Comparison

PGPony vs CypherAir

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

PGPony

Securely encrypt, decrypt, and sign messages and files using PGP standards. Generate and manage encryption keys, including advanced post-quantum and hardware security key support. Offers robust privacy features with no analytics or tracking.

Highlights
  • PGP encryption and decryption
  • Key generation and management
  • Post-quantum encryption support
  • Hardware security key integration
  • Message and file signing
  • Key backup and restore
  • Share sheet extension
Features
Read full description

PGPony makes PGP encryption easy, private, and powerful, and every feature is free. Generate keys, encrypt to people or to a password, sign and verify, back up your whole keyring, and revoke compromised keys, all from your iPhone and iPad, in eleven languages. New in 8.4.0: pairing with PGPony Desktop, key certification, Ed448 keys, a PGPony PIN, and Korean, Turkish and Ukrainian, with every screen translated. POST-QUANTUM Encrypt with ML-KEM-768 or ML-KEM-1024 paired with X25519, and sign with ML-DSA-65 paired with Ed25519 (RFC 9980), on RFC 9580 (v6) keys or the v4 shape GnuPG 2.5 reads. Add post-quantum subkeys to a key you already have. HARDWARE SECURITY KEYS Generate a key pair on the card over NFC, or add an existing card with a tap. Sign, decrypt, and encrypt-and-sign in one step, with RSA and ECC (Ed25519/Curve25519) keys, on YubiKey, Token2, and others, over NFC or USB-C. Full card admin: PINs, factory reset, and Card Details. ENCRYPT, DECRYPT & SIGN Encrypt messages and files of any size to one or many public keys, or to a password with no keys at all, readable by gpg -c and back. Pick which subkey to encrypt to when a key has more than one. Decrypt with a private key, a hardware key, or a passphrase, and see which of your keys opened the message. Sign without encrypting, including detached signatures, and verify a file against its signature. GENERATE & MANAGE KEYS Create keys on a card or in-app: post-quantum, v6 Ed25519, classic Ed25519 + Cv25519, or RSA 2048/4096, with or without an email address. Add, revoke, or remove subkeys (including authentication subkeys) and User IDs. Full OpenPGP v6 (RFC 9580), interoperable with Sequoia PGP and GnuPG. Import from files, clipboard, QR codes, or keyservers. Make revocation certificates and export private keys (GnuPG-compatible). BACK UP & RESTORE Save your whole keyring, secret keys included, as one encrypted file. A single backup code opens it, and the same file restores onto another iPhone or iPad. The file stays with you, never on anyone's server. KEYSERVERS Look up a recipient by email through Web Key Directory, then key servers. Add your own servers, publish to several at once, and upload an updated key straight from Key Detail. Route lookups through Tor or a SOCKS proxy, or turn on offline mode to stop every network request. PASSWORD STORE Open a pass (password-store) folder, decrypt an entry with a software or hardware key, and copy it through an auto-clearing clipboard. SHARE SHEET EXTENSION Encrypt or decrypt text, encrypt a file, or sign a file in any app: Safari, Files, Notes, Mail. SECURITY FIRST Face ID / Touch ID lock with auto-lock. Software keys live in the iOS Keychain. Keys and messages from outside are checked strictly before they are used. No analytics, tracking, accounts, or sign-up. Your private keys never leave your device, and with a hardware key they never leave the card. ELEVEN LANGUAGES English, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Turkish, and Ukrainian. Built by an indie developer who cares about your privacy. Your keys, your messages, your data, always yours. Terms of Use (EULA): https://pgpony.app/eula.html Privacy Policy: https://pgpony.app/privacy.html

About

CypherAir

Read full description

CypherAir is a fully offline, open-source OpenPGP encryption tool built for iOS, iPadOS, macOS and VisionOS. It makes zero network connections. There is no telemetry, no tracking, and no possibility of data leakage. Two Encryption Profiles • Universal (Profile A) — Interoperable with GnuPG and all major PGP implementations. RFC 4880 compliant, employing Ed25519 and X25519 with SEIPDv1. • Advanced (Profile B) — Implements the latest OpenPGP standard, RFC 9580, with Ed448 and X448, authenticated encryption via AEAD (SEIPDv2), and Argon2id passphrase protection. Capabilities • Encrypt and decrypt text and files, processed as streams for efficiency • Create digital signatures — cleartext for messages, detached for files • Exchange public keys through QR codes using the system Camera, with no camera permission required • Manage multiple keys, each with its own encryption profile • Safeguard private keys in the Secure Enclave, unlocked only by Face ID or Touch ID Privacy Through Architecture • The sole system permission is the Face ID usage description • Private keys never leave the protection of Secure Enclave wrapping Open Source CypherAir is open source and available under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later (GPL-3.0-or-later) or the Mozilla Public License 2.0 (MPL-2.0). Additional languages are in progress. Disclaimer No Warranty: You expressly acknowledge and agree that use of the Licensed Application is at your sole risk. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Licensed Application and any services performed or provided by the Licensed Application are provided "as is" and "as available," with all faults and without warranty of any kind, and Licensor hereby disclaims all warranties and conditions with respect to the Licensed Application and any services, either express, implied, or statutory, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties and/or conditions of merchantability, of satisfactory quality, of fitness for a particular purpose, of accuracy, of quiet enjoyment, and of noninfringement of third-party rights. No oral or written information or advice given by Licensor or its authorized representative shall create a warranty. Should the Licensed Application or services prove defective, you assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair, or correction. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties or limitations on applicable statutory rights of a consumer, so the above exclusion and limitations may not apply to you.

Screenshots

PGPony4 screens
CypherAir4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: CypherAir at every 2 days against PGPony's weekly. CypherAir also leads on device support (4 vs 2). PGPony's advantage is iOS requirement (17.6 vs 26.5). On price, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PGPony ships an update weekly, CypherAir every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
PGPony versus CypherAir: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPGPonyCypherAir
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (18 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings18 — better—
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS17.6 — better26.5
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB79 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKevin Stewart康 陈

In-app purchases

None

PGPony

No in-app purchases

None

CypherAir

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PGPony free?
PGPony is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is CypherAir free?
CypherAir is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do PGPony or CypherAir have ads?
Neither PGPony nor CypherAir shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PGPony or CypherAir?
PGPony ships an update weekly, and CypherAir every 2 days. Most recently, PGPony was updated on November 9, 2026 and CypherAir on November 5, 2026.

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