Gmail – Red Padlock Icon in From Address Explained

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I noticed a red open padlock icon in Gmail near the From address part of an email message.

red open padlock

What does this red open padlock icon mean?

Best Answer

This is part of a newly-announced bit of functionality to make Gmail more secure.

Gmail Blog: Making email safer for you

If you receive a message from, or are about to send a message to, someone whose email service doesn’t support TLS encryption, you’ll see a broken lock icon in the message.

In your particular case, you have received a message from someone whose email provider doesn't use encryption. This isn't necessarily something to be alarmed about, but if sensitive information is being passed back and forth you might wish to know about it.

This is what it looks like when you're sending a message to someone whose provider doesn't use encryption:

unencrypted message gif

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