In Gmail, encryption in transit makes it harder for others to read your email when it travels between you and your intended recipients. If you have a work or school account, additional encryption types may be supported.
Learn about Gmail encryption types
.
. Learn how to verify message security
There are two ways to verify message security:
- On your computer or Android device, when you compose a message, select Message security
.
- When you receive a message, open the recipient details.
Learn how to check message security.
What to do if an email isn’t encrypted
- If you get a warning that your email isn’t encrypted, or there’s a red lock icon
, the recipient may be using an email service that doesn’t support TLS or another encryption type supported by Gmail. Consider removing unencrypted addresses or deleting confidential information from the email before you send it.
- If you receive an unencrypted email that contains sensitive content, let the sender know and ask them to contact their email service provider.
- If you use S/MIME, emails are encrypted in S/MIME whenever possible. To either sign or receive S/MIME-encrypted emails, you need to have a valid S/MIME cert from a trusted root.
, the recipient may be using an email service that doesn’t support TLS or another encryption type supported by Gmail. Consider removing unencrypted addresses or deleting confidential information from the email before you send it.