App-Specific Passwords

Apparently, as from this Thursday, it will no longer be possible to use iCloud on non-Apple devices without an App-Specific Password.

As far as I can see, this requires the use of two-factor authentication with our Apple IDs.

As I cannot use two-factor authentication due to not receiving any phone signal at Home, this suggests I will no longer be able to access my iCloud documents from anything other than a Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc.

I suppose this is just Apple having a hissy fit due to the way that people like Amazon have now made accessing their cloud data on the Mac so difficult - to do so, you have to enter your Amazon ID and password when prompted, which fails to login. This generates an email, which includes a code which you have to use instead of your password. Nothing on the Amazon Cloud data Applet says anything about that. You just have to enter the correct details and wait for the email once that fails - which it does every time. A few days later, it forgets your details and you start all over again.

Is there any way to use these app-specific passwords without setting two-factor authentication on your Apple ID?

Failing that, is there a third-party Cloud storage solution (preferably free) which allows the storage of data and the ability to access that data from both Apple and non-Apple devices please? MS OneDrive or DropBox perhaps?

Oddly enough, I didn't have the problem with passwords and emails when I just tried using the Amazon Cloud App on my iPhone, even though I do with my iMac.

We will see what happens on Thursday

For anyone coming across this Thread and being puzzled by the changes mentioned by member Nighthawk4, here's a link to an article explaining the background:

http://www.kirkville.com/apple-makes-step-toward-requiring-two-factor-authentication-for-icloud/

Ian

Exactly. That makes my point quite well, apart from the fact I don't have any choice about not using two-factor authentication due to my lack of phone signal at Home.

Incidentally, I use 2-factor authentication with Dropbox, my work Gmail account and lots of games (WOW, GW2, FF XIV, etc.).

Each of these uses an app that generates a code that is time-synced to the back end system, so the current code shown on the App (which lasts for one minute) exactly matches what their system is expecting. No phone signal is required, no emails or text messages. It relies only on my device having the correct time.

These would be fine if Apple used them. There is an industry standard App, plus of course MS have their own, plus each game seems to write their own App.

The point is I don't need a phone signal with these. With the Apple system I do