App-specific passwords are limited to just a couple of services, so somebody stealing one of them can cause a lot less damage than if they got the actual Google

App-specific passwords are limited to just a couple of services, so somebody stealing one of them can cause a lot less damage than if they got the actual Google password. The app-specific passwords are going to be unique rather than something you've reused on dozens of services, so the password being stolen won't be automatically pivoted to compromising your other accounts. Finally, their use can be audited, and each app-specific password can be revoked independently of each other and of the credentials giving full access to the account.