Connecting iCloud Mail (with an app-specific password)

iCloud Mail connects to PitchBrand over IMAP using an Apple app-specific password. Apple requires two-factor authentication on your Apple Account before you can generate one, and that's already on for most iCloud users by default. The setup is the same whether your email ends in @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com. iCloud+ Custom Email Domain has one extra wrinkle covered at the bottom of this page.

Step 1: Generate an app-specific password

1. Open account.apple.com and sign in with your Apple Account.
2. Go to Sign-In and Security.
3. Choose App-Specific Passwords, then Generate an app-specific password.
4. Give it a label like PitchBrand and click Create.
5. Apple shows a password in the format xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx. Copy it now — it's only shown once.

Note: If you don't see the App-Specific Passwords option, your Apple Account isn't on two-factor authentication yet. Apple requires 2FA for app-specific passwords — you'll need to enable it first under the same Sign-In and Security page.

Step 2: Connect in PitchBrand

1. In PitchBrand, open Settings > Mailbox and choose Other Email (IMAP).
2. On the secure form, enter:
   • Email address — your full iCloud address (e.g. yourname@icloud.com)
   • Password — the app-specific password from Apple (the dashes are fine to include)
   • IMAP server — imap.mail.me.com
   • IMAP port — 993
   • IMAP encryption — SSL/TLS
   • SMTP server — smtp.mail.me.com
   • SMTP port — 587
   • SMTP encryption — STARTTLS
3. Submit. PitchBrand will sync your mailbox and show a green Connected badge.

If you have an iCloud+ Custom Email Domain

iCloud+ lets you receive mail at a domain you own (like you@yourname.com), routed through iCloud. Apple's IMAP servers don't accept your custom domain as the username — you have to authenticate with your primary @icloud.com / @me.com / @mac.com address, even though your outgoing mail will appear to come from your custom domain.

• Email address / Username — use your primary Apple Account email (the @icloud.com one), not your custom domain.
• Server settings, port, and encryption are the same as above.
• Once connected, mail you send through PitchBrand will use whichever address you've set as your default in iCloud Mail's web settings. To set this, open iCloud.com/mail, go to Preferences > Composing, and pick your custom domain as the default From address.

Things to know about Apple app-specific passwords

• You can have up to 25 active app-specific passwords. Use a unique one for PitchBrand so you can revoke just that one later.
• Changing your main Apple Account password revokes all app-specific passwords automatically. If you reset your Apple password, you'll need to generate a new app-specific password and reconnect in PitchBrand.
• To revoke PitchBrand's access, go back to account.apple.com > Sign-In and Security > App-Specific Passwords and remove the one labeled "PitchBrand."

If the connection fails

• "Invalid credentials" — re-check the password. Apple's app-specific passwords are case-sensitive and the dashes are fine but the spaces aren't. If you recently changed your Apple Account password, your old app-specific password is now invalid — generate a new one.
• "Cannot connect to server" — confirm the SMTP encryption is STARTTLS, not SSL. iCloud uses port 587 with STARTTLS for outgoing mail.
• iCloud+ Custom Domain not sending — make sure you used your @icloud.com address as the IMAP username. The custom domain is only an alias for sending and receiving, not a login.