How to set up GPGSuite and GPGMail on Mac

Date: 2023/04/17
Last Updated: 2024-08-16T15:42:43.992Z
Categories: Mac, Secure
Tags: Mac, Encryption, Secure, GPG, GPGMail, GPGSuite
Read Time: 1 minutes

Contents

• Introduction
• Installation
• Manage Keys

Introduction

GPG Suite is an open-source software package for macOS that provides encryption and decryption of emails, files, and directories using the OpenPGP encryption standard. OpenPGP is a widely used standard for secure email communication that provides end-to-end encryption, which means that only the sender and recipient of an encrypted message can read its contents.

GPG Suite includes several tools, including GPGMail for encrypting and signing emails, GPG Keychain for managing OpenPGP keys, and GPG Services for encrypting and decrypting files and directories. It also includes GPGPreferences, which provides a user interface for configuring GPG Suite settings.

GPG Suite is popular among users who require secure communication and privacy protection, such as journalists, activists, and government officials. It is available for free download and use, although users can make a donation to support the ongoing development of the software.

Installation

Check Free-GPGMail project.

1. Download the latest version of Free-GPGMail.

   Using Homebrew:

   brew install --cask free-gpgmail
   

2. Restart Mail.app, go to Preferences -> General -> Manage Plugins....

   If the "Manage Plugins" button is not present in the lower left corner, open a terminal and run:

   sudo defaults write “/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail” EnableBundles 1
   defaults write com.apple.mail EnableBundles -bool true
   

   Then restart Mail.app again.

   • Make sure that GPGMailLoader_*.mailbundle, if present, is disabled.
   • Enable the Free-GPGMail_<version>.mailbundle.
   • Apply and Restart Mail.

3. In Mail.app, check Preferences -> Free-GPGMail. If it says that you are in Trial Mode or Decryption Only Mode, hit Activate. It will perform a dummy activation routine.

Manage Keys

Also check GPGTools.