Is It safe to use the same password for Apple ID, iCloud, and Mac Mail?

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Level 1

7 points

Is It safe to use the same password for Apple ID, iCloud, and Mac Mail?

I'm trying to reset my email password because info from an AT&T data breach indicates that password has been found on the dark web. I cannot tell, from the zillion questions here, what the truth is: Is my Apple ID password = my iCloud password = my Mac Mail password? Or not? I also cannot find an actual answer from Apple as to how to change this password (or those 3 passwords, if they are not all the same, which I think they are). There are too many unreliable answers in the forum, probably based on too many now-obsolete OS versions. All I want to do is change the **** password. I changed it in the Passwords app on my MacBook Pro - following instructions from an official Apple support page - and the only thing that actually changed was what is in my Password list. The new password was NOT changed at whatever central server runs Apple ID or iCloud. This is like playing that street-hustle shell game where everything is shuffled really fast to confuse you - once you think you know what is what, Apple changes it, or makes it more complicated, and then you can't even find answers online because the forums are full of erroneous or outdated info.

[Re-Titled By Moderator]

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.7

Posted on May 6, 2024 10:32 PM

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Answer 1

May 8, 2024 8:02 AM in response to freewayflyer

freewayflyer wrote:

I'm trying to reset my email password because info from an AT&T data breach indicates that password has been found on the dark web. I cannot tell, from the zillion questions here, what the truth is: Is my Apple ID password = my iCloud password = my Mac Mail password?

Your Apple ID password is the same as your iCloud password. If the email you're using is your icloud.com address, that password is the same. If you're using some other email address, no, it should be different (unless you're reusing passwords, always a bad idea).

Or not? I also cannot find an actual answer from Apple as to how to change this password (or those 3 passwords, if they are not all the same, which I think they are).

Here are Apple's official instructions for changing your Apple ID password:

Change your Apple ID password - Apple Support

You should also make sure that Two-Factor Authentication is enabled.

Two-factor authentication for Apple ID - Apple Support

I changed it in the Passwords app on my MacBook Pro - following instructions from an official Apple support page - and the only thing that actually changed was what is in my Password list.

The Passwords app is just a record of passwords. Changing passwords there doesn't change them anywhere else.

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Answer 2

freewayflyer Author

Level 1

7 points

May 6, 2024 10:36 PM in response to freewayflyer

To make matters worse, when I log-in to my Apple ID and click the "passwords" rectangle, I get a page that tells me I can't change it from the web and have to "pick one of my devices" (of which I have many). So I picked one (the MacBook I was on at the time, reading that Apple ID web page) and used the Password app as instructed, which of course did not change the password in the system, only on that device (as detailed above). I will now try to do this through the back-end of iTunes, in case that is still the magic door into the Apple ID World of Mystery & Frustration.

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