# What entails prefer e2e encryption? **URL:** \ **Category:** Mutual Help\ **Created:** [February 29, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://support.delta.chat/t/what-entails-prefer-e2e-encryption/853 "2020-02-29T17:13:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gggvv](https://support.delta.chat/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@gggvv](https://support.delta.chat/u/gggvv)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://support.delta.chat/t/what-entails-prefer-e2e-encryption/853/1 "2020-02-29T17:13:30Z")
settings -\> autocrypt -\> prefer end to end encryption Which is the effect of marking prefer end to end encryption? If encryption has been established, then what happens if the receiver deletes you as a contact or deletes delta chat from his computer? Are your emails then sent in clear text? I do not want that. I want enforced encryption. Either messages must be sent encrypted or not sent. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Simon](https://support.delta.chat/user_avatar/support.delta.chat/simon/32/287_2.png) [@Simon](https://support.delta.chat/u/Simon)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 6:36pm UTC](https://support.delta.chat/t/what-entails-prefer-e2e-encryption/853/2 "2020-02-29T18:36:34Z")
You can only encrypt if you have the public key of your recipient. There are already feature proposals on this forum regarding showing if a message will be encrypted to the user. If you want to always encrypt you can make a verified group. ---
**Author:** ![gggvv](https://support.delta.chat/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@gggvv](https://support.delta.chat/u/gggvv)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 9:46am UTC](https://support.delta.chat/t/what-entails-prefer-e2e-encryption/853/3 "2020-03-01T09:46:56Z")
So prefer end to end encryption means encryption will take place if the required keys are available? If not then the message will be send in clear text? If so that is unacceptable. If encryption is important then you cannot have that the messenger program decides if a message gets encrypted and not the sender of the message. Under settings -\> autocrypt the menu should have 3 options. 1 no encryption. 2 prefer end to end encryption. 3 force encryption The latter resulting in a message only getting send if it is encrypted. ---
**Author:** ![r10s](https://support.delta.chat/user_avatar/support.delta.chat/r10s/32/1513_2.png) [@r10s](https://support.delta.chat/u/r10s)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 11:42am UTC](https://support.delta.chat/t/what-entails-prefer-e2e-encryption/853/4 "2020-03-01T11:42:33Z")
normal chats will always be sort of opportunistic. this is because users can answer with their normal mail agents - eg. if you forgot your phone with the normally used Delta Chat at home, you can still use Gmail as a fallback. encryption shall not stand in the way of communication here, see [rfc7435](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7435.html#section-1.2) for more detailed information about the reasonings. however, as @Simon pointed out, in Delta Chat, there is more than just Autocrypt. there are [_Verified Groups_](https://delta.chat/en/help#what-is-a-verified-group-why-is-it-experimental) that enforce encryption. and _Verified Groups_ even protect against active attacks _by default_ (mitm, machine in the middle) - this is not even the case for most messengers advertised as being “secure” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![webratte](https://support.delta.chat/user_avatar/support.delta.chat/webratte/32/16_2.png) [@webratte](https://support.delta.chat/u/webratte)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 12:00pm UTC](https://support.delta.chat/t/what-entails-prefer-e2e-encryption/853/5 "2020-03-01T12:00:51Z")
And as additional information: You can create a verified group with only two members. So it’s a secure 1 to 1 chat. ---
**Author:** ![gggvv](https://support.delta.chat/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@gggvv](https://support.delta.chat/u/gggvv)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://support.delta.chat/t/what-entails-prefer-e2e-encryption/853/6 "2020-03-01T15:26:41Z")
> Gmail as a fallback. Or you can refrain from sending a message, because you have decided the message you want to send must be encrypted. > [RFC 7435 - Opportunistic Security: Some Protection Most of the Time](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7435.html#section-1.2) The reasoning in the paper has its place. But it limits when you can use delta chat. If you have decided a message must be encrypted else you will not send it, delta chat has ruled itself out, because of the prefer end to end encryption approach. Let the delta chat user make the decision on encryption by adding the force encryption option. Would it be technically difficult or resource demanding adding a force encryption option in delta chat? If not it should get made. I do not agree on the argument, people to not know about pgp keys. Therefore delta chat says, it will encrypt when it can, but do not expect a message to be encrypted. It makes the number of people who want to use delta chat smaller. I reject the argument, if not everybody understands the implications of pgp keys, then nobody should have access to forced encryption in delta chat. > Verified Groups I am not sure I understand it. The problem about pgp keys is verifying the fingerprints. Verified groups provides getting forced encryption? But is verified groups more than a streamlined way of verifying the pgp keys’ fingerprints? If person A and B exchanges their pgp fingerprints displayed in contact → righclick → show encryption information in person, is that not as secure as verified groups? About verifying pgp key fingerprints is a field where you can set your own level of security. Do you demand that the fingerprints are verified in person? Does it suffice if others can verify the pgp keys fingerprints? Does it suffice if you read the fingerprints on a website or get to watch them on videos? That is your decision. ---
**Author:** ![Simon](https://support.delta.chat/user_avatar/support.delta.chat/simon/32/287_2.png) [@Simon](https://support.delta.chat/u/Simon)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://support.delta.chat/t/what-entails-prefer-e2e-encryption/853/7 "2020-03-01T15:31:39Z")
Forcing encryption would imply that you can NOT send any message to people which keys you don’t have. That’s not what you want, is it? There is a feature proposal for showing whether a message will be encrypted before sending, I believe that is a much more realistic approach. > [@show end-to-end encryption state of chat](https://support.delta.chat/t/show-end-to-end-encryption-state-of-chat/230): > > when you want to be sure end-to-end crypto is used, you have to manually check if you reply to a message with a lock symbol. else your message will get sent unencrypted. there should be a notification, when end-to-end crypto is downgraded to disabled. also a force encryption option may be useful: [#246](https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat-android/issues/246). similar to [#212](https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat-android/issues/212). (This proposal has been moved from the [issue tracker](https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat-android/issues/212)) other related topics: - [Per chat encrypted messages (or separate secret chats)](https://support.delta.chat/t/per-chat-encrypted-messages-or-separate-secret-chats/372) - [Can encryption be forced or unencrypted messages disabled?](https://support.delta.chat/t/can-encryption-be-forced-or-unencrypted-messages-disabled/571) ---
**Author:** ![gggvv](https://support.delta.chat/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@gggvv](https://support.delta.chat/u/gggvv)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://support.delta.chat/t/what-entails-prefer-e2e-encryption/853/8 "2020-03-01T17:23:45Z")
> not what you want My understanding is, the first message send cannot be encrypted because in the first message person B receives A’s public pgp key. If prefer end to end encryption is enabled, then B’s reply to A will be encrypted because he has A’s public pgp key. Next message from A to B is also encrypted, because A now has B’s public pgp key. Thereby establishing encryption between A and B. A and B does not know if an adversary has interfered. Therefore A and B will have to come up with a way to verify the other person’s fingerprint. What I want is an option in settings → autocrypt called force encryption such that if selected every contact with whom encrypted messaging has been established will only receive encrypted messages. Else the message will not get send. If sending a message to a contact fails and delta chat tells it failed because the message could not get encrypted, then I would write the contact an email in order to find out why encryption failed. It should be workable, because I expect that encryption in general works. In result, if encrypted messaging in delta chat has been established, then I do not want to be able to send non encrypted messages to a contact. For non end to end encrypted messaging I can use an email. > showing whether a message will be encrypted before sending That would also do. But if encryption to a contact has been established and at one point delta chat says, the next message will not be encrypted, then I would want delta chat to display the notification in a big window you would have to close before continuing. ---
**Author:** ![adbenitez](https://support.delta.chat/user_avatar/support.delta.chat/adbenitez/32/2323_2.png) [@adbenitez](https://support.delta.chat/u/adbenitez)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 6:36am UTC](https://support.delta.chat/t/what-entails-prefer-e2e-encryption/853/9 "2020-03-07T06:36:48Z")
@gggvv I know the feeling, in my case it is totally the opposite, I would like to completely disable encryption and not send any key in my email or any other nonsense 😉 but in your case, as others had pointed out, there is a solution for just what you want, just create a verified group with the person you want to encrypt permanently, this also verifies the contact which is a must, since yo seems to care about security it have no sense you encrypt if the contact isn’t verified, could be a “man in the middle” attack, so you just have to use verified group with that friend, any message you send in a verified group will be ALWAYS encrypted. on the other hand, there are no way to disable encryption 😛 😢 ---
**Author:** ![r10s](https://support.delta.chat/user_avatar/support.delta.chat/r10s/32/1513_2.png) [@r10s](https://support.delta.chat/u/r10s)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 11:38am UTC](https://support.delta.chat/t/what-entails-prefer-e2e-encryption/853/10 "2026-02-21T11:38:06Z")
Closing as now longer relevant. The mentioned option does no longer exist; Delta Chat does all the key handling for you, we do not ask user or expect them to understand anything on that level of detail. for casual readers: do not worry: just use Delta Chat as any other messenger, the onboarding is one of the simplest one out there: **just enter your name** > **[Delta Chat: Delta Chat V2: a major security upgrade, beautified contact...](https://delta.chat/en/2025-08-04-encryption-v2)** > > With Delta Chat Version 2, chats are end-to-end encrypted, always and by default. Previously it was possible that chats without green checkmarks could contain messages without end-to-end encryption... ---
**Author:** ![r10s](https://support.delta.chat/user_avatar/support.delta.chat/r10s/32/1513_2.png) [@r10s](https://support.delta.chat/u/r10s)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 11:38am UTC](https://support.delta.chat/t/what-entails-prefer-e2e-encryption/853/11 "2026-02-21T11:38:10Z")