Proton Mail gets lots of attention as a private and secure email service. You see lots of recommendations in various media outlets, and you surely have at least a few friends who are already using it. But when you strip away the flowery language, does this email provider really stand above the competition?
Have the major product changes that have rolled out recently changed the equation? Is Proton Mail worth testing for yourself? We’ll answer all this and more in our new and updated Proton Mail review for 2024.
If you want to protect your email from prying eyes, but don’t need the kind of protection that keeps spies and whistleblowers alive, Proton Mail could be the secure email service for you. It utilizes PGP encryption standards, end-to-end and zero-knowledge encryption. A high level of encryption is very important in an age of eroding security and regular data breaches in the news.
Because Proto Mail positions its service as one of the most secure email options available, above and beyond other secure email providers, we’re really going to put it under the microscope in this updated Proton Mail review for 2024.
| Website | Proton.me |
| Based in | Switzerland |
| Storage | 15-500 GB |
| Price | $3.33/mo. |
| Free Tier | Up to 1 GB |
| Coupon | 33% off Proton Mail > |
But remember, we can only give you information about Proton Mail. Only you can decide which is the best secure email service for your unique needs and threat model. So let’s get started.
+ Pros
- End-to-end (E2E) and zero-access encryption for Email, Calendar, and Contact information
- Operates under Swiss jurisdiction
- All data stored on servers in Switzerland
- Apps for Android and iOS mobile devices
- Web client, encryption algorithms, Android and iOS code are all open source
- Support for custom domains
- Strips IP address from emails
- Can be used with third-party email clients through the Proton Mail Bridge feature
- Can import contacts and emails
– Cons
- Subject lines not encrypted
- May require personal information for verification of new accounts
Proton Mail Black Friday Deal is live:
Get 60% Off Proton Mail with two-year plans using the coupon below:
(Coupon is applied automatically; 30-day money-back guarantee)
Proton Mail feature overview
Proton Mail utilizes strong end-to-end (E2E) and zero-access encryption standards to protect all email, contacts, and calendar data. All your data is encrypted when stored on Proton Mail servers, except for email subject lines (more on this later).
Note: To understand the difference between E2E and zero-access encryption, check out this excellent explanation.
Aside from this multi-tiered encryption system, Proton Mail has plenty of interesting features, including:
- The ability to send “self-destructing messages,” which are automatically deleted at the time the sender specifies.
- Address Verification, a way to ensure that a Public Key received from another user hasn’t been tampered with since you first verified it.
- Full PGP support.
- Premium accounts with a range of additional benefits, including a brandable Business account.
- The ability to send encrypted emails to non-Proton Mail users.
- Android and iOS mobile apps plus a web client.
- Proton Mail Bridge, which allows Proton Mail to integrate with other email clients that support the IMAP and SMTP protocols.
- Easy Switch, which makes it easy to switch to Proton Mail by importing messages from other services.
Overall, this is a good lineup of features.
Since our last review of Proton Mail, it and its siblings (Proton VPN, Proton Calendar, and Proton Drive) have been joined together under a single Proton Account. Signing up for a free Proton Account automatically gives you access to the free versions of all four products.
Proton Mail company history and funding sources
The Proton Mail family of products is run by Proton AG, a company based in Geneva, Switzerland. The founders met while scientists at CERN, and came up with the idea for a secure email provider in the CERN cafeteria, as the story goes.
Funding for Proton Mail has come from various sources over the years. Aside from regular paying users, Proton Mail has also benefited from the following funding sources:
- In 2014, Proton Mail launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that brought in over half a million dollars.
- In 2015, Proton Mail accepted a $2 million investment from a US-based firm called Charles River Ventures (CRV).
- In 2019, Proton Mail accepted €2 million from the EU government to “develop a suite of encrypted services.”
Proton Mail is more expensive than some of the other secure email services we’ve reviewed, such as Tutanota and Posteo for example.
Proton Mail does not encrypt email subject lines
One concern I have is that Proton Mail does not encrypt the subject lines of messages. From the Proton Mail website:
All ProtonMail data at rest and in transit is encrypted. However, subject lines in ProtonMail are not end-to-end encrypted, which means if served with a valid Swiss court order, we do have the ability to turn over the subjects of your messages. Your message content and attachments are end to end encrypted.
Proton Mail complies with the OpenPGP encryption standard, which is based on the proprietary PGP standard. In that standard, address-related metadata is part of the message header and must remain unencrypted to allow a message to reach its destination.
If this lack of encryption for the subject line is a problem for you, check out our Tutanota review. Tutanota does not rely on PGP and fully encrypts subject lines.
The ProtonMail approach makes them compliant with the PGP specification but leaves this potentially-revealing data unencrypted.
Proton Mail servers and data security
All Proton Mail servers are physically located in Switzerland in secure facilities. This means user data is protected by Swiss law, which generally provides for better privacy than USA or EU law.
However, Proton Mail makes it clear that if you violate Swiss laws, and they receive a Swiss court order, they will have to turn over whatever information they have on you to the Swiss authorities. This is where the lack of encryption for the Subject line of messages can become a problem.
While the bodies of your messages and any attachments should remain safely encrypted, addressing information and the Subject lines of your messages are stored in the clear and would be provided to the authorities. This information is enough to give anyone possessing it a good idea of who you communicate with and the subjects you discuss with them.
See all Proton Mail security features here >
Proton Mail logging IP addresses
Additionally, Proton Mail may also log your IP address if they think you are doing something that violates their terms and conditions or if ordered to do so by the Swiss government. You can find more information on this in section 2.7 of the Proton Privacy Policy.
This is another reason we recommend using a good VPN service that hides your true IP address and location. Using a good VPN is also essential for basic digital privacy in a world when ISPs log everything you do online.
With the large investments that have been made by a US firm and the EU government, some people question how free from USA and EU influence Proton AG really is. Additionally, Switzerland now has data retention regulations, but Proton Mail argues that these regulations do not apply to their services, but rather to Swiss internet providers.
All that said, the Proton Mail threat model document specifically states that,
“we cannot guarantee your safety against a powerful adversary.”
The spy agencies serving the USA and EU definitely qualify as “powerful adversaries.” Under most circumstances, this is a secure email service. But if you decide to take on one of the Five Eyes, violate Swiss laws, or do something else equally crazy, using Proton Mail is unlikely to save you.
Proton Mail security, privacy, and anonymity – Addressing user comments
We’ve received several comments from our readers related to the security, privacy, and anonymity of Proton Mail. It is easy to see why.
It used to be that the Proton Mail home page claimed that the service, “provided an anonymous email gateway”, and “requires no personal information to create an account.” However, the algorithm that controlled the registration process sometimes decided that it needed some personal information before allowing you to create an account. You would see an, “Are you human?” dialog box like this one:
Clearly, if you are required to enter personally identifiable information, the system is not very anonymous. Proton Mail has addressed this issue by eliminating any mention of anonymity on their home page. They have also created a page explaining their “Registration Human Verification” procedures, which you can read about here.
First, the system doesn’t always force you to enter personal information. They have, “an intelligent algorithm that determines the required verification method based on a number of factors.” Sometimes it will only require a reCaptcha to confirm that you are human.
At other times you will be forced to use email or SMS verification, or make a “donation” using a credit card or PayPal. In other words, their algorithm will decide for itself whether or not you are allowed to create an account without disclosing personal information. So let’s call it conditional anonymity.
The page also explains that if you do use email or SMS for verification, only a cryptographic hash of this information is stored. This hash, “is not permanently associated with the account that you create.” The page doesn’t explain if “not permanently associated” means “never associated,” or “temporarily associated.” Nor does it explain how credit card and PayPal verification is tracked.
I can understand the company’s desire to have processes in place to prevent spammers from abusing the system. But I couldn’t understand their claim that no personal information was required to create your secure email account despite the fact that sometimes personal information was required. The fact that the email and SMS hashes are not permanently associated with your account doesn’t change the fact that you must provide them, then trust Proton Mail’s handling of them.
We have reviewed other secure email services that give you more privacy when registering for an account. For an example of this, see our Tutanota review.
To wrap things up, here are the things you need to know:
- Proton Mail Subjects are not encrypted
- Proton Mail can, and has, logged user IP addresses, at least once turning over that information to the authorities
- Proton Mail is not anonymous — but it is private
If you want a secure email service that is more private than services like Gmail and Outlook, Proton Mail could be a good choice.
If you want anonymity, or a guarantee that the Swiss government can’t find out your IP Address, Proton Mail can’t give you that.
If you want a guarantee that a powerful adversary like the NSA can’t read your email, Proton Mail can’t guarantee that. But neither can any of the Proton Mail alternatives.
Proton Mail technical specifications
Proton Mail uses a variety of encryption algorithms to protect your messages. All messages are end-to-end encrypted and also remain encrypted in your mailbox until actively being read. The algorithms they use are open source versions of AES and RSA along with OpenPGPjs algorithms:
- AES-128
- TLS 1.0
- DHE RSA
- SHA 3
QuoVadis Trustlink Schweiz AG signs SSL certificates for Proton Mail.
Security features of the certificates include:
- Extended Validation (EV)
- Certificate Transparency (CT)
- 4096-bit RSA
- SHA-256 hash
Proton Mail hands-on testing
If you’ve used email services like Microsoft Outlook or Gmail, you will find Proton Mail to be easy to work with. For this review, we’ll be looking at the Proton Mail Plus plan, the paid version of the Proton Mail service.
Creating a Proton Mail account
To create an account with Proton Mail, you need to sign up for a Proton account. This gives you access to versions of the entire Proton product family (Proton Mail Proton VPN, Proton Calendar, and Proton Drive),
You can get an account in a matter of minutes:
- Go to the Proton.me website and click the Create a free account button.
- You will see three plan options. I recommend starting with the Free Plan so you can get the feel of the service.
- Create your Proton Account by entering a username and password. This gives you access to the Proton Mail plan you selected plus the free versions of the other products in the Proton family.
- Go through the verification steps.
I’ve seen complaints that Proton Mail sometimes forces people to go through phone (SMS) verification if they try to sign up using a VPN or the Tor network. While I don’t like the idea that Proton Mail may force you to use SMS verification, I understand their desire to protect the service from spammers and bots.
Note: While Proton Mail wants to make sure you aren’t doing anything shady, you may want to use Proton Mail truly anonymously. I could imagine someone in that situation using an anonymous payment method like a new, virtual credit card to make a donation. Or maybe renting an SMS number just long enough to complete the process. Even using a disposable email address and then discarding it once the verification is done.
Signing in to Proton Mail
Signing in to Proton Mail is easy and straightforward. Simply go to the homepage and enter your login credentials. When using Proton Mail, you have the option to create a recovery email inbox, which can be used if you lose your password.
Once you sign into Proton Mail, you can stay with the free plan or upgrade to one of the paid plans. As is common with most secure email services, the paid plans offer more storage and additional features over the free plan. We noted this same dichotomy in our Proton VPN review.
Note: As we go through this review, I’ll let you know which features are available only in a paid plan or only in the beta.
The look and feel of Proton Mail
The latest version of Proton Mail has a pretty standard interface, although it was updated in April 2022 to be consistent with the other products in the Proton family. There’s a 3-pane “Row View” layout (we saw that when talking about encrypted subject lines earlier). They also offer the “Column View” option, as you can see here:
With Column View, you get all the usual folders in the left-most pane, with the ability to add as many custom ones as you wish if you are using a paid version of Proton Mail. And like other privacy-oriented mail services, Proton Mail blocks remote content like images by default, giving you the option to load them right at the top of the window.
The web client works smoothly although there can be a delay when opening a message, given that the message must be decrypted before you can read it. Since the client is browser-based, instead of a stand-alone app, you might find that it slows down as the number of messages as your folders increase, but I didn’t notice any problems during testing.
Proton Mail Settings
You can customize the layout of your Proton Mail inbox by clicking the Settings icon. In the menu that appears, select Go to settings, which opens the Settings window.
Select Appearance in the left-hand column of the Settings window. You’ll be presented with several Themes, along with Layout options for the Inbox and the Composer window (see below). There is also an option to change the Density (how closely packed the text is) of the content Proton Mail displays.
Composing messages with Proton Mail
By default, you compose Proton Mail messages in a pop-up window called Composer. It comes with a good set of HTML formatting options, including inline images. This window appears in the lower-right corner of the Proton Mail window, and looks like this:
Once you get used to the layout, the composition window makes things like Attachments, an Expiration time, a Read Receipt Request, and Encryption fast and easy. If you don’t like working in this little window, you can make the Composer window large by clicking the Settings icon, then Go to Settings, then Appearance. In the Composer section that appears, select Maximized.
Note: You can only set an expiration time on messages sent to other Proton Mail users or encrypted messages sent to non-Proton Mail users. You cannot make an unencrypted message to a non-Proton Mail user expire.
There are a few keyboard shortcuts that help you to compose and send encrypted messages. But you won’t find more advanced editing features such as macros and automatic suggestions.
Sending messages to non-Proton Mail users
Like some other secure email services, such as Tutanota and Mailfence, Proton Mail gives you the option to send encrypted messages to people who don’t use the service. The recipient will need to know the shared password you are using, so that will need to be arranged outside the system. These encrypted messages automatically expire in 28 days (but you can set a shorter date if you wish). Here’s a screenshot from our tests:
The recipient will then get an email with a secure link. If they enter the correct password and click the View Secure Message button, they will be able to see the message you sent them.
This system seems to work very well, as long as you can share the password outside the Proton Mail system to get the process started. For this endeavor, you could consider using a secure messaging app.
Searching for messages in Proton Mail
Proton Mail has a very limited ability to search your messages. Because messages are encrypted (except while you are actually viewing them), the client can’t search message bodies. This, of course, can be frustrating and really limit your ability to find the message you are looking for. Here’s a screenshot of the search feature:
If you give Proton Mail permission to do so, it can download, decrypt, and index the bodies of your messages to facilitate searching them. This approach appears very similar to that taken by Tutanota several years ago.
Comparison to Tutanota search – In comparison, we noted in our Tutanota review how this email offers full-text search capabilities — and has done so since 2017. To do this, Tutanota creates an encrypted search index which can then be searched locally on the users’ device.
Proton Contacts
The Proton Contacts secure contact manager is integrated into Proton Mail, giving users a secure way to protect their contacts while functioning smoothly with Proton Mail.
Proton Mail creates Proton Contacts encryption keys for you. It uses those keys in their zero access encryption system to encrypt clear text contact data, ensuring that once they do encrypt your data this way, even Proton Mail can’t read it. Proton Contacts also uses digital signature verification to ensure that no one else can secretly tamper with your contact information.
Note: Email addresses in contacts are not encrypted using zero knowledge encryption. Why? Because Proton Mail needs to be able to read the email address to know where to send your messages.
Proton Calendar
Building an encrypted calendar sounds pretty easy at first. Just encrypt all the data until the user opens the calendar, then decrypt the data for them. But just as an email service has to interact with other email services, a calendar service needs to be able to interact with other calendar services.
Even worse, a full-powered calendar system needs to be able to share events with other calendar systems. The engineers battled with this complexity for over a year, and on December 20, 2019, they announced the arrival of Proton Calendar.
It features:
- Calendar sharing
- Event invitations to anyone (whether they use Proton Mail or not)
- The ability to sync the calendar with events found in your Proton Mail inbox
- The ability to import other calendars in .ICS format
All Proton Mail users get access to Proton Calendar.
Proton Drive
In November 2020, Proton announced the release of Proton Drive in beta. This is a basic secure cloud storage feature that can be used with certain accounts. However, as we noted in our ProtonVPN vs NordVPN comparison, the Proton team has a habit of restricting the feature set, with more features as the price of your subscription climbs. In this case, access to Proton Drive is only available for paid users.
How long did ProtonDrive stay in beta? Almost 2 years. That fits with Proton AG’s history or multi-year test cycles. The beta went on so long that we recommended anyone who needed secure cloud storage that wasn’t stuck in beta to the best cloud storage instead of waiting for Proton Drive to come out of beta. But with Proton Drive finally out of beta, you should definitely give it a try!
Proton Mail mobile apps
Proton Mail has apps for both iOS and Android. I’ve been working with the Android app and it looks good and functions smoothly. At the time of this Proton Mail review, the Android app had over 5 million downloads and a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Since our last major review, Proton Technologies completed the process of making their Android app open source. However, it is still not available on F-Droid.
The iOS app is also open source. The iOS app gets a score of 4.0 out of 5, with over 3,200 reviews.
Proton Mail business features
Proton Mail also offers a service for businesses that provides “end-to-end encryption to secure your business communications.”
This service includes migration tools and dedicated support to transition your business from its current hosting to the Proton Mail infrastructure. It incorporates a user hierarchy allowing your Email Administrators to manage user accounts appropriately.
Given the current limitations with search and calendar, I’m not sure Proton Mail would be a great fit for businesses that need all these features. There are other good options that are more fully featured, such as Mailfence or Mailbox.org.
Proton Mail Support
Proton Mail provides differing levels of customer support depending on which subscription plan you have. Not surprisingly, free users get a basic support level, with access to a searchable knowledge base and some helpful step-by-step guides. As you move up through the paid plans you get email support and eventually priority support.
Proton Mail cost and pricing plans
Since they don’t display ads in their clients or sell access to your messages to advertisers, Proton Mail charges for their services. Proton Mail has three pricing plans, including a free tier with up to 1 GB of storage.
The Free plan, with 1 GB of storage, 150 messages per day, and 3 folders/labels could be enough for you. If not, one of the paid plans will likely meet your needs.
The image above shows the details of each pricing plan as of August 2022. But these tend to change so your best bet for current info is to go to the signup page and see what the current offer looks like.
Proton Mail’s paid plans have historically been more expensive than the competition. They are still higher than you might like, but the company has dropped the prices somewhat since our last review. It still isn’t a cheap service, but I think the improved features and reduced-price make it a better value than just a few months ago.
Deal: (opens in a new tab)”>Get 33% off Proton Mail here >
Proton Mail FAQ
Here are some of the more common questions about this product and its related components such as Proton Mail Bridge.
There is a lot of debate out there about how secure Proton Mail really is. Aside from the financial ties to the US and EU that we discussed earlier, there have been some criticisms of the service on other grounds as well.
The browser client uses JavaScript encryption libraries. These are considered to be less secure than the libraries used in the Proton Mail mobile apps.
Leaving the Subject field in the clear (for PGP compatibility) means more data could be exposed to those spying on the message traffic.
A paper published at the end of 2018 criticized Proton Mail’s cryptographic architecture on a number of grounds. However, these same criticisms could be applied to any browser-based email client (not just Proton Mail). Here is the response from Proton Mail.
On the subject of using PGP, there are also some benefits in terms of security. OpenPGP is an open standard, which has been extensively audited for security and is battle-tested, and well-proven to be secure. Proton Mail is also the maintainer of OpenPGPjs, which is the most widely used open source encryption library and has therefore been thoroughly audited.
Lastly, we also have to keep in mind that Proton Mail is arguably the biggest name in the private email space. This makes it a good target for criticism, as we also noted in our NordVPN review, as the largest VPN provider.
Because Proton Mail uses E2E and zero-knowledge encryption, there isn’t a lot of data that they can hand over to anyone. The only thing that is stored unencrypted is message headers and the email addresses of contacts.
Even here, Proton AG says they won’t hand over any data unless directed to by the appropriate Swiss authority. Your data is about as safe as it can be using publicly available tech.
A bigger risk to the security of your data, is the way governments are pushing to break end-to-end encryption. There are constant efforts to force companies to insert “backdoors” into their software that would allow law enforcement to bypass encryption. This recent Fortune magazine article nicely describes the situation in the United States today.
Proton Technologies allows you to switch between the free and paid versions of this encrypted email service. You can go from a paid version to the free version, but if you do you’ll lose all the premium features of the paid version you are leaving. You can also return to a paid version from the free version. How? By subscribing to the paid version you want. You won’t lose any of your messages when you do this.
Proton Mail review conclusion
Proton Mail is a polished and popular end-to-end encrypted email service that will meet the needs of many regular users. Thanks to their recent user interface updates, the entire Proton family of products now has a consistent look consistent with their treatment of the products as more of a suite of tools, than a bunch of standalone privacy products. This made an already good product even more appealing.
As perhaps the most popular secure email provider on the market, with a free account, it is a great option for regular encrypted communications with friends, business partners, and others who want protection from routine snooping and hacking. You will, however, need to be patient about getting additional features thanks to Proton Mail’s extended beta test cycles.
While Proton Mail will suit many users, those who want maximum security with full encryption of subject lines and strong data security (or simply faster delivery of new features), Tutanota might be a better fit.
Is Proton Mail the best secure email service for you?
I can’t tell you that since everyone’s needs are different. There are many factors to consider when selecting a secure email provider and the choice all comes down to your own preferences. You can learn more about Proton Mail and get a great deal with the coupon below:
Proton Mail Black Friday Deal is live:
Get 60% Off Proton Mail with two-year plans using the coupon below:
(Coupon is applied automatically; 30-day money-back guarantee)
Alternatives to Proton Mail
We have numerous email solutions that offer a higher level of privacy and security. You can also check out our full lineup of recommended secure email providers.
We also have a roundup guide on temporary disposable email services if you need a quick email for registration.
And here is a list of other email services we have reviewed:
- Tutanota Review
- Mailfence Review
- Mailbox.org Review
- Hushmail Review
- Posteo Review
- Fastmail Review
- Runbox Review
This Proton Mail review was last updated on April 27, 2024.
All of the negative comments here are unfortunate, but I have been a paid subscriber with ProtonMail and it’s other services for almost 2 years and have had minor problems. All-in-all, my experience with Proton is mostly good. Best of all, the company continues to innovate with their products and services. Watch out, Google!
https://news.yahoo.com/gmail-proton-mail-soon-offer-141942733.html
I’ve had a protonmail account for a few years now and have concluded that this is what happens when a bunch of idealistic scientists set up an email business.
Random things break all the time. Right now, for instance, I can’t compose new emails to people in Safari because using the dropdown — or trying to use the dropdown — with address autofill will break the connection to protonmail. My screen freezes, the only way out is to close the tab, and when I open a new one I have to log back in. A while ago the system was down for over a day, which means it’s not reliable for business, and people all over the world were freaking because they had files and emails they needed and couldn’t get to. In other words, it can’t be your only email service.
Also, the privacy aspect…you’re talking about publicly-employed career scientists. When the state comes knocking you can’t expect them to have the world’s stiffest spines. They won’t turn things over as readily as Google will, but if you really want things secure, don’t send them over the internet. An overseas server location is meaningful only as long as the rules say it is.
Basically treat it like one of those Sinclair electric cars from the 80s. I use it primarily so that my email isn’t harvested routinely for marketing, though of course it probably still is when I send to gmail addresses.
I just joined Free Proton mail services for a month.
After switching all my communications to Proton mail from Gmail, I cannot login to Proton mail any more.
Problem: incorrect login credentials!
I have not changed username nor password.
I cannot reset password, it requires a code sent to Proton, but no message from Proton sent to my recovery email.
Contact Proton will take time for a response. I have used Gmail, Yahoo for more than 10 years without such drama.
Anyone experiences similar problem ?
I
I haven’t had that particular one, but again, it’s why protonmail can’t be your only or even your primary email address. Customer service will be unfailingly polite but I’ve yet to see them actually be helpful. Thanks for reminding me to download all my email again.
Guys thank you for sharing your valuable experience. It is very helpful.
I have been using Proton for a few months and started having the same problem with the error message that login credentials are invalid since November 2022 with no information online about this happening to other users. My iPhone is still working with the same password that never changed. Their support just says reset password even though you’d have to go through the process of trying to recover/decrypt old emails. Very disappointed in their service and plan to stop using them, luckily I only tested out with their free mailbox.
99% chances you haven’t tried the right password, one that you forgot about + you gave them a different recovery email address than the one you are thinking of.
It’s happened to me. I finally tried a possible password I would use, on a whim and it worked.
Once logged in, imagine my surprise discovering I had given a work address as recovery email address (which I never do but it was indeed mine so I guess I set it up). If I quit that job , tough luck, that recovery email address would be deleted so I would not have access to my Proton mail account :/
Man, that’s a bummer. I’ve never had any technical issues with Proton that I’ve noticed. It’s been rock solid for me and I haven’t noticed any weird issues like you reported with certain browsers. I do remember that outage last year… that was not a good day lol.
CAVEAT EMPTOR !
I had to set up a few email accounts for our small non-profit school association (5 members).
I naively had confidence in this Swiss provider and did buy the “10 email addresses – 15GB” plan at ~50€ for 12 months.
I also purchased a domain name from OVH since Proton doesn’t offer this service.
Setting up the custom domain DNS for using proton (or any other) mail is not for the faint of heart, but their documentation is quite clear, and it worked.
