We all love encryption. If you use Gmail in an enterprise setting, especially if your work includes sensitive information, you probably love it even more. Certain Gmail app users on iOS and Android phones can now send and receive encrypted emails within the app itself — no add-ons necessary.

Previously, Gmail users could only send emails via end-to-end encryption (E2EE) on their desktops. Google’s announcement said there is «no need to download extra apps or use mail portals.» Customers can simply compose and read encrypted emails on the Gmail app itself on their iOS and Android phones.

But not all Gmail consumers will be able to use the new feature. It’s only available for Enterprise Plus subscribers with the Assured Controls or Assured Controls Plus add-on. Enterprise Plus is a subscription plan, one of several within Google Workspace. Plus is intended for large businesses and other organizations and offers higher data security and client-side encryption, which the less expensive Enterprise Standard lacks.

Assured Controls and Assured Controls Plus are designed to increase digital sovereignty, data residency and compliance.

More from ZDNET: The Best Email Encryption Software of 2026: Expert Tested

Google said the feature is designed to allow users to «engage with your organization’s most sensitive data from anywhere on their mobile devices while ensuring data remains compliant.»

With the new feature, Gmail app users can send encrypted emails to anyone, even if they aren’t using Gmail. If the recipient is using the Gmail app, the encrypted email will appear like any other email in their inbox. If the recipient is not using the Gmail app, they can still read the encrypted email and reply to it on their own browser — with the entire conversation remaining encrypted.

For example, say a Gmail app customer sends an encrypted message to someone using an iPhone with the native iPhone email app. That person using the iPhone will still be able to read the encrypted email and then answer back with an encrypted message.

Enterprise Plus customers can use the new feature now, whether they are on either the Rapid Release or Scheduled Release domains. To encrypt an email, click the lock icon and select additional encryption. Then create your message.

Business and organization administrators must enable the Android and iOS clients in the CSE admin interface in the Admin Console to grant access to their Gmail users.

Proton is an alternative for businesses and consumers

Proton Workspace, an enterprise solution that launched last month, also has end-to-end email encryption but with the added benefit of being based in Europe (Switzerland), which does have to comply with the US CLOUD Act and, thus, hand over data to the US government.

For the everyday consumer, Proton Mail has end-to-end email encryption and is available for free or in paid plans, some of which include bundled privacy and security apps, like a VPN and a password manager.

Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition was part of the first batch of games revealed to be part of the Nintendo Switch 2 lineup last year, but it has yet to be released. Developer FromSoftware delayed the game from its initial 2025 release, but on Thursday, preorders opened at retailers. Some gamers, however, are not happy with the news, although not for the reason one might expect. 

Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition will cost $80, according to the preorder listings, although there is still no release date confirmed. The Switch 2 version includes the 2022 base game and the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, which costs the same price on other platforms. What’s different with the Switch 2 version and the others is that it comes on a Game-Key Card, which is causing ire among gamers. 

Game-Key Cards are Nintendo’s solution for storing larger games. Since the Switch 2 still uses cartridges, a game like Elden Ring would need carts with enough storage for the whole game, which, according to the game’s box, is 75GB. A cart to fit the size of a game would have significant hardware costs, especially considering the current storage shortage. 

To offset the cost of a cart, Nintendo created Game-Key Cards, cartridges that don’t contain the game, just enough to validate the game with Nintendo’s servers and allow it to be downloaded to the Switch 2. Once the game is downloaded to the Switch 2 and the cartridge is inserted, it will not need an internet connection to play it. 

Why are people upset about the Game-Key Card feature? 

While the Game-Key Card feature helps reduce the cost of releasing a physical game, it also prevents the purchaser from actually owning a physical copy. There is growing concern about the lack of ownership of video games, as more publishers delist games, meaning removing them from storefronts. Once a game is delisted from an online store, it’s almost impossible to redownload that game to another device. PUBG for the PS4 and Xbox One was released in 2018, for example, but the publisher announced it would no longer support those versions, rendering them unplayable. 

A consumer movement called Stop Killing Games aims to challenge the legal right of game companies to essentially destroy the games purchased by consumers. It has made strides in both the UK and EU, with hopes that the respective legislative bodies will pass consumer-protection laws to prevent companies from disabling games that have already been purchased. 

Will the digital version of Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition be cheaper? 

Starting with the release of Yoshi and the Mysterious Book in May, Nintendo will charge $10 less for a digital version of its games, which means a $70 physical game would cost $60 if purchased from Nintendo digitally. It’s unclear if other publishers will follow suit. Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition does have a listing on Nintendo’s website, but there is no price yet. 

What’s new in Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition? 

When publisher Bandai Namco revealed the Tarnished Edition of Elden Ring, it confirmed there would be some new content, although not very much. This includes new armor, weapons and customization features for Torrent’s appearance. There will also be two additional starter classes: the Knight of Idis, who is faster and more agile, and the Heavy Knight, who, as the name implies, wears heavy armor and starts with a greatsword. 

Adding new starter classes to the game doesn’t change much, as players can change their stats, equipment and abilities as they play, meaning a class that starts off relying on magic could end up using heavy weapons and vice versa. Fans of the game, however, could get a morsel of new lore information from these new classes, as each starter character has their own backstory that offers a sliver of detail to the world of Elden Ring. 

Bandai Namco says the new content in the Tarnished Edition will make its way to other platforms via a Tarnished Pack DLC that will be available at the same time as this version of the game. The publisher has yet to announce a price for the DLC, but it’s expected to cost $10. 

The sky-high price of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 just got even higher for some models.  

The premium book-style foldable, which debuted last summer, starts at $2,000 for 256GB of storage. That much hasn’t changed. What has apparently changed is the price of the phone at higher storage levels. 

As 9to5Google reported on Thursday, Samsung has quietly hiked the price of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 with 1TB of storage from $2,420 to $2,500. It also raised the ticket price of its 512GB variant from around $2,120 to $2,200 — though it’s on sale right now for $2,080.

The rises come amid a memory shortage that’s spiking the cost of components for phones and computers. Smartphone sales are expected to plummet by around 13% this year as a result.

The $80 increase for Samsung’s foldable isn’t particularly jarring, especially since the larger-storage configurations are already astronomically priced. But it’s also not a promising trajectory. It could hint at more looming price hikes for other devices — and not just newly released ones, but those already on the market. Any cost increase is hardly going to be a welcome change among consumers, especially if they’re on the fence about splurging on a foldable phone. As a further indication of the global memory shortage, some third-party external storage products on Apple’s online store have reportedly gotten more expensive or sold out.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is one of the best phones I reviewed last year. Its strikingly slim profile will likely set the precedent for future foldables released in the US. Its cameras are also on par with Samsung’s nonfolding high-end phones. One of the biggest deterrents is the $2,000 sticker price, and to see the cost go up for any model isn’t a very promising direction. 

Samsung declined to comment.