Password confusion. iCloud vs Apple ID

Are our iCloud passwords and Apple ID passwords one in the same? On my devices they are. Is it possible to change one and not the other.
On my Mac (Mac OS) when I attempt to change my iCloud password under system preferences|iCloud I am offered to change my Apple ID.

Can the two passwords be different? Should they be different?

THanks
Monty

iCloud is the service and Apple ID is your login to that service along with other things like the iTunes App Store, Mac App Store and so on.

Hi Monty

A tiny bit of history. Years ago, what we call iCloud Noe started out as Mac.com then me.com and thence on to iCloud.com.

Folks like me started the beginning of this process and so that for me [email protected] was my username and had a password to go with it. This evolved to [email protected] with its own password. Totally separate from my Apple ID

For the great majority of more recent Apple users, their Apple ID and iCloud accounts are basically the same. As Ashwin said, the Apple ID with email as username and a password is the gateway to iCloud.

But for some of us, we have two accounts: Apple ID with an email and password plus an iCloud with [email protected] as the username and a different password.

It looks like your Apple ID is the the same as your iCloud ID. No problem. Bottom line. They can be the same (most people) or entirety different (like me).

Hope some of that makes sense.

Ian

Along the lines of what Ian said, for those of us who never got onto the Mac.Com or Me.Com bandwagon..we ended up using our existing email address as our Apple ID, thus my @gmail.com is my email for the Apple ID. When iCloud came around, I ended up with an @icloud.com and @me.com email addresses as well to boot and perhaps I could sign into my Apple ID using any of those but haven't tried. So in my case my Apple ID is my gmail email address and my iCloud email address is different..

Thanks everyone.
With the latest news about Apple hackers, there have been recommendations to change iCloud passwords. That is what generated my question.
Once again,
Thanks
Monty

Along with changing your password, you might want to enable 2FA..

Raz0rEdge said:

Along with changing your password, you might want to enable 2FA..

Click to expand...

Done deal long ago!