Email was never designed to be private. By default, messages travel across the internet in plain text — readable by anyone in between. OpenPGP changes that by adding end-to-end encryption to email, so only you and your recipient can read the content.

This guide walks you through setting up OpenPGP email encryption on macOS using GPG Suite (GPGTools) and Apple Mail.

How OpenPGP Works

OpenPGP uses asymmetric cryptography — a pair of mathematically linked keys: