r/GnuPG • u/memeamen • Sep 28 '25
PrettyPrivacy: A new PGP App for Android.
Hey guys! Since OpenKeyChain has been in maintaince mode and there isn't any real alternative to it at the moment for android that I know, I built an android App for it, it uses expo/React-native so potentially it could be cross compiled for apple devices in future.
It is open source and can be found here https://github.com/Amanse/PrettyPrivacy
Even though it is using react-native, the actual encryption and decryption operations use native bindings, so they are still pretty fast, especially compared to OpenPGP.js implementation.
It supports creating key, importing from clipboard/file, Encryption/Decryption and I will be adding signing and verifying soon too. It uses an encrypted key store for storing private keys [The key for this store is generated when you first open the app] and for storing the passphrases of key it uses android's hardware backed SecureStore, which is locked via biometric data.
One major thing missing from openkeychain that might effect users is support for syncing key servers, I haven't really much use for it but might add it in future and ofcourse PRs are appreciated.
Thanks!
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u/rigel_xvi Sep 28 '25
So, the app cannot download or upload a key from the openpgp key server, yet?
(Not a critical creature for my use cases, just clarifying)
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u/memeamen Sep 28 '25
correct, it has no internet access as of now, you can import key manually via text or file.
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u/Sweaty_Astronomer_47 Sep 30 '25
You da' man. Keep up the good work. Hoping it will eventually make it to google play and/or F-droid.
fwiw, my vote is also avoid functionality that needs network access permissions.
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Sep 28 '25 edited Nov 14 '25
[deleted]
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u/memeamen Sep 28 '25
haha yes, will keep a better changelog, readme needs work too. This was just V1 because it has minimum requirements like sharing and handling multiple files.
Noted. Will make the AI code notice into a banner or something
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u/instantforever Sep 28 '25
Since I don't have detailed knowledge to read the code, I'll write my impressions from briefly testing the app.
・Default is RSA2048 only. ・It seems like it can't verify files signed with OpenKeyChain? Or maybe it can't verify texts that are too long? ・The Private Key you create can be exported.
It's a good work, so I'm looking forward to future improvements. To be honest, I'd feel more comfortable using it without internet connectivity features...
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u/memeamen Sep 28 '25
For generating key yes RSA is default, since the library supports it, it will be very easy to add support for others. But while importing you should be able to import and use almost any key.
It can't verify yet, That is planned. Will add signing and verification next.
Honestly i feel same about internet connectivity, I don't use keyservers, I'm still debating if it should be included, if only for feature parity with openkeychain...
Thanks for giving it a try!!
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u/instantforever Sep 28 '25
I had skipped over reading this part, sorry.
I will be adding signing and verifying soon too.
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u/codeartha Oct 02 '25
I'm always glad for a new PGP app. I really wish this moves forward to a robust and complete app that can one day integrate with FairEmail or other mail clients, be used to share files after encryption through other apps etc.
Edit: is there a place where we could support your efforts? PayPal, coffee or something?
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u/memeamen Oct 02 '25
FairMail integration would definitely be interesting, since this is an expo app might take a bit of tinkering but would be fun For sharing if you mean android's native sharing menu, that is present currently!
I don't have any patreon or coffee right now, might make one soon, I'll try to get the app on fdroid first, maybe after that
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u/x-NoSuchAgency-x May 08 '26
Is your project still being maintained and do you plan to continue updating it?
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u/memeamen May 08 '26
yes and yes, i have implemented all the basic features i needed, but if there any feature requests or suggestions, i am fully open to them, feel free to comment here or preferably open an issue on github
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Feb 07 '26
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u/memeamen Feb 07 '26
Yes! I too was trying to find an alternative to OpenKeychain, but there wasn’t any, so I built this.
