I’m getting ready to move off of Google (and Private Internet Access), and Proton is looking like the best option. But I’m nervous. Some of the things I worry about:
- Calendar support: I rely really heavily on Google Calendar. How will I share events with others? And what will I do without Google Tasks?
- VPN App Quality: Seeing some mixed reviews on Proton VPN Android app.
- Proton ethics & politics: Look, I really don’t want to open up the holy war here. My big stipulation is: I don’t want my money to go to a company that will donate its money or services to fascists. To my knowledge, Proton does not do that. I know they made a post that seemed to praise GOP antitrust efforts. I do not believe that that is the same thing as lending material support for fascists. (And, as someone who is very well read-in on antitrust issues, I’ll say that – for a lot of complicated reasons – there is some truth to Proton’s post, but I wish they had framed it as a critique of the corporate wing of the Democratic party and not praise of the GOP.)
- Anything else I haven’t thought to ask.
So, folks who have made the switch: What do you wish you had known? What do you wish you had done to make the move easier?
Thank you for your advice.
Dont delete the gmail. As much as I want to move on…i still remember the occassional account tied to my gmail, and Im so, so thankful I can still get whatever notification, reset password, etc. I dont know when I’ll feel comfortable deleting it. As long as Im getting emails, I can at least use it to reference what accounts still need to be moved over.
So despite “moving” emails I kind of just added one. But not a big deal, and the safety net is nice.
It costs money to be worth a darn.
Anything Proton costs money to be worth a darn.
Went from google to proton, proton to tuta after the fascist supporting comments of the proton CEO. I wish I hadn’t gotten involved with proton. There are better options for everything proton does and it’s not a good idea to be tied to the same company for everything.
honestly i would recommend keeping google calendar. proton calendar just wasn’t cutting it for me so the only google app i still require is calendar
Can we for all that is good get more Linux support? there isn’t any proton drive application for Linux. The excuse? Not enough available linux devs.
I dont have the numbers but who does proton think a good chunk of their customer base is or can be? People who use Linux because they value their privacy.
Its mind boggling.
Its 'coming, ’ whatever that means.
I thought it was not Proton who praised the GOP, but their CEO on his personal social media. It sounds like you are saying there is truth to the post – is it wrong to praise one’s opponents for doing something right? Is it not our inability to agree with our opponents even in the instances where we’re aligned with their objective that causes so much political gridlock?
I’m not going to pretend Hitler was a bad painter just because he was fucking evil. I’ll admit though – I wouldn’t want to have anything he painted in my home, even if I liked it.
Andy Yen’s messages were echoed and doubled-down on by official Proton accounts.
The truth to the posts made are the critiques of the Democratic party, not their praise of the republican party. If their posts consisted only of the former, there would be nothing to argue with. But their statements included the unhinged notion that Republicans are somehow antitrust and will fight monopolies.
I would say it is wrong to praise an opponent for doing something right when the only basis for it is that one of their opponents is also fucking up. The fact that democrats are controlled by money has no bearing on whether or not Republicans are.
Thank you for explaining this. I didn’t know.
Mail search is SO BAD - on EVERY DEVICE I make a database on.
I really wish I’d known that before I moved like 15 years of Gmail (and other accounts) over!
SO BAD. smh.
I feel like the Android client for ProtonMail is really slow. Switching folders is painful.
I also tried sharing calendars with my wife who is still on Gmail and didn’t have great luck there. I decided I’ll just forward invites to events to her, though I haven’t had a chance to test that.
I wanted to test sharing my calendar with my wife (we use Google which is currently how we share) but you have to have a paid account to share your proton calendar. I’m happy to pay but want to make sure it works before I do!
It does. I use Proton (paid) and she uses Google. Guide here
Thanks for the confirmation! I did a search after posting and found that article.
Do you have any downsides to Proton Calendar? So for your wife’s calendar have you added that into Proton and you can add/modify events?
That I don’t know.
I subscribe to hers and she to mine, but we just made them the same color so the one who ads stuff first is the one that stays, if that makes sense.
No downsides for me, really. It does what it’s supposed to do and it’s not Google.
If your still on the fence, then I can test editing both ways tomorow. Just let me know. Had a busy day today.
We have different colours to help differentiate. For example if I have a dentist appointment I know it’s mine as it’s in my colour.
In regards to modifying each other’s calendar. If she has a car service booked in but then needs me to move it, I have the ability to modify her calendar to move it to another date.
I’d like to retain the same ability.
I looked to see if I could get by replacing Photos with Drive in Proton. Whilst I can upload stuff. Videos greater than 100mb need to be downloaded to be watched. I guess because Google process videos to allow them to be streamed. Sadly a deal breaker for me :(
I can’t remember the video info for ente, but you might check that out for photo and video backup.
Might want to look into Immich or PeerTube.
