How to Create an App Password for Yandex Mail

If Yandex Mail rejects a correct-looking IMAP or SMTP setup with an authentication error, the cause is almost always the password field. Yandex does not let third-party clients sign in with your normal account password once two-factor authentication is on — it requires a separate app password generated for that one client.

This walks through generating one, where the option hides when it doesn't appear, and what to do when the client still won't connect after you've pasted it in.

Before you start#

Two things have to be true before Yandex will show you the app password screen at all.

• Two-factor authentication (2FA) must be enabled on the Yandex account. App passwords exist specifically as the workaround for clients that can't handle a 2FA prompt, so Yandex hides the option until 2FA is on.
• You need the account's normal login credentials at hand once, to get into the security settings page.
• Have the client's IMAP/SMTP fields open in another window — you'll copy the generated password straight across, since Yandex only shows it once.

Steps#

1. 1

   Turn on two-factor authentication, if it isn't already

   Sign in at passport.yandex.com (or id.yandex.com, depending on your account region), go to Security, and enable two-step verification via the Yandex Key app or SMS. Skip this if 2FA is already active.

2. 2

   Open the app passwords screen

   From Security, find "App passwords" (sometimes labeled "Passwords for apps"). This link only appears once 2FA is confirmed on — if you don't see it, that's the reason.

3. 3

   Choose Mail as the app type

   Yandex asks what kind of app the password is for: Mail, Calendar, or a general option. Pick Mail specifically — it scopes the password to IMAP/SMTP/POP3 access only.

4. 4

   Name it and generate

   Give it a name you'll recognize later, like "MacBook Mail" or "iPhone client" — you'll want this when you're deciding what to revoke down the line. Yandex then generates a 16-character password.

5. 5

   Copy it immediately

   This password is shown exactly once. Copy it now, before closing the dialog — Yandex will not display it again, and if you lose it the only fix is generating a new one.

6. 6

   Paste it into your email client

   In your client's account setup, use the same username you'd normally log in with, and paste the app password into the password field — not your regular Yandex password. Leave the IMAP/SMTP host and port settings as your client's Yandex preset expects.

Platform differences#

The app password itself is identical everywhere — the differences are in how each client's setup screen labels the fields, and how much of the connection it auto-fills.

What to do when it doesn't work#

Most failures after generating an app password come down to one of a handful of causes, not a broken client.

• You pasted the wrong password. If autofill grabbed your saved Yandex login password instead of the app password, the client will show an authentication error that looks identical to a wrong-password error. Delete the account and re-enter it manually.
• The app password was for the wrong scope. If you generated a Calendar app password by mistake, it won't authenticate IMAP/SMTP. Go back and generate one scoped to Mail specifically.
• IMAP access is disabled account-wide. Check Yandex Mail's own Settings → "Email clients" (or "Mail from other apps") and confirm IMAP access is switched on — some accounts, especially ones set up a long time ago, have it off by default.
• The password was revoked or expired. Changing your main Yandex password, disabling and re-enabling 2FA, or manually revoking it from the App passwords list all invalidate it immediately — you'll need to generate a fresh one.
• Wrong port or encryption setting. Yandex requires SSL/TLS on both ports (993 for IMAP, 465 for SMTP) — STARTTLS on the standard unencrypted ports won't authenticate.

A faster way to manage this across every account#

Generating one app password for one client is a two-minute job. It stops being trivial once you're doing it for Yandex, Gmail, and two other providers, across a phone, a laptop, and a shared desktop — and remembering which app password belongs to which device when one of them needs revoking.

AI Emaily connects to Yandex Mail and your other accounts over standard IMAP, using the same app-password flow described above, and then keeps every inbox in one triage view instead of one tab per provider. It doesn't touch how Yandex issues credentials — the security model here is entirely Yandex's, and the app-password step above is unchanged whether you connect one client or several.

We build AI Emaily. If you're already juggling app passwords across providers, connecting them once through app.aiemaily.com — or comparing plans on the pricing page first — is worth five minutes.