Encrypt Files on Linux with Hideout and Skip the Terminal

This minimalist GTK app puts GPG‑powered file encryption behind a drag‑and‑drop interface that even a Linux newbie can use on the first try.

With Hideout, you can forgo the command line and encrypt files quickly and easily.

If you’ve ever needed to encrypt files on Linux, chances are pretty good that you’ve used something like tar, GPG, OpenSSL, go-fuse, or one of the many other command-line tools.

Encrypting files has become an invaluable task because we are retaining more and more sensitive data, all the while looking for more and better ways to remain private and secure. For those who are just starting with Linux and want to enjoy the ability to easily encrypt files, but don’t want to bother with the command line to do so, you might be happy to know that there’s a handy app that should be right up your alley.

The app in question is Hideout, an open source app released under the MIT license. It’s simple to install, user-friendly, works with GPG symmetric encryption, and supports drag and drop as well as multiple languages. It can also be installed on any Linux distribution that supports Flatpak or Snap.

There is, however, one caveat that also applies when encrypting files on Linux with most command-line tools. Once you’ve encrypted a file with Hideout, in addition to the original file, you’ll wind up with a new filename that is the same as the original, only with the .gpg extension. What that means is simple: if you don’t want the unencrypted file available for prying eyes, you have to manually delete it or move it into a “secret” location such as a hidden folder (a folder that starts with a period).

That’s an important caveat because it does you no good to encrypt a file, only to leave the original, unencrypted file lying around waiting to be read.

To that end, it would be nice if Hideout included the option to delete the original file so you don’t have to remember to manually do so.

That being said, let’s see how to install and use Hideout.

Are you ready?

Installing Hideout

There are two methods of installing Hideout: Flatpak and Snap. Let me show you how to do both. Before you get started with Flatpak, make sure your system is properly set up to use Flatpaks.

Installing with Flatpak

If your distro’s app store is set up with Flatpak support, open that, search for Hideout, and click to install.

Otherwise, open your terminal window and issue the command:

flatpak install hideout

Simple, right?

Installing with Snap

If your Linux distribution uses Snap, the command for installation is:

sudo snap install hideout

If given the choice between Flatpak and Snap, go with Flatpak because it’s faster and better sandboxed.

With Hideout installed, all you have to do is open your desktop menu, locate the app launcher, and click it for the simple Hideout app to appear.

Using Hideout

To encrypt a file, you can either click Select File and then locate the file in question with the picker, or you can open your file manager and drag-and-drop the file onto the Hideout window.

After this, the Hideout window changes, requiring you to type a password for encryption.

If you look at the screenshot on the right, you’ll probably notice one tiny issue: there’s no password verification field. What this means is that you need to make sure to type the encryption password properly; otherwise, you might find yourself in a situation where you only have an encrypted copy of the file that’s not accessible.

Because of this, I would suggest that you encrypt the file and make sure you can decrypt it before deleting the original.

If you haven’t deleted the original file, when you go to decrypt, you will be warned that the action will overwrite the original.

After the decryption, you’ll also notice that the original unencrypted file remains. If the decryption was successful, go ahead and either hide or (better yet) delete the original.

Hideout is a very basic app, but it’s one that makes a task that might otherwise stump those who are new to Linux quite simple. Even if you are a seasoned Linux user, working with Hideout makes file encryption effortless, so maybe you should consider adopting the app in favor of the command line.

The choice is yours.