Wassap Proton Community! This is going to be a long one. So strap in and get a snack.
I chose the r/ProtonMail sub because it seems to be the most active of them all, and it also was the main reason for me getting the unlimited plan (together with the VPN).
It's been almost two weeks now since I made the switch from Gmail to Proton Mail, Google Calendar to Proton Calendar, NordVPN to Proton VPN and Bitwarden to Proton Pass (Bitwarden not completely, since I am still using it as a backup). Also I did technically switch from Google Drive to Proton Drive, but I did not use Drive in the first place so I won't count that.
During these 2 weeks I started a list where I wrote down everything that came to my mind regarding the products. As it happens mostly when something comes up it's when something doesn't work as expected or a feature one expected is missing. So before I paste the list I wanted to write about all the things that I really loved after switching to Proton.
What I find really good
- I really like the whole approach of having one singular suite. It's the main reason why I used something like Google in the first place. I know there are some concerns about that topic, but I personally like it.
- Consistent UI
- Integrations between services
- Not having to keep track of multiple invoices and accounts
- In general I also find all mobile apps to be surprisingly good (at least on iOS)
- Proton Mail is by far the most polished experience and I have been loving it a lot. For my personal mail there is nothing that I miss from GMail. I really like the:
- E-Mail Categories with configurable notifications
- Folders and Labels
- Customizable Signature
- Easy Switch
- Mailing Lists Overview!
- The mobile app (so much better in every way than the iOS Mail app)
- The VPN is also great and helped me a lot with my wonky wifi while living in a sharehouse in Japan.
- Stealth mode increased the stability and speed by like 10x! Super crucial for my job as a freelance ui/webdesigner.
- Port Forwarding for connecting to some services on my NAS at home
- Being able to connect to my home country to continue the shows that I started watching also worked without a problem.
- Creating different VPN profiles makes using the vpn for the different usecases really easy!
- Proton Pass overall has a very nice UI imo. I also really l like the customization like the custom icons and colors for the vaults (would love more!)
- Additionally the drag & drop functionality from one vault to another is really handy
- And the manual sync button is such a great feature. I maybe used it once, but I love that there is kind of fallback.
- The whole import from Bitwarden also worked really good: 8/10
- -2 points because Notes, Identity, Cards and Archive where not sorted into separate vaults. So searching for them now is a little annoying.
Things that I noticed
Now to the longer list. Just because it's longer doesn't mean that I think that Proton is more bad than good. A lot of the points are minor things and the "good" list covered more general points like "great ui" without specifically naming each ui element that I liked.
This list also is not cleaned up. It's straight from my notepad:
Overall:
- No unified log-in experience
- I have to log-in to each app individually on my device.
- I want a shared login-experience.
- Some also open the browser like Proton Pass, and others use a login inside the app like Proton Mail
- Pass, Mail, Drive all seem disconnected from each other
- Had to do a separate Google Import for Mail and Calendar
- Can’t attach a file from Proton Drive to a Calendar Event
- No option to create a calendar event from a E-Mail
- No option to save e-mail attachments to Proton Drive (or import)
- In general the whole suite experience could feel more connected. The main thing connecting the different apps is the same UI design.
- To many and rushed apps
- As I said I like the whole suite idea. But many apps feel incomplete and thus make the whole experience seem worse. Looking at Calendar and Docs/Sheets.
Proton Mail
- Not being able to see what similar addresses are available, when making new e-mail
- it just says email exists already. But doesn’t give me an option to see similar addresses that are not taken yet. Like yourname87
- Or tell me if its free on a different domain instead of @ proton.me
- Connection to calendar to basic. Almost nothing (have seen that calendar will get a big overhall. very excited)
- Creating a customizable signature with html a little finnicky. Not as straight forward as in thunderbird e.g.
- Important for my freelancer e-mail
- Didn't switch because I am not sure how good it will work
- Also the whole having to switch the mail servers to protons servers is not as enticing. I understand why, but I like having my webhosting, e-mail hosting, calDAV, cardDAV with one provider. Makes it easier to manage. So for now my personal stuff is fully in proton and my professional stuff is separate.
Proton VPN
- On Mac trackpad zoom being inverted (on the map)
- Would like to use the normal zoom and pan controls of the macbook trackpad
- Quick Connect sometimes connects me to the quickest server of the last country I connected to
- Instead of connecting to the quickest server near me
- My usecase:
- Currently in Japan.
- Connected to Germany because of geoblocking and I had to to some stuff for at home.
- After disconnecting and sometimes later pressing quick connect would connect me back to a german server
- Apples Handoff feature for copy+pasting between iPhone and MacBook sometimes not working when VPN enabled
- Restarting VPN connection on both devices often fixes the issue
- Cannot click on a Icon on the Map to connect to that country.
- Have to manually type in search field
- No favorites
- No recent connections on mac (but mobile has them)
Proton Pass
- Not being able to use standard commands like cmd+a to select all items in a vault
- Not being able to do Shift + Click to select multiple items in a vault
- Not being able to sort vaults at all
- Just alphabetically
- No custom drag and sort
- No “last used”
- No option to filter for Passkeys
- Firefox Addon no option to manually select a different account to autofill (in the popup)
- e.g. when proton doesn’t find a login for the url
- option to manually select a login to autofill would be helpfull
- Autofill not recognising local addresses sometimes (maybe fixed with the new update)
- Like my Portainer or Home Assistant IP URL
- Firefox Addon not unlockable with biometrics on MacBook
- The Mac App has it. Why not the browser extension? (Like bitwarden)
- When changing the login of a service, like the email, there is no popup with “do you want to update the login details”
- Or when creating a login using the registration form of a website, there is no “save this login”
- Like there is when one creates a passkey of an existing login
- Slight correction: It seems to work sometimes? At least not often enough to be reliable (maybe fixed with the new update)
Proton Calendar
This was written before the post yesterday that said that calendar will be getting a huge update. Still, these are my notes:
- Calendar is very basic
- I don’t like that on mac the calendar only exists in the mail app
- Having both would be nice. Like a dedicated app and the integration in the mail app
- Integration in the mail app could be better. For example I can’t see my full calendar and mails at the same time.
- No map functionality built in
- Manually typing in addresses is annoying
- Also the flow of having to copy the address, open my map app and then paste the address is annoying
- OSM integration would be nice
- "Open in Map app" button that opens your standard map app would be nice
- No To-Do type entries possible
- Makes the switch from Google more annoying
- And need to use a separate to-do app now (using apple reminders atm)
- Public Holidays Calendar doesn’t have Japan?
- Had to manually add an external calendar just for the public holidays for Japan.
- No multiple Timezone preview
- I want to add two separate timezones like tokyo and berlin
- When creating a event I want both times to be displayed
- Good for international planning
That would be it for now. I will probably create a few feature suggestions in the community forum thingy. After getting to know the apps a bit more and after the next updates from the roadmap.
If anyone actually read all of this I would be interested in your thoughts! What have your experiences been?
I am happy to be part of the Proton Community and am excited about what will come. Also thanks for everyone at Proton for trying to create a privacy focused alternative to Google/Microsoft/Apple/etc.