Encrypting new files to a post-quantum recipient does nothing for the files you encrypted last year. If a classical ciphertext has already been captured, it sits in someone's archive waiting for better hardware. That is the harvest-now-decrypt-later problem, and the fix is to re-encrypt the copies you still control.
Start the re-encrypt flow in AgePony. It exists for exactly this job: taking a file that is already encrypted and producing the same contents under a different recipient, without you having to decrypt, save, and encrypt by hand.
Choose a file you can already open with one of your identities. If you cannot decrypt it, AgePony cannot re-encrypt it. There is no shortcut around that, and there should not be.
Unlock the identity with your biometric or device passcode. AgePony decrypts the file to do the work. A decrypted copy exists in the app's temporary storage while the operation runs, and it is deleted as soon as the operation finishes.
Select the age1pq recipient the new copy should be encrypted to. This is the same recipient picker as the normal Encrypt flow, so the same rule applies: a post-quantum recipient cannot be combined with a classical one on the same file.
AgePony writes a new .age file encrypted to the post-quantum key. Put it where the old one lived, or send it to whoever needs it. Once you have confirmed the new copy opens, you can delete the old one yourself.
AgePony states both limits in the app, and they are worth repeating. Your original file is left untouched and unchanged, so the old classical copy is still sitting there until you delete it yourself. And copies you already sent to other people stay on the old key. You cannot reach into someone else's inbox or backup. If a classical ciphertext left your control, treat it as permanently on the old key.
No. Anyone who already holds the old ciphertext keeps it, and it stays on the old key. Re-encrypting protects the copy you control from this point forward.
No. The original .age file is left untouched and unchanged. AgePony writes a new file next to it, so you decide when to delete the old one.
Yes. A decrypted copy exists in the app's temporary storage while the operation runs, and it is deleted as soon as the operation finishes.
The ones with the longest secrecy lifetime: archives, backups, legal and medical records, source material. Anything that stops mattering in a month is not worth the effort.
Free file encryption for iOS and Android. No accounts, no tracking, no servers.
