party apps such as Microsoft Outlook that don’t support two-step verification.
How to generate app-specific passwords
- To generate the app-specific password you need to visit the My Apple ID website.
- Select Manage your Apple ID and sign in.
- Click on the Password and Security option from the menu on the left-hand side.
- Then click on Generate an App-Specific Password.
- Enter a label for the app-specific password, and click Generate.
- You can enter or paste this app-specific password into the password field of the app you would like to use with iCloud.
How to manage app-specific passwords
You can create up to 25 app-specific passwords for your iCloud account. If you’re running out of app-specific passwords then you can revoke passwords individually or all at once by following these steps. You may also want to revoke the password if you believe that your device where you’re using the iCloud account is compromised.
- Visit the My Apple ID website.
- Select Manage your Apple ID and sign in.
- Click on the Password and Security option from the menu on the left-hand side.
- Select View History.
- Click Revoke next to a password to revoke only that password, or click Revoke All to revoke all passwords.
Revoking the app-specific password will result in the app using the password to be signed out of the iCloud account. You will have to generate the app-specific password again to sign-in.
It is also important to note that when you reset your primary Apple ID password, all the app-specific passwords will also be revoked automatically to protect the security of your account, and you will have to regenerate the app-specific passwords for the third-party apps that don’t support two-step verification.
As always, let me know how it goes, and feel free to drop me a line if you’ve any questions.
