Android Privacy Guard Explained

Android Privacy Guard
Programming Language:	Java
Operating System:	Android (operating system)
License:	Apache License 2.0p

Android Privacy Guard (APG) is a free and open-source app for the Android operating system that provides strong, user-based encryption which is compatible with the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) and GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) programs. This allows users to encrypt, decrypt, digitally sign, and verify signatures for text, emails, and other files.

The application allows the user to store the credentials of other users with whom they interact, and to encrypt files such that only a specified user can decrypt them. In the same manner, if a file is received from another user and its credentials are saved, the receiver can verify the authenticity of that file and decrypt it if necessary.

The specific implementation in APG relies on the Spongy Castle APIs.

APG has not been updated since March 2014 and is no longer under active development. The development has been picked up by OpenKeychain.

Reception

After its initial release in June 2010,^[1] it has gained a strong following with over 2000 reviews and over 100,000 installs from the Google Play store.^[2] Several tutorials have been written which instruct new users in how to set up APG on an Android phone.^{[3] [4]} These tutorials generally reference APGs interaction with the K-9 Mail Android e-mail client.^{[5] [6]}

OpenKeychain

Between December 2010 and October 2013 no new version of APG was released.^[7] In the light of the global surveillance disclosures this lack of development was viewed critically by the community.^[8] In September 2013 a fork of APG was released, version 2.1 of OpenKeychain.^[9] Some of the new features and improvements were subsequently merged back to APG. However, this process stopped in March 2014, while the OpenKeychain project continued to release new versions.^[10] As of February 2016 the development of OpenKeychain is more active than that of APG.^[11] Notable features of OpenKeychain include a modern user interface, support for NFC and the YubiKey NEO.^[12]

External links

• GitHub repository

Software reviews and tutorials

• Guardian Project: Lockdown your mobile email
• Setting up from scratch

Notes and References

1. Web site: Release Announcement. https://archive.today/20130416063707/http://www.thialfihar.org/projects/apg/#03_06_2010___v1_0_0. dead. 2010-06-03. 2015-01-21. Android Privacy Guard. Developer of Android Privacy Guard. 2013-04-16.
2. Web site: APG - Android Apps on Google Play. 2015-01-21. 2015-01-21. Android Play Store.
3. Web site: Setting up Android Privacy Guard + Bouncy Castle from scratch. 2011-04-13. 2015-01-21. I'm Curious. HaoQi Li.
4. Web site: Android Privacy Guard (APG) for Android Devices. 2015-01-21. 2015-01-21. Security in a Box. Security in a Box Project. https://archive.today/20150121161523/https://securityinabox.org/apg_main. 2015-01-21. dead.
5. Web site: K-9 Mail and APG for Android Devices. 2015-01-21. 2015-01-21. Security in a Box. Security in a Box Project. https://archive.today/20150121161557/https://securityinabox.org/k9_apg_main. 2015-01-21. dead.
6. Web site: How To: Lockdown your mobile e-mail. 2010-07-09. 2015-01-21. The Guardian Project.
7. Web site: APG release history. https://archive.today/20130416063707/http://www.thialfihar.org/projects/apg/. dead. 2013-04-16. 2015-03-26. 2015-03-26. The APG Project. thialfihar.
8. Web site: Filed bug against APG at the PRISM Break project. 2015-03-26. PRISM Break.
9. Web site: OpenKeychain release history. . 26 March 2015.
10. Web site: Releases · open-keychain/open-keychain. GitHub. 22 February 2016.
11. Web site: Readme of APG at Github. thialfihar. 26 March 2015. APG definitely has some catching up to do. :).
12. Web site: About OpenKeychain. 26 March 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150327032453/http://www.openkeychain.org/about/. 27 March 2015. dead.