Install PGPony.
Get PGPony from Google Play. Free, ad-free, no account required, no telemetry.
// guide / generate-pgp-key-android
How to generate a PGP key on Android.
Generate an OpenPGP keypair on Android with PGPony. Modern Ed25519 + Curve25519 defaults, keys stored in Android Keystore, no account required. About five minutes including the passphrase decision.
// at a glance
- Install PGPony from Google Play
- Start key generation
- Enter name + email
- Choose Ed25519 + Curve25519
- Set a strong passphrase
- Back up the secret key
Prerequisites
- An Android device with PGPony installed
- A passphrase you can remember (or a password manager)
- The email address you want associated with this key
Start key generation.
Open PGPony to the Keyring tab in the bottom navigation bar (Material 3 layout — Keyring icon on the far left). Tap the + button and choose Generate Key Pair. The Generate Key screen opens.
Provide your identity.
Enter your Full Name and Email Address in the Identity section. These become the primary User ID — the human-readable identity attached to your key. The email is also what WKD lookups will match against, so use the address you actually receive encrypted communication at.
Choose the algorithm.
In the Algorithm section:
- Ed25519+Cv25519 (recommended). Modern OpenPGP defaults. Small, fast, universally supported.
- RSA 4096 or RSA 2048. Available for legacy interop. Larger keys, slower generation, but universally accepted.
Default to Ed25519+Cv25519 unless you have a reason for RSA. Below, the Expiration section defaults to two years — extensible later.
Set a strong passphrase.
Pick a passphrase that protects the secret key. PGPony enforces a minimum length and encourages going well beyond it. A 5–6 word diceware passphrase or a 20+ character random string from a password manager are both reasonable defaults.
No recovery
Forget the passphrase, lose the secret key on this device. No recovery in PGPony or any other
OpenPGP tool — this is cryptographic design.
Generate.
Tap Generate Key Pair. Generation happens locally on your device using Bouncy Castle's OpenPGP implementation (bcprov-jdk18on:1.78.1 + bcpg-jdk18on:1.78.1). Nothing is transmitted. Ed25519 finishes well under a second; RSA-4096 takes a few seconds.
The result is a keypair with a stable fingerprint — 40 hex characters, uniquely identifying the key for the rest of its existence. This is the canonical identifier you'll use everywhere else.
Back up the secret key.
Before using the key for anything else, export an encrypted backup of the secret material to durable, off-device storage. Android doesn\'t auto-sync app data the way iOS sometimes does, so the secret key lives only in your device\'s storage until you explicitly back it up.
See Back up your private key for the procedure.
Verify it worked.
- The new key appears in the Keyring tab with your name and email.
- Tapping the key shows fingerprint, algorithm (Ed25519+Cv25519 or RSA), and creation date.
- Encrypt a test message in the Encrypt tab and decrypt it in Decrypt — round-trip should succeed.
- The key persists after closing and reopening PGPony (it's in the Android Keystore).
Common questions.
Where does Android store the key?
In the Android Keystore — encrypted, sandboxed per-app, and on devices with a TEE or Secure Element, additionally hardware-protected.
Does Android sync the key across my devices?
No automatic sync. To move a key between Android devices, export and import manually. Same fingerprint, two locations.
Can I use the same key on iOS and Android?
Yes. OpenPGP keys are portable. Generate on either platform, export, transfer, import on the other. Identical behavior.
Should I choose Ed25519 or RSA?
Ed25519 unless you have a specific legacy requirement. Smaller, faster, universally supported.
About Bouncy Castle?
PGPony Android uses Bouncy Castle\'s OpenPGP implementation — a long-standing, widely-audited Java crypto library. Output is standard OpenPGP, interoperable with every other OpenPGP tool.
Next steps.
Get PGPony
Free OpenPGP encryption for iOS and Android. No accounts, no tracking.