diff --git a/humbug/settings.py b/humbug/settings.py
index 9a5536cc90..de1a1236c8 100644
--- a/humbug/settings.py
+++ b/humbug/settings.py
@@ -123,9 +123,8 @@ if DEPLOYED:
 # cookie will slow down some attackers.
 CSRF_COOKIE_PATH = '/;HttpOnly'
 
-# Used just for generating initial passwords and API keys.
+# Used just for generating initial passwords (only used in testing environments).
 INITIAL_PASSWORD_SALT = 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
-INITIAL_API_KEY_SALT  = 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
 
 # A shared secret, used to authenticate different parts of the app to each other.
 # FIXME: store this password more securely
diff --git a/zephyr/lib/bulk_create.py b/zephyr/lib/bulk_create.py
index 51395975ed..e052502b96 100644
--- a/zephyr/lib/bulk_create.py
+++ b/zephyr/lib/bulk_create.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 from django.conf import settings
 
-from zephyr.lib.initial_password import initial_password, initial_api_key
+from zephyr.lib.initial_password import initial_password
 from zephyr.models import Realm, Stream, UserProfile, Huddle, \
     Subscription, Recipient, Client, Message, \
     get_huddle_hash
diff --git a/zephyr/lib/create_user.py b/zephyr/lib/create_user.py
index bacbc404be..430e5c155a 100644
--- a/zephyr/lib/create_user.py
+++ b/zephyr/lib/create_user.py
@@ -3,11 +3,11 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib.auth.models import UserManager
 from django.utils import timezone
-from zephyr.lib.initial_password import initial_api_key
 from zephyr.models import UserProfile, Recipient, Subscription
 import base64
 import hashlib
 import simplejson
+import random
 
 # The ordered list of onboarding steps we want new users to complete. If the
 # steps are changed here, they must also be changed in onboarding.js.
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ def create_user_profile(realm, email, password, active, bot, full_name, short_na
     else:
         user_profile.set_password(password)
 
-    user_profile.api_key = initial_api_key(email)
+    # Generate a new, random API key
+    user_profile.api_key = base64.b64encode(hashlib.sha256( str(random.getrandbits(256))).digest())[0:32]
     return user_profile
 
 def create_user(email, password, realm, full_name, short_name,
diff --git a/zephyr/lib/initial_password.py b/zephyr/lib/initial_password.py
index 560a9a2cfe..56c8091167 100644
--- a/zephyr/lib/initial_password.py
+++ b/zephyr/lib/initial_password.py
@@ -6,16 +6,8 @@ import hashlib
 import base64
 
 def initial_password(email):
-
     """Given an email address, returns the initial password for that account, as
        created by populate_db."""
 
     digest = hashlib.sha256(settings.INITIAL_PASSWORD_SALT + email).digest()
     return base64.b64encode(digest)[:16]
-
-def initial_api_key(email):
-
-    """Given an email address, returns the initial API key for that account"""
-
-    digest = hashlib.sha256(settings.INITIAL_API_KEY_SALT + email).digest()
-    return base64.b16encode(digest)[:32].lower()
diff --git a/zephyr/management/commands/print_initial_password.py b/zephyr/management/commands/print_initial_password.py
index 340ada7bcc..9908ffa976 100644
--- a/zephyr/management/commands/print_initial_password.py
+++ b/zephyr/management/commands/print_initial_password.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
-from zephyr.lib.initial_password import initial_password, initial_api_key
+from zephyr.lib.initial_password import initial_password
+from zephyr.models import get_user_profile_by_email
 
 class Command(BaseCommand):
     help = "Print the initial password and API key for accounts as created by populate_db"
@@ -14,4 +15,4 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
             if '@' not in email:
                 print 'ERROR: %s does not look like an email address' % (email,)
                 continue
-            print self.fmt % (email, initial_password(email), initial_api_key(email))
+            print self.fmt % (email, initial_password(email), get_user_profile_by_email(email).api_key)
diff --git a/zephyr/tests.py b/zephyr/tests.py
index 51efceec26..da588591b4 100644
--- a/zephyr/tests.py
+++ b/zephyr/tests.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ from zephyr.models import Message, UserProfile, Stream, Recipient, Subscription,
     PreregistrationUser, UserMessage
 from zephyr.tornadoviews import json_get_updates, api_get_messages
 from zephyr.decorator import RespondAsynchronously, RequestVariableConversionError
-from zephyr.lib.initial_password import initial_password, initial_api_key
+from zephyr.lib.initial_password import initial_password
 from zephyr.lib.actions import do_send_message, gather_subscriptions, \
     create_stream_if_needed, do_add_subscription
 from zephyr.lib.bugdown import convert, emoji_list
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ class AuthedTestCase(TestCase):
                                  'terms': True})
 
     def get_api_key(self, email):
-        return initial_api_key(email)
+        return self.get_user_profile(email).api_key
 
     def get_user_profile(self, email):
         """