App password for Gmail
A separate key for one app that you can revoke any time without changing your real password. Mail Housekeeper never asks for your real password.
For a personal @gmail.com address. App passwords exist only when 2-Step Verification is on.
- Open myaccount.google.com/security and make sure 2-Step Verification is on. If it is off, turn it on first.Screenshot: 2-Step Verification on
- Open myaccount.google.com/apppasswords.Screenshot: the App passwords page
- Type a name, Mail Housekeeper, and tap Create.
- Copy the 16-character password. The spaces do not matter.Screenshot: the generated password
- Paste it into Mail Housekeeper with your Gmail address and tap Test and connect.
Good to know
- IMAP is on by default on personal Gmail accounts now, so there is nothing else to switch on.
- The app-passwords page is hidden when 2-Step Verification uses only security keys, or when Advanced Protection is on.
- A work or school account (Google Workspace) may have app passwords turned off by the administrator. If the page says so, ask your admin; we cannot switch it on for you.
Why an app password?
It is a separate key for one app that you can revoke any time without changing your real password. We never ask for your real password.
Your app password is stored encrypted (AES-256-GCM) and used only to read mail headers and move mail between folders inside your own mailbox: into Housekeeper hold when you clear a company, and on Yahoo and AOL into Housekeeper keep while a deep clean reaches older mail (that one is always brought back). Delete the app password at your provider and our access ends that instant.