How to Encrypt Email on iOS (iPhone, iPad) | SecureMyEmail™

Apple's dedication to security and privacy, especially when compared to so many other tech companies, is admirable. And, although they support end-to-end encryption for messaging, they don't have an easy way to encrypt email on their devices. That's where we come in. SecureMyEmail™ provides easy end-to-end encryption for ANY email address on iPhone and iPad. And, it only takes a few minutes to set up.

Why do I need to encrypt email on my iPhone or iPad?

Email, even though it has improved some over the years, still lags far behind modern messaging apps for privacy and security. And, most people forget that their email is not only vulnerable in transit, but also as it sits on your email providers' servers and backups for years and years.

But my email provider says they are already encrypted.

Yeah. Ok.🙂

When it comes to providing "real" encrypted email, almost all email providers are what we used to call "posers" back in the day.

If you are actually using an encrypted email provider, you'd know. There's only a handful of them, and most of them are a bit creepy-looking. They stand out.

The "encryption" other email providers talk about is not what anyone would really call "encrypted email" despite what they may try to imply.

Your email provider likely just uses "encryption" in places, such as when you access your email. They may even geek it up and talk about "opportunistic TLS" or "support" for PGP or S/MIME. Sadly, this is all very misleading and covering up the fact they don't really encrypt your email in any meaningful way.

• Your email provider likely has access to all your email.
• Many email providers scan your email to share or sell your information to advertisers...or worse.
• Even email providers with good intentions can have a data breach that exposes your email. This happens more than you know.
• Even if they encrypt email on servers and backups, it can become exposed unless you control the encryption yourself.
• The only real solution to secure your email in transit, and at rest when archived, is end-to-end encryption.
• End-to-end encryption has, historically, been ridiculously complicated or only offered by a few encrypted email providers that force you to change your email address to one of theirs.

The whole point of SecureMyEmail is we offer any email address EASY access to end-to-end encryption without you having to change your email provider. Even when the email is stored on your provider's servers, only YOU can access it. This is done through encryption that YOU control, not your email provider.

Does Apple provide any method to encrypt email on iPhone myself?

Yes, but you'll haaaate it. Apple does indeed support what is called S/MIME to encrypt email on iOS. It's an old method and so complicated that you'll think we're pranking you.

Don't believe us? Here is how to set it up: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102245.

You've got a Computer Science degree and hours to spare, right? And, even if you do figure it out, that's only the beginning of the fun:

• You'll need to purchase and install an S/MIME certificate from a "Certificate Authority" first.
• You'll then need to walk each recipient through getting their own S/MIME certificate and exchange certificates with each other. At least you'll find out who your friends really are.
• Each device must be set up manually too. So, this doesn't encrypt email on your Mac, iPad, PC, other phones, etc.
• S/MIME only works with S/MIME and is not compatible with PGP or other types of encryption.
• We don't even want to know what happens if you lose or update your phone.

Just use SecureMyEmail. Life is short and getting shorter.

Is SecureMyEmail approved by Apple?

Yes, indeed. You can download it right from the Apple App Store or our downloads page to get started.

Can I encrypt any email address?

Yes. You can keep your current email providers. That is really what makes SecureMyEmail different. We are an email encryption service that allows you to encrypt your current email accounts, not force you to use a different encrypted email address. No switching is necessary. And, if you do switch email providers later, we will work with them too.

Is SecureMyEmail easy to set up on iOS and iPadOS?

Yup. Should take a few minutes at most.

Can I encrypt my email for free?

Yes. Our free tier allows you to encrypt one email address as long as that email address ends in gmail.com, yahoo.com, or one of the Microsoft consumer domains, such as outlook.com or hotmail.com. We also support the "international derivatives" of those domains. That's about 2 Billion email addresses so pretty generous we think. :)

Is there a free trial if I don't qualify for free?

Yes. We include a 30-day free trial and don't even require any payment info up front. If you don't like it, that's all there is to it. No payment is ever due.

What does the paid version cost?

Only 29.99/year or $3.99/month per user. Shop around and you'll like us even more. You can also run it on multiple devices. Our apps for Windows, Mac, Android, and, of course iOS and iPadOS, are included!

Can I encrypt my business email? What if I have lots of users?

Contact Sales and they will get you set up. Basically, get all your users using the free trial and we can merge them into a single invoice for you.

Can I send encrypted email to anyone?

Yes. As long as they have an email address, you're all set. You can send to any email address on any device. Recipients don't have to use SecureMyEmail.

What do my recipients need to do to receive encrypted email from me?

Nothing. They don't need to download anything, install anything, register, or even know a password. They just receive a regular email with a secure link.

I thought passwords were definitely required for encrypted email.

Not with us. It's true that most all encrypted email providers require you to send a password to non-user recipients to decrypt the email. Which is a huge pain. We have developed a, quite innovative (if we may say so), "passwordless" option which we discuss below.

Can my recipients reply encrypted also?

Yes. Your email recipients can reply, download files you send, as well as attach files of their own to send back to you. Everything is protected by encryption.

Is SecureMyEmail end-to-end encrypted?

Yes. We offer what is called zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption. It doesn't get any better than that. To drill down a bit, there are three paths your encrypted email may take when using SecureMyEmail.

• Emails sent to other SecureMyEmail users are end-to-end encrypted and zero-knowledge by default. If you're sending to multiple recipients, the software will determine this automatically for you.

For sending to people that don't use SecureMyEmail (which, until we're bigger than U.S. Steel will be the norm) we offer two options when you send an encrypted email. We call these Encrypted and Encrypted+

• Encrypted is our unique and ultra-convenient "passwordless" option that fully protects your email and contents with encryption and our secure server network. The benefit here is you can just "send away" without having to ask your recipients for a password, which is what most every other encrypted email service requires.
  
  As long as your recipient's email isn't already hacked, this is a completely secure method. Best of all, the infinitesimally small risk (versus requiring a password) is temporary, because you decide when the email expires. When it does, we purge it from our systems and the email is fully encrypted at rest on your provider's servers with your unique encryption key and credentials. Only YOU retain access for archival purposes, or if you need to resend it. But, it is stored with zero-knowledge encryption so it is completely safe, even if your mail account or provider is hacked.

• Encrypted+ This method is overkill for most situations, but if you want the email so secure even aliens couldn't hack it, here you go. This method requires that you create a password that the recipient must know. You can send this to them via text, phone, etc. or use the included "hint" field to ask them something only they would know.
  
  This method encrypts the email and contents with unique cryptographic keys before it even leaves your device. It is sort of "double-encrypted" in a sense. No one but your recipient EVER has the means to decrypt the email. That includes us. It is fully end-to-end encrypted with zero-knowledge encryption.
  

For most all situations, the password-less option is ample and far beyond the security and privacy your email has now. But, we offer our users multiple options as data security is always a balance between safety and convenience.

Can I encrypt my email on my other devices too?

Absolutely. SecureMyEmail has apps for Mac, Windows, iOS, iPadOS, and Android. Once your account is set up on your first device, just download our software on any other device and log in.

Can I keep using my normal email app or website?

Yes. SecureMyEmail is an addition to your email, not a replacement...unless you want it to be (as it is a fully functional email client). You will need to use the SecureMyEmail app or software when you send or read encrypted email, but it stays perfectly synced with your email account. So, you are free to use it as an email app, or just use your regular one and fire it up when you need to send or read encrypted email.

How do I get started?

Just go to our website and download the software and launch it. Enjoy the free trial or start your 30-day free trial. Or, check out what it looks like when you send encrypted email from your iPhone.