App password for iCloud Mail
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.
Apple calls these app-specific passwords. Two-factor authentication must be on for your Apple Account, which it is for almost everyone.
- Open account.apple.com (your Apple Account) and sign in.Screenshot: the Apple Account page
- Go to Sign-In and Security, then App-Specific Passwords.Screenshot: App-Specific Passwords
- Tap the + and name it Mail Housekeeper.
- Copy the password. It looks like xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx.Screenshot: the generated password
- Paste it into Mail Housekeeper with your @icloud.com or @me.com address and tap Test and connect.
Good to know
- Two-factor authentication has to be on for the Apple Account. If it is off, turn it on in Settings on your iPhone first.
- Revoke it any time from the same App-Specific Passwords page.
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.