How to protect a URL with a Basic Authentication password

First, create a .htaccess file in the directory you wish to protect with a password:
This will typically be the document root of your application /home/myaccount/apps/application/.

AuthUserFile /home/myaccount/.htpasswd
AuthName "Title_of_the_login screen"
AuthType Basic
Require valid-user

Here the path to the AuthUserFile is important, because in this file we are going to store the different users and their encrypted passwords. At AuthUserFile, make sure you enter the absolute path to your .htpasswd file.

You can then create the first user using the htpasswd command via SSH:

htpasswd -b -c /home/myaccount/.htpasswd username

When adding additional users later, simply leave out the -c flag (create new file)

htpasswd -b /home/myaccount/.htpasswd username