GPG Mail
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2017) |
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| Original author(s) | GPGTools |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 2018.4
/ September 21, 2018[1] |
| Operating system | macOS |
| Type | Cryptography |
| License | GPLv2 |
| Website | gpgtools |
GPGMail is an extension for Apple Mail that provides public key email encryption and signing. GPGMail works under macOS and the actual cryptographic functionality is handled by GNU Privacy Guard.[2]
GPGMail was first released on Feb 7, 2001, by Stéphane Corthésy, and since 2010 is maintained by GPGTools. GNU Privacy Guard is free open-source software but use of GPGMail now requires purchase of a support plan[3].
On September 21st, 2018, the developer introduced a new release that included support for the upcoming macOS Mojave. In addition to changing the versioning schema - the upgrade was from v3.0 to v2018.4 - the developer also removed the free license option. A lot of users relied on automated upgrades and were caught by surprise, which prompted a significant backlash from the community. While the licensing change was identified in the release notes for v2018.4, many believed that such big change required a more prominent notification to avoid the perception of "bait and switch"[4].
See also
- E-Mail Encryption
- OpenPGP standard for encrypting and decrypting data