OpenKeychain is an OpenPGP implementation for Android. It manages your keys and those of your contacts, and integrates with K-9 Mail and FairEmail for end-to-end encrypted email on Android devices.
Reviewed by Marcus Holmberg
OpenKeychain
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Threat level
Hardened
A hardened pick. Worth the effort once you have chosen to shrink your footprint on purpose. Enough for most people. Threat levels
Our take
OpenKeychain passed an independent security audit by Cure53 with no critical findings, which is a meaningful bar for an app handling key material on a mobile device. Development has gone quiet and the project is in maintenance mode rather than active growth, but the app remains functional and security patches are still applied when reported. It covers a genuine gap: OpenPGP on Android with a clean integration into the leading open-source mail clients. Choose it if you need PGP on Android; be aware you are on a tool that is no longer being pushed forward.
GitHub at a glance
open-keychain/open-keychain
Stars
2,584
+ 13 this week
Last commit
2.2y ago
slowing
License
GPL-3.0
Stars, last 30d
Website at a glance
openkeychain.org
C score 55
Basic website security headers
Graded by Mozilla HTTP Observatory, tested 13d ago
Inspect this site yourself
Measures the security configuration of the tool's own website, not the privacy of the product itself. A strong tool can still score low here.
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OpenKeychain license, in plain English
GPL-3.0 Strong copyleft
Free to use and modify, but anything you distribute that is built on it must also be open under the same license.
Permits
- Commercial use
- Modification
- Distribution
- Patent use
- Private use
Requires
- Disclose source
- Same license
- State changes
- License and copyright notice
Does not provide
- Liability cover
- Warranty
Why it matters: Strong copyleft keeps every distributed version open. A vendor cannot fold this into a closed product and ship it without releasing their changes.
Plain-language summary of the project's license, not legal advice. Read the full text for the exact terms.
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