Calvin Wankheed / Android Authority
I have recently been in mind about how my online privacy and companies use my personal data for personal benefits. And in my quest to find a friendly alternative to joint online services, I decided to go to Protenable Apps Protone Sweet. The Swiss company’s first product was the proton mail all over the way in 2014, so it seemed to be appropriate to start there.
The Proton Mail has made some big promises from strong end to the use of encryption to strict data security standards. On the other hand, services like Gmail promise zero privacy and you can scan the contents of your inboxes to show you targeted ads.
But even when someone is ready to prepare the problem of digging Google somewhere else in my life and even the inconvenience of using privacy focused graphinos on my phone, the limits I have encountered with the Proton Mail prevents me from recommending it wholeheartedly. In fact, I have already returned to my trusted old Gmail account. Why is it here
Will you use a proton mail instead of gmail?
660 votes
Yes, and I will pay the price
50 %
Yes, if it is free
26 %
No, I’m happy with gmail
25 %
Proton Mail has a big catch in the privacy
Calvin Wankheed / Android Authority
If you look for independent reviews of the proton mail, you will find that many people appreciate the stronger service on privacy, which is ended from the end to encryption. Even Google’s Search AI review confidently states that “Proton Mail encryption ensures that only the sender and the recipient can read the emails.” However, this statement does not paint throughout the picture and it is just a half truth.
You see that the promise from the end end only applies to emails only when you and the person you are using are using both proton mail addresses. Think about it for a second. How many people do you have regular email on Proton Mail? For me, and I bet for most people, the answer is zero, or very close to it. If you just care about anyone, all email providers already use basic encryption in transit. This means that your ISP and other third parties may not read your emails, but Google or your email provider.
In direct words, when you send an email using Gmail or Yahoo or any other provider from your proton mail address, you lose the biggest sales point of the encryption service at the end. Google and Microsoft can easily read the contents of your email at the other end and the lack of each individual’s email guard password – you can do nothing to stop it. As a protocol, the email was never originally designed to fully encrypt, like SMS and phone calls.
Proton mail encryption is only fully implemented when both sides use service.
In defense, the company behind the Proton Mail cannot read your inbox until it is saved on their servers. This is thankful for the use of zero access encryption. The Proton Mail server easily stores a encrypted volume of your account data. When you log into your account in a web browser, your password decks all emails specifically on your device. This is in addition to a significant privacy compared to a general email service like Gmail, and the Proton Mail deserves credit here. But when your email lands on the servers of another company, you lose all the benefits of privacy.
The Proton Mail is often considered to be more secure than competition, but it is also a wrong name. If you have a Google Account that has strong password and two -factor verification is enabled, you already have an email inbox that is as secure as the proton mail can offer. The latter does not offer any additional security, so you should not change it just because of it.
The Android app feels like taking two steps back
Calvin Wankheed / Android Authority
Proton mail encryption limits are not a company’s fault – as well as email works. However, in the past few weeks, my experience with the Proton Mail’s Android app has left a lot to be desired. Although Gmail and Outlook apps have no shortage of minor problems, they offer a complete email experience. I just can’t say about the proton mail app.
One of the first things I felt was the lack of pictures of the sender in the email list for a significant number. The small visual gesture that I have come to rely on my inbox or notification shade quickly is missing in many cases. Even when the Proton Mail is on the web version, the sender’s photos are unmarked within the Android app.
The Proton Mail does not offer any option to format the text during the Android app email draft. Want to make a key point bold, upset a phrase, or make a list of tablets? Forget about it. You are limited to simple text and numbers. According to Proton’s own user forums, this feature is absent from at least 2021.
The Proton Mail’s Android app does not support text formatting and sender images, and you can’t easily use any other email client.
Finally, a seemingly small but effective error is a failure to swipe between emails. In Gmail, a simple swipe left or right allows you to travel quickly through your inbox. This gesture is absent in the Proton Mail app, forcing you to return to the inbox permanently to open the next message. This is a minor discomfort, but it significantly increases less fluid and effective email experience.
And if you want to use email clients such as Outlook or Apple Mail that rely on a standard protocol like IMAP and SMTP access to your email, you will need a proton tower. This is an app that operates on your local machine to discontinue and recover, allowing the traditional email client to interact with your proton mail account. However, this functionality is not available at the free level and has been closed behind the paid membership. And it brings me to my last grip with the Proton Mail – its subscription model.
Is the Proton Mail payment worth it?
Calvin Wankheed / Android Authority
Although I have mentioned so far that I have mentioned so far, if I was a proton mail free, the fact is that you will finish the service payment at some point. At the free level, you only get 1GB storage. The free space of storage is deliberately – unlike Gmail, the proton does not display ads in the mailbox. And when 1GB storage is certainly still usable if you have a zero inbox philosophy, it will probably not be enough. But even with Gmail’s 15GB of free storage space, you will need to pay 99 4.99 every month on the Proton Mail.
There are some other plans to choose in this service, including 99 12.99 monthly subscriptions, including proton VPN, 500GB encrypted cloud storage, password manager, and unlimited email Arafat as an additional confidential feature. This is far more compelled package but if you do not need a VPN or cloud storage then the $ 120 annual fee is parked. I definitely see the value in the email alias names for privacy, but the standstone offers a protagonist, which features only 99 4.99 monthly.
A proton mail subscription looks just like a good deal when bundled with VPN and extra storage.
Finally, I am also very happy to know that the Proton Mail will only purify all the data from free accounts after being inactive for just one year. This is not a big deal for regular consumers, but independent people are often more likely to use secret email service. And once an account is suspended, you cannot recover it or make no new with the same username. Google’s inactivity policy extends for two years, which is much more reasonable for such a permanent action.
Finally, a few weeks after the Proton Mail trials, I found myself questioning whether an email is worth paying membership that offers only minor privacy while sacrificing key features somewhere else. Of course, the suggestion of value is for a few selected people who use their email for sensitive content.
When used properly, the Proton Mail encryption has really protected workers and disagreements from governments and persecution, but most of us use email for transactional messages and anything else. In practice, all my personal conversations are on the signal or WhatsApp, where the encryption is always guaranteed, so do much to get a lot from switching to the proton mail? I am not convinced, so I am still on Gmail.
