Proton Mail and Calendar are in for their most ambitious updates to date this summer. The Swiss-based privacy-first company is adding several new features and rebuilding both apps from the ground up on iOS and Android to add Gmail-style conveniences—all while keeping your data out of Big Tech’s reach.
New Quality of Life Features in Proton Mail
Proton Mail’s mobile apps for Android and iOS are being completely rebuilt with major quality-of-life enhancements ripped straight from Gmail, a press release from Proton revealed. The most significant additions include the new Category View, which will make it easier to sort emails by type. You’ll also be able to control which categories can send you notifications.
Attachment View will collect every attachment you’ve ever received—whether it’s a receipt or an important document—in one easy-to-access place. You’ll also finally be able to save files directly to Proton Drive without ever leaving the Proton Mail app.
Additionally, Proton says it is working on an offline mode, new features to help you manage newsletters, and major speed improvements to the apps—including faster search functionality.
Another area that won’t affect most but will affect business users is Proton’s addition of email retention controls and support for custom domains. This will finally make Proton Mail a closer replacement to Gmail in both form and function.
While Gmail already offers these same features, one area where Proton Mail will continue to rise far above what Google offers is user privacy. Proton’s entire ethos is based on putting your privacy first while offering the best functionality and features.
And overall, the company has done a good job delivering on that ethos to date. But the updates don’t stop with Proton Mail.
Download: Proton Mail for iOS | Android (free, in-app purchases available)
Proton Calendar Is Getting a Makeover, Too
The Proton Calendar app is also getting some serious attention. The company will launch a redesigned experience for Android and iPhone and an official iPad app with proper support and functionality.
When the update drops, you’ll be able to edit shared calendars and access quick glance views in revamped home screen widgets. Proton also plans to add offline access, task tracking, and more search tools to Proton Calendar.
The addition of these features will make it easier to choose Proton Calendar over Google Calendar, especially if you plan to bring the rest of your online presence into the Proton ecosystem. You can even ditch Google Docs for Proton Docs if you want a more private, distraction-free word processor.
Download: Proton Calendar for iOS | Android (free, in-app purchases available)
These updates will bring Proton’s tools closer to the convenience of mainstream apps like Gmail and Google Calendar without forcing users to buy into the data-collection economy.
If you’ve been looking to de-Google your life, then these updates give you even more reason to say goodbye to Google’s data-hungry apps.
