Some communications I send require additional confidentiality, also known as encryptionwhich most Android The email client could not send. Encryption ensures emails I send to specific recipients can only be read by people who have the right key to decrypt the email content.
You’ll need a third-party app to get this level of security on Android. For encryption in email, you will need another email client because Gmail won’t cut it. I love Thunderbird on Android because it is an outstanding email client, works with PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) and is an open source application.
Also: Thunderbird email app is finally available on Android and it was worth the wait
The app I choose for encryption on Android is OpenKeychain. This tool makes it easy to add encryption to Android.
Let me show you how it works.
Install OpenKeychain
What you will need: The only thing you need is an Android device (phone or tablet) and a valid one Google account. That’s it. Let’s do some coding magic.
Sign in to your phone or tablet and open the Google Play Store app.
Enter OpenKeychain in the search field. When this item appears, tap it and then tap Install to add the app to your device.
Installing OpenKeychain on Android is as simple as one tap.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Generate your first key
The next step is to generate your first key. Here’s how.
1. Open the newly installed application
Swipe up on the home screen to open the App Drawer. Scroll down until you find OpenKeychain and tap the launcher.
2. Generate your key
In the main window, click Generate my key. You will then be asked to go through a simple wizard that will help you:
- Enter your name (or nickname)
- Add email for key
- Option to enable the key to be accessible through the key server
Once you’ve completed the steps above, tap Generate Key at the bottom right.
You can generate keys and security tokens — and even import keys from files.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
One of the cool things about OpenKeychain is that you can easily share your public key (remember that a key is a pair with a private key and a public key). Once you’ve created the key, you can tap on that entry, where you’ll see share and copy options.
Also: 3 ways to stop Android apps from running in the background – and why I always do it
In order for someone else to send you an encrypted email, they will have to send you their public key; To send someone an encrypted email, you will have to send them your public key.
You can share your key with others so they can send you encrypted messages.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
With OpenKeychain, you can easily import a key (from a file) by tapping the + button on the main page and pressing “Import from file”.
To import the recipient’s key, tap “Import from file”.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Add encryption to Thunderbird for Android
Thunderbird isn’t the only Android email client that supports encryption, but it’s the one I use, so we’ll work with that. You can install Thunderbird for Android from Google Play Store.
1. Open Thunderbird settings
Once you’ve installed Thunderbird and added your email account, tap the menu button in the upper left corner and then tap the gear icon at the bottom of the sidebar. From the list of email accounts, tap the account you want to encrypt.
The gear icon appears at the bottom of the Thunderbird sidebar.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
2. Navigate to “End-to-end encryption”
At the bottom of the “Account settings” page, tap “End-to-end encryption.”
3. Enable OpenPGP support
On the “End-to-end encryption” page, make sure “Enable OpenPGP support” is enabled by tapping the On/Off slider until it is in the On position.
Make sure you’re enabling OpenPGP support for the correct email account.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
4. Choose your key
Under Enable, tap the “Use key” line and then, when prompted, select the key you want to use for encryption (this will be the key you created in OpenKeychain).
Tap “Use Key” to select the key you want to use.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Return to the main Thunderbird window once you’ve added PGP support. Hopefully at this point you have imported the PGP key from the recipient who will receive an encrypted email from you. Tap the Compose button and then tap the menu button at the top right (three vertical dots).
From that menu, tap Enable Encryption. Once you’ve done that, enter the recipient’s email address (to which you added the PGP key) and the lock icon will turn green, which means the email is encrypted. You can now enter your email and send it.
Also: 3 ways to stop Android apps from running in the background – and why I always do it
Remember that the recipient’s email client must also support encryption. Otherwise, they will have to save the encrypted attachment and decrypt it manually.
And that’s it — you’ve just added encryption to Android for an extra layer of security.
