Hideout – Stupid Simple App to Encrypt Individual Files in Linux

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While I am not a fan of snaps but this is something I have been waiting for so I will make an exception. As of now I use 7z to password protect files as Linux encryption has been beyond my capabilities. This sounds like exactly what I have been looking for to encrypt.

For individual files, the GPG (GNU Privacy Guard) command line tool is great for the encryption, and the new Hideout graphical front-end make it easy to use for beginners.

As you see in the screenshot, simply launch the app, select file (or drag’n’drop file into app window), choose encrypt or decrypt, input passphrase, and click start.

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Unfortunately the Snap version doesn't show up in any of my menus nor does it show up under libremenu to add it.The Flatpak version shows up in Applications>Accessories.

Nice little simple program for sure and is about as easy as it can get.

@jymm thanks for posting this!

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Is there also a version without a bulky sandbox like snap or flatpak ?

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Not so far. Actually I'm going to drop a message to the dev and ask if a native .deb package will eventually become available.

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That would be great, and if there won't be any .deb package, then i'd rather build it from source. :disappointed_face:

Really, snap for a browser or any security related think is ok by me. But come on, a sandbox around a simple file converter is ridiculous. :grin:

EDIT: Found the source but:
GTK4 & Libadwaita :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth::nauseated_face::face_vomiting:Bleurgh!

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Yeah I found that out after I posted it. I asked Ji and here is his answer, which isn't encouraging. I will give it a try a bit later today. What is weird is it is in the App center snap repository.

Ji m April 2, 2026 at 12:53 pm

It’s something to do with AppArmor, the kernel security mode.

Either try the Flatpak package, or remove snap and reinstall via the command below works in my case:

sudo snap install hideout --devmode

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That didn't work for me either so I went with the flatpak.

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I was on the verge of writing something myself, but it seems that hideout has no advantages over file-roller and, on the contrary, a more restricted and cumbersome way of installing (sandbox only).

So I'm happy I'm not missing out on anything :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Thanks for the tip though :+1:

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I stand to be corrected
but I think is can encrypt document, but not a file of several documents.
right ?
W

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Yes it can :slight_smile:
The heavy lifting of this, is purely done by 7zip.

I just created a single encrypted archive consisting of 23 files.
Something we used to be able to do in the past with 'Engrampa'.

Since 'Engrampa' did not follow the CLI changes of '7z' it doesn't work anymore.
But 'file-roller' (engrampa is a fork of file-roller) is up-to-date with '7z' and can do it without problem.

If you open file-roller you can drag-n-drop the files into this window, select encryption (don't forget to fill in the password) and you're ready :slight_smile:

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Yes after trying to play with it I am back to 7zip. I am still using Peazip to extract though as Engrampa has not been updated yet and I didn’t feel like installing the new version myself.

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