Proton now has a Bitcoin wallet as well as an AI assistant to help with writing. Is this really what Proton users want to see? I’ve had a Proton account for years and here’s what I personally look for.
1 File synchronization for Proton Drive on mobile and Linux
Proton Drive is a place to store or back up files online. Think of it as Proton’s answer to Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive. The big difference? Like all of Proton’s other services, your data is end-to-end encrypted.
While there are many cloud backup and sync services, relatively few of them offer end-to-end encryption. That means Proton Drive is one of the few options I would actually consider. Like many Proton subscribers, I pay in part because I no longer trust companies to store all of my data without either monetizing it in some way or losing it entirely in a massive data theft. Encryption mitigates the risk.
Unfortunately, Proton Drive is still not a viable option for me. While there is a desktop app that offers file syncing, it is only available for Windows and macOS. I abandoned Windows for Linux over a decade ago and do most of my computer work from Android devices these days. There is an Android app, but photos are the only files that are automatically uploaded. The rest you have to upload manually, which is the most tedious way to back up files.
2 A better alternative to Google Photos and iCloud
When you buy a phone these days, as part of the setup process, you’ll need to sign in with an online account that your camera photos can be automatically uploaded to. On an iPhone, you back up photos to your iCloud account. On an Android, this is usually Google Photos, which has become the standard way to back up your photos.
What’s Proton’s answer to that? It’s Proton Drive. Unfortunately, the experience just doesn’t feel that similar. The app meets the criteria of automatically backing up your photos so they’re safe, but it’s not a photo-first design. Proton Drive’s auto-upload feature is comparable to the same feature found in Dropbox, Google Drive, and that cohort. In Google Photos, it’s not.
Luckily, there’s Ente, an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Photos and iCloud. It offers all the features you’d expect from a Proton Photos-style service. The problem is that convincing people to sign up to another service can be a challenge. Since Ente’s code is open source, Proton could recreate the same experience under a new name and build on that foundation. Or Proton could acquire Ente, as it does other projects with common goals (SimpleLogin springs to mind).
3 Proton Calendar Bridge (like Proton Mail Bridge)
My wife and I use Proton Mail as our primary email service and Proton Calendar to share our appointments. It has all the features I want from a calendar app. My biggest problem is that I have to use either the web app or the mobile app. I can’t use alternative clients.
I really love the Niagara Launcher for Android phones, but I can’t use the calendar integration. If I could, I would have upcoming events displayed right on my home screen above my apps.
Likewise, I can’t use Samsung Calendar, which is comparable to other Samsung apps that I think are pretty good. Not only does it integrate with more apps on my Galaxy Z Fold 5, but it’s also faster to navigate than the Android app Proton Calendar.
I’d love to see a Proton Calendar version of the Proton Mail Bridge app, which would let you use your Proton Mail account with third-party clients like Thunderbird and Outlook. Granted, that’s a desktop-only app, so even if a Proton Calendar Bridge came out for the desktop, it still wouldn’t be very useful on my Android phone.
Here’s a simple example. While I don’t want to give Google my contacts, it certainly gives me peace of mind that if I smash my phone in the driveway while getting in the car, I won’t lose my contacts. Currently, I manually export my contacts to a VCF file and keep a backup that way. As with any manual backup, there is a risk that my backup will be out of date if an accident happens.
Because of their end-to-end encryption, Proton is a provider I would actually trust to back up my phone contacts, just like I trust them with my email contacts. If Proton could also back up my call log, that would be great too.
5 Alternatives to Google Sheets and Slides
In the summer of 2024, Proton introduced Docs in Proton Drive, an alternative to Google Docs. It can open DOCX files, offers the essential formatting options, and has many of the collaboration features people expect from Google Docs. It was a big necessary step to help more people switch from Google’s suite. I like Proton’s implementation, which almost feels more like a distraction-free writing app than a word processor.
But Google Docs is just one component in Google’s online office suite. To do the job, Proton also needs an option for editing spreadsheets (like Google Sheets) and presentations (like Google Slides).
I’d be surprised if this isn’t already on Proton’s roadmap, but it’s exactly the kind of thing that comes to mind when Proton announces features like a Bitcoin wallet and AI-generated texts. This feels like a distraction, if not a complete shift in the wrong direction.
I’m a huge fan of Proton. Protecting your online data has always been a technical matter, usually requiring knowledge of PGP keys or self-hosting. Signing up for Proton’s services is as easy as any other web account, and for the most part, it’s straightforward.
It’s nice to see Proton introducing new options. I may not use Proton Pass, for example, but I understand the gap the service fills. I just hope Proton invests more resources into fleshing out its existing offerings before it gets too caught up in what could be called the online fads of the day.