Then I started to created a few addresses… until I realized that they all had to be MINE ! And the “pro” plan has 15 addresses… all for a single person. No individual password, single access, not even automatic forwarding. In fact they sell ALIASES (which are free from all competitors) as “email addresses” !
Even for a small family, this plan is useless.
My conclusion at this stage :
– Proton is extremely expensive for “regular users” who don’t have much to hide
– regular users can easily encrypt sensitive business or technical contents using PGP (for free)
– People dealing with extreme secrets and wanting to hide all they write should simply use PGP (free) which allows to robustly encrypt everything including mail titles.
I will not renew Proton, next year, I just hope that it will not expire before the 12 months I paid, like some users reported. And maybe I’ll sit on my loss and change without waiting to another less expensive provider.
They are not just aliases. Business accounts absolutely let you create unique users with their own email address and login credentials. They’ll log into proton the same as the primary account holder; it’s not ‘just an alias”. Now, these aren’t Proton accounts you’re creating. Maybe that’s where your’e confused. Business accounts only let you create new users for custom domains you own. So if you are a Proton Business customer and you own the domain “mydomain[dot]com”, you can create however many unique user accounts for that custom domain as your plan allows. The documentation on it is quite clear and helpful. I created several unique user accounts for my folks; they all have their own email and login credentials, and i can create them additional email addresses (aliases) if they need.
For the DNS, i actually thought it was quite simple. They walk you through a simple wizard that essentially tells you exactly what to do… all it amounted to was copy/pasting what they provided you into your Domain’s DNS settings on your registar’s website. Unless that’s hard LOL.
WEF? now I can’t trust anything I’ve read
Proton agreed and applying GDPR, even when Switzerland is NOT members of European Union!
“The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legitimate system that expects organizations to secure the individual information and security of European Union (EU) residents for exchanges that happen inside EU part states. It covers all organizations that manage the information of EU residents, banks, insurance agencies, and other monetary …”
SO, PROTON IS EXPECTED TO SECURE THE INDIVIDUAL INFORMATION AND SECURITY OF EUROPEAN RESIDENTS…….
EXPECTED IS NOT OBLIGATED! RIGHT? They doing it even on members who are NOT residents of UN!!! Proton received 2 millions Euros from EU. Coincident? NO!!!
Proton lied for years about “NO LOGS DATA ARCHIVED”, until they gave French socialist government data about French “environmentalist” a few years ago and this was published on internet. Then they released statement full of excuses, WITHOUT APOLOGY FOR THEIR LIES! That’s is famous Proton security and privacy!!!
@none Never mind, of course, that French socialist or environmentalist was probably involved in terrorist activities. If someone is involved in illegal activities (which I think is likely) and uses services, like ProtonMail, to try to hide or avoid the police I have no sympathy for them.
Bottom line, ProtonMail was open and transparent about what happened, and they have to follow the law. The fact that you seemingly defend the suspect speaks volumes and is why privacy-oriented services (like ProtonMail) are compromised. There’s no excuse for being involved in illegal activities.
What are you talking about? What law they are following? They are compromising people privacy!!! French Socialist government need to use person data to do what? Jailed him for protesting against French Socialist government? Did they stated this environmentalist is terrorist? If they already proven that, why they need any other data? Proton LIED for years about not login any data of theirs customers! No ethics, no morals, money talks!
@noone they received a warrant from a Swiss court as part of a police investigation. That is fully legal and, while Proton has successfully fought off warrants in the past, the subject of the investigation was probably serious enough to warrant Proton’s compliance.
Proton did not lie and still do not record logging the IP addresses customers not the subject of criminal investigations. To the best of my knowledge, what they did was right in line with their overall privacy policy.
I changed my password when I moved to their ‘”NEW” URL – and now ALL my emails are encrypted and UNREADABLE – and NO HELP FROM SUPPORT. I cannot seem to get a NEW KEY to work – it totally SUCKS and I have moved back to my GMAIL account.
So the encryption is working. Nice.
Their “encryption” is just joke. They are spying on people and helping even foreign government with spying!
I am currently having the same issue with Protonmail.
Have been with them just over a year, there are no issues with my PayPal account, but now suddenly they cannot process payments, and my whole family is locked out and cannot access important emails.