I’ve looked at Immich a few times. I don’t really like self hosting important data as I don’t trust myself to not lose anything!
On desktop skip the ProtonVPN app and just use the official WireGuard app with the ProtonVPN config files which you can easily download from proton’s website. If your on Linux with gnome you don’t even need the wireguard app. You can just use the GUI network manager app to connect with the config files.
Especially skip the ProtonVPN app if you’re on Linux.
To steal a line from LGR’s video on Redguard, it’s just so B A L L S.
- The Android widget (not app just the widget) does not have a monthly view.
- There is no office suite (I don’t know why this surprised me but it did).
Generally it’s been an overall positive experience.
For me it is nothing. I don’t use the VPN and I own my domain, so I keep that if I ever change providers. The calendar works fine.
Ethically I have accepted that a comment was made by someone that should not have been shared, but I also accept that there is not a single company in the world where there are zero people with whom I agree 100%. The only difference is they don’t tweet about it. I am only fooling myself if I think changing providers will make any difference. Maybe the CEO of the next provider is a racist wifebeater…
Their service has been excellent, it’s European which I aim to support and their security is heavily scriutinzed as it’s open source. I sleep well giving them money for an great service.
it’s European which I aim to support
Indeed, to be clear it’s in Europe but not in a EU country “Proton services are operated by Proton AG, a Swiss corporation whose primary shareholder is the non-profit Proton Foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland.” but they are still GDPR (data protection law from the EU) compliant, cf https://proton.me/support/is-proton-mail-gdpr-compliant
Yeah I’m Norwegian so only an EEA member as well. I consider Europe as one, regardless of EU membership.
We’re still brothers even though we haven’t joined yet.
Let us keep some control over our coastline to avoid over fishing and I would strugle to find good arguments not to join in the future. We already follow most directives anyways.
Proton bridge is scam - it only pretends that it works. I have been trying to get a support that it doesn’t sync & delete e-mails correctly for 2 years and the only “help” was to clean the cache and wait 2 hours for resyncing…
It’s not a scam. It worked perfectly first try for me back when I tried it out like a year ago.
I used it for 2 years…
Okay. I don’t understand your point. It may be broken. It may even suck ass. But it’s certainly not a scam.
I went from Google to Proton and then switched out for another provider. No offline mode/IMAP support allowing me to use an email client on my phone was bothersome as I need to monitor multiple inboxes. Email was fine but sluggish (in part due to decryption so partially understandable I guess). Still use the VPN which I think is their most mature product. Drive is basic but I didn’t need much more.
I was willing to put up with the annoyances when I really believed in what they were doing. But after the GOP comments, the crypto/AI stuff, and leaving Mastodon it just all became a bit much. I like that they are nonprofit, FOSS, and independently audited of course, but their messaging/priorities have been mixed to say the least. Wouldn’t blame someone for staying, wouldn’t blame them for leaving at this point.
Yeah. Tried ProtonVPN before it was blocked, and hoped I’d also have another email address. But no, being unable to use it in my email client with all the other accounts made it unusable for me.
What do you mean by saying that ProtonVPN was blocked?
Blocked by the government I mean. Inaccessible. Somene I know tried Stealth and it doesn’t seem to work either, at least on the free tier.
which government? is it not usable anymore?
I mean of course you can use mail and other services - but you’d need another VPN/proxy, which is what we’re used to. But I only wanted the VPN, and that is indeed unusable
thanks for the info. I wanted to purchase it. I guess I’ll go with Mullvad then
Not sure sure if you know about this but they reason they don’t allow it in other clients is the encrypted portion. However, they built a bridge recently that allows you to use it within other clients on Linux (not sure what other OS but looks like windows too) and I’ve been running it on the Evolution client since.
Yeah, I am very much aware of this. However, I prefer not to trust the encryption that happens on their servers instead of my client, so I’d consider the non-e2e mail as fully open. As for bridge - indeed it solves the problem, but it’s exclusive to paid plans, which is not what I had experience with.
Get a custom domain so that your new email address isn’t tied to Proton. If Proton goes to shit it will be much easier to just take mail@mulcahey.com with you to your new email provider. I wish I had done this with Gmail so that it would’ve been easier to move to Proton.
100% this! Proton pass is convenient, but their email forwarding locks you into their ecosystem, and they limit your aliasing for your own custom domain. I started using it, and its nice, but I wish I knew about annonaddy before. I’d prefer making aliases using a custom domain so if i have to respond with a forwarded alias I can manage a way to reply from it, plus if I ever decide to leave proton, its not a road block. Sure you can usually change email addresses on sites, but may end up being a ton of work depending how many aliases you have, and how annoying the site makes it.
Mail@name is so much better than mine first@fullname.
As someone with a tuta.io email address who might have to switch in the future because of .io potentially going away… Good tip. I needed it 3 years ago.
