Open your key in PGPony.
Navigate to your key in PGPony\'s keyring. The key detail view shows fingerprint, key ID, User IDs, and subkey structure.
// guide / share-key-qr-code
How to share a PGP public key via QR code.
In-person OpenPGP key exchange in under a minute. Faster than emailing the key, more reliable than reading fingerprints aloud. PGPony renders your full public key as a QR; the other side scans, imports, done.
// at a glance
- Open your key in PGPony
- Generate a QR for sharing
- Hold the screen up to the recipient
- They scan and import
- Both verify fingerprints
Prerequisites
- PGPony installed with your public key
- The other person physically present (the in-person channel is the point)
- The other person\'s phone with PGPony or a QR reader
Generate a QR for your public key.
Open PGPony's Exchange tab — the QR scanner icon in the middle of the bottom nav. The Exchange screen has three sections in a picker at the top: Show My Key, Scan Key, Key Server. Confirm Show My Key is selected.
Your public key renders as a QR code with your fingerprint shown below it for cross-verification. Three buttons sit underneath: Share (OS share sheet for sending the ASCII-armored block through other channels), Copy FP (copies just the fingerprint), and Upload (publishes to keys.openpgp.org).
Display the QR for the recipient.
Hold your phone up so the recipient can scan. Screen brightness on full helps. The fingerprint is shown alongside the QR for cross-verification.
Recipient scans and imports.
The recipient opens PGPony's Exchange tab and switches the picker to Scan Key. The camera viewfinder appears with the prompt "Point your camera at someone's key QR code to import their public key."
They point at your QR. PGPony parses the OpenPGP key block, shows an import preview with your User ID and fingerprint, and they tap Import Key. Your public key now lives in their keyring with the fingerprint matching what was shown on your screen.
Both verify fingerprints.
Compare what your screens show. Same fingerprint? You\'ve exchanged keys correctly and verified out-of-band in the same gesture. No MITM possible — you were looking at each other\'s phones.
Verify it worked.
- Their PGPony shows your key with the matching fingerprint.
- For mutual exchange, repeat with their phone showing the QR.
- Both can mark the other\'s key as trusted now that fingerprints are verified in person.
Common questions.
What\'s in the QR?
Your full ASCII-armored public key block. No secret material. Any OpenPGP-aware tool reading the QR can parse and import the key.
Why QR instead of emailing?
In-person eliminates intercept attacks, fingerprint verification happens naturally via screen comparison, and it\'s faster than reading 40 hex characters aloud.
Share QR remotely?
A QR screenshot can be sent through any channel, but remote QR is no more secure than emailing the .asc directly. The point of QR is the in-person channel.
What if the key is too large?
Larger keys may need multiple sequential QRs. Ed25519 keys are small enough for a single QR.
Does the recipient need PGPony?
PGPony or any QR reader that routes the scanned OpenPGP block into an OpenPGP-aware destination.
Next steps.
Get PGPony
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