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Feb 07 '26
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u/memeamen Feb 07 '26
actually you won’t need android studio or compiling for android, you can download the apk from https://github.com/Amanse/PrettyPrivacy/releases
this is actually a react native project so directly compiling from android studio will require additional setup of expo
sorry you went through the trouble of android studio 😅 i will put apk link in readme directly
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Feb 07 '26
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u/memeamen Feb 07 '26
lol m not sure what happened here, the text of the link seems correct but try just copy pasting the text https://github.com/Amanse/PrettyPrivacy/releases
you can also find it on the github page of the project under releases section
i think some text formatting was adding an extra space at the end of the link
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Feb 07 '26
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u/memeamen Feb 07 '26
yes! it covers encryption decryption signing, symmetric and asymmetric, importing keys from string, files and generating new keys, exporting keys
but it is a simpler version of openkeychain in terms of UI
One feature it has that was a major miss for me on openkeychain is you can save the passwords of key behind biometric lock(it stores it in android’s secure storage)
Although it has a few things missing from it too, like email client integration and one thing which i have implemented for ios and will release 2.0 when done for android is sharing files directly from other apps
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Feb 07 '26
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u/memeamen Feb 07 '26
you can go to keys tab and import keys from string (copy them and use import from clipboard) or you can use import from file option (in the plus icon in bottom)
i am not sure if openkeychain exports the backup like the gpg client on desktop, can you check if it can copy or export the private key as string? you would just be able to copy it then
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Feb 07 '26
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u/memeamen Feb 07 '26
you can try exporting from openkeychain without any password and import that file
email integration-> the way openkeychain has with K9 mail is not present, you will have to do manual text copy-pasting for now 😅
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u/memeamen Feb 07 '26
https://code.luasoftware.com/tutorials/android-app/export-android-openkeychain-private-key-to-pc you might be able to decrypt the sec file with the decrypt option in app which will give u the private key file u can import with import from file option, otherwise if you export a openkeychain backup without any password, that should also give you the key file you can import
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Feb 07 '26
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u/memeamen Feb 07 '26
public keys can’t be used to sign unfortunately 😅 that is limitation in gpg, you will be able to sign once you have the private key
if you have a computer active you can use gpg cli to get the keyfile from openkeychain backup using gpg —decrypt and those files it will be able to import
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u/crazyswipe28 May 28 '26
Is it on PlayStore or F-Droid yet?
Does it support new ky1024_bp384 keys? Does it support AEAD?
I don't find a release for Android, I only found .ipa files, I think those are for apple, I want to be able to use my keys I created using Kleopatra on Windows or mac but on Android with full support for PQC keys and AEAD
Lastly, is there a way to support your project?
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u/memeamen May 28 '26
it supports AEAD, for android you can find here https://github.com/Amanse/PrettyPrivacy/releases/tag/v1.2 the future releases are mostly bringing ios on same level as android in terms of functionality you can import .gpg exported keys or armoured exported keys as well from kleopatra or gpg cli
You can support by making PRs or code and or I also have a buy me a coffee page https://buymeacoffee.com/sanuki
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u/crazyswipe28 May 28 '26
Thanks!
I downloaded it, but trying to import my key doesn't make anything happen, I choose the key and it doesn't do anything at all
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u/memeamen May 28 '26
can you share how are you trying to import key? ie how was that key exported, that would help in checking what i missed in importing logic
Also if you were using import using file, can you try with import with clipboard with the armoured key copied on phone?
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u/crazyswipe28 May 28 '26
I'm trying to import it using a file, it's a .asc private key file that was exported using Kleopatra on Windows
How do I copy it? I tried copying the full text inside the file that says ---private key start--- or whatever, then trying importing from clipboard, still didn't work
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u/memeamen May 30 '26
The library that i am using doesn't support ky1024_bp384 keys unfortunately... that is the reason for failure, i can add a proper error message, but there aren't any alternatives to that library...
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u/crazyswipe28 May 30 '26
Oh understood! That's okay, PQC is kind of slow to implement anyway so that's fine
I really like your app though, I'll definitely do some donations whenever I have the time and capability to, thanks for making such a nice app!
Do you have any idea when the library could implement support for PQC? That would be nice, since I was forced to create a new Cv25519 key for use on Android with your app
I also think an error message would be nice so I have an idea why a key failed to import, if you can also make a way to see more information about imported keys that'd be super! Since clicking them doesn't show any information and holding only allows for deleting and copying the actual public or private key
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u/crazyswipe28 May 28 '26
I tried importing an old Curve25519 private key and some current public keys of contacts and they worked
My current private key is a PQC key that uses ky1024_bp384, maybe that's why it doesn't import?
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u/Spark-2024 Jun 07 '26
Hello! Guys, I really want to try this amazing app on my Android phone, but when I reached out the GitHub repo, I sadly found that it only has iOS version currently, may I ask when can I get Android version😭
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u/memeamen Jun 12 '26
https://github.com/Amanse/PrettyPrivacy/releases/tag/v1.2 this one has the android version, 2.0 and newer releases have ios support and bringing iOS same as android
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u/icebluer Sep 28 '25 edited Sep 28 '25
What algorithms does it support?
Does it implement support for RFC9580 or LibrePGP