Your app-specific password

What an app-specific password is

An app-specific password is a password Apple generates for one outside app. Mail apps such as Outlook and Thunderbird use the same thing to reach iCloud Mail. It works only for mail, calendar and contacts, not for signing in to your Apple Account, changing settings or buying anything. Apple only issues them to accounts with two-factor authentication turned on.

Think of it as a spare key that opens only the mailroom, which you can cancel without changing your locks.

Make one for Cloud Butler

1. Go to account.apple.com and sign in with your Apple Account.
2. Open Sign-In and Security, then App-Specific Passwords.
3. Click Generate an app-specific password (or the + button).
4. Type a label you'll recognize later, such as Cloud Butler, and confirm. Apple may ask for your Apple Account password again.
5. Apple shows a password like abcd-efgh-ijkl-mnop. Copy it and paste it into the Cloud Butler sign-in page. Apple won't show it again; if you lose it, just make a new one.

Steps follow Apple's article on app-specific passwords, which has the current menu names.

Revoke access

Do both steps. The first one is the one that matters most, because it stops Cloud Butler at Apple's end whatever happens anywhere else.

1. At Apple (stops everything at once): go to account.apple.com → Sign-In and Security → App-Specific Passwords, find the Cloud Butler password and select the Remove button next to it. (Revoke All removes every app-specific password on your account, which also signs out your other mail apps.) From that moment Cloud Butler can no longer read or send anything in your iCloud, even through a connection that is still listed in your AI app.
2. In your AI app: remove the Cloud Butler connector, or click Disconnect on it.
   • Claude: Customize → Connectors → Cloud Butler → Disconnect or Remove.
   • ChatGPT: Settings → Apps → Cloud Butler → Disconnect or Delete.
3. If you paired a device with the Cloud Butler app (when it is available): unpair it in the app, or ask your agent "remove my paired device", which runs device_remove. See devices.

After you revoke, your agent gets a clear error such as "Apple did not accept the app-specific password" instead of your data. To have Cloud Butler delete what it stores about you (your encrypted sign-in and your plan record), write to us from Support.

Changing or resetting your Apple Account password also removes every app-specific password on the account, so Cloud Butler stops then too and you'd need to make a new one to reconnect.

Replace the password

If you think the password was seen by someone else, or you want a fresh one:

1. Revoke the old Cloud Butler password at account.apple.com (above).
2. Make a new one.
3. In your AI app, disconnect Cloud Butler and connect again, entering the new password on the Cloud Butler page.

Questions

Can Cloud Butler see my Apple ID password?

No. The public Cloud Butler service never asks for it. Your AI app doesn't see your app-specific password either: it only gets a short-lived access token from Cloud Butler.

Can someone with my app-specific password take over my Apple Account?

No. It can't sign in to account.apple.com, change your Apple Account or approve purchases. It can read and send mail and change calendars and contacts, which is why you should revoke it if you think it leaked.

Does Cloud Butler need a separate password for each AI app?

It doesn't have to, but it's a good habit: make one password per app you connect (for example Cloud Butler Claude and Cloud Butler ChatGPT). Then you can cut one off without touching the other.

How many can I have?

Apple allows up to 25 active app-specific passwords per account.

Is two-factor authentication required?

Yes, by Apple. Without it, Apple doesn't offer app-specific passwords.