Manage Yahoo! Mail App Passwords for IMAP, POP Access

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by Heinz Tschabitscher
An independent writer who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
Updated September 19, 2018

You can take two steps -- keying in your password and then entering a code received on your mobile phone -- to log on to your Yahoo! Mail account; can the email program on that very phone do that, though, or the program you use for email on the desktop?

Will 2-Step Security Lock Your Email Programs Out of Your Yahoo! Mail?

If you use IMAP or POP to connect your Yahoo! Mail account to an email program, 2-step authentication will prevent the email program to log on with just the password, just like it should for a maximum of security. Similarly, if you use on-demand passwords to log on to Yahoo! Mail, your email program will have little luck using these to stay signed into your account.

That does not mean you are out of luck accessing Yahoo! Mail in an email client, or that you have to disable 2-step authentication and on-demand passwords altogether, forfeiting the security they offer.

2-Step Authentication and Simple, Random Passwords

You can have Yahoo! Mail create random (read: really hard to guess) passwords instead, one for each program that you want to use with your email account. When you stop using a program or, say, no longer trust a service for which created a password, you can revoke that password and stop it from working.

Create Application Passwords with Yahoo! Mail 2-Step Verification

To create a new password to log in to Yahoo! Mail via IMAP or POP when 2-step authentication is enabled for your account:

  1. Position the mouse cursor over your name in the top Yahoo! Mail navigation bar.

  2. Select Account Info on the sheet that appears.

  3. Open the Account security category.

  4. Select Manage app passwords or Generate app password under Account security.

  5. Select the software for which you are generating a password under Select your app.

    • If the application is not listed:
      • Choose Other App from the list.
      • Type the name (and platform maybe) of the program over Enter custom name.

  6. Click Generate.


  7. Make sure you copy and input the application password listed under App passwords at once.

    • You cannot see the password again.

  8. Click Done.

Delete and Revoke an Application Password with Yahoo! Mail 2-Step Verification

To make sure an application password is no longer working to log in to your Yahoo! Mail account (after you have stopped using an application, for example):

  1. Move the mouse cursor to your name near Yahoo! Mail's top right corner.

  2. Select Account Info.

  3. Go to the Account security category on the left.

  4. Now click Manage app passwords under Account security.

  5. Click the trash can icon next to the application password you want to delete.