Flowcrypt Is the Simplest PGP Encryption for Gmail

As far as we know, OpenPGP is truly the simplest encryption. We created FlowCrypt using it because privacy is such a basic thing that it shouldn’t require any effort whatsoever. End-to-end encryption should be the norm. We all wish Google just did this. Unfortunately, adding an advanced privacy level wasn’t compatible with their business model when we started working on our solution. We’ve been waiting for years for someone to create a similar plugin, but no one has done it. So, we decided that we should stop waiting and started the development of the first FlowCrypt version.

Let’s see how FlowCrypt encrypts your email.

Just Gmail - Now encrypted

FlowCrypt adds a new button in Gmail called SECURE COMPOSE. It lets you send encrypted emails to anyone. Just click this button, write your message, and send it.

FlowCrypt SECURE COMPOSE

The message will get encrypted inside your browser, on your computer. It’ll leave your computer encrypted in a way that only you and your recipient can open.

It doesn’t matter who you’re writing to. It doesn’t matter if they have FlowCrypt or other PGP software or never heard of encryption in their life. They’ll get your encrypted message. Those who do have encryption set up will open it as usual, while others will have to enter a password provided by you to decrypt the message. Get these folks to install FlowCrypt as well. Again, encryption shouldn’t require any effort, and having FlowCrypt on both sides of the communication will accomplish this.

Receiving PGP Encrypted Messages on Gmail

View messages, reply, add more people to the conversation, and forward. You can do all the things that you would need.

Let’s look at the attachments. There’s not much to it; they get encrypted on your end and only decrypted in your friends’ browsers, with no one and nothing taking a peek in between.

Sending Encrypted Attachments on Gmail

There are additional cool things to show, which is what our follow-up articles will be about.

This is just the beginning

We’re very happy that the response to FlowCrypt has been so positive. We’re very grateful for the support and feedback we had from our first users. You guys are awesome.

The path to perfection is long. In the meantime, go ahead and give encryption a chance. You can find FlowCrypt on the Chrome Web Store.