Also had a payment problem six months in, had paid for a one-year subscription, but suddenly received a notification I had no subscription and needed to purchase one, after going back and forth with support painfully for a week or so I gave up and paid for the subscription again!
Customer support and their accounting systems are terrible.
Same here.
I switched all investment communications to Proton from Gmail.
Now I cannot login to Proton Mail.
Never had this problem with Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail, all are Free mails.
Not sure about Proton security yet.
If I don’t get a reply from Proton sooner, I will quit for good.
My advice to people out there, only switching just one email to see if it works first.
Protonmail has about the worst accounting system I ever saw. Renewal of my subscription failed because Protonmail was not able to charge my paypal account. The paypal account is active and is being used for several other subscriptions without any problem.
I transfered the amount due into protonmail’s bankaccount. They can not locate the payment so I send a copy of the bankstatement. Bingo! Protonmail found the payment. Now I need to transfer the payment in my Protnmail account to the invoice statement. It turns out ok but my paypal account was also charged.
I informed paypal and objected to this payment. This action was regarded by Protonmail as an attemp of fraud.
My email account was blocked instantly. Protonmail’s accounting system is a mess. They have an automated system that ruthlessly labels users as fraudulent regardless the fact that full payment was made within 24 hrs after a failed payment by paypal. The failure was caused by Protonmail’s accounting department.
I have seen that they have updated the article, they have added screenshots of the current version, but the text refers to older versions, so it refers to erroneous prices, features, SimpleLogin is not mentioned which brings an extra, since it is not necessary to use mail burners, the total capacity of the free account is 500M but you end up going up to 1GB. There is also no mention of the current pricing plans which are different from the previous ones. Proton Drive can also be used in the free version so I do.
And at the end of the article they say: This ProtonMail review was last updated May 1, 2022.
I hope my constructive criticism helps them and they can rectify it and on the other hand give them congratulations for the web.
Regards
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Recent Protonmail updates have been awful. They just created fancy logos. Its data usage is very high, the site design is very poor.
In some browsers, the login page does not work:
<>
I can’t find protonmail server’s IMAP and SMTP information، These are usually free.
The only positive point is that phone number is not required. And with a Captcha human verification, you can have an email.
It seems that American email services (gmail, hotmail, yahoo …) that ask for phone numbers are bad services (Because in the past they did not make such a request).
Certainly, American email services should also provide this verification method to users.
Cause, Users Say (for example) Iranian Authorities Blocking Verification Codes
https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-two-factor-verification-codes-blocked/31994626.html
Therefore, if you are stuck in one of these countries, American email services are not available. And this is a disaster.
Use a VPN
Amazing review! Very detailed and easy to read. Thanks a lot for the work you do!
Sven Taylor,
Why do you not have a review on (LavaBit) email service. I understand its in the 5eyes inside US Texas based company but why does it matter when other emails you talked about that was out of 5eyes9eyes14eyes surveillance like Proton mail & CTemplar. These were supposed to be the best based in Switzerland & Iceland. But proton mail offered to give up information and
CTemplar shut down. The rest of the email companies you have reviewed are either in 5eyes9eyes14eyes or front for gov or liars and fakes.. plus most encrypted emails and VPNs will give up info on you or to gov or close down cant use it after anyways why does country even matter when lava bit got hit by court order being US based company after they learned Ed Snowden was using it. They closed in 2013 Reopened 2017 and went through the court battle owner deleted encryption keys so users didn’t get looked into but still offered to give up any illegal activity accounts. But thats what most email services are doing now anyways regardless of what they say. Emails are not safe Period!! Thats why people use Signal Secure Messenger is used for Txt,Call,Docs,PDFs,Pics,Videos. While on a secure VPN but is there even any secure VPNs anymore that the gov cant get into or track!?
Express VPN got bought by an untrustworthy person probably working with the gov from his shady ass past! Express used to be #1 owner just cared about the money when he got paid $936million! Why the fuck would someone that cares more about money give a fuck about the buyers? Sold it to new owners..
(Kape Technologies) that have given info to the Feds before on PIA and other VPNs they own all fall subject to gov and bullshit for money! You used to tell everyone how great Express was that its #1 along with Protonmail! Kape had a reputation for producing malware and who produces the most malware sorry to tell ya the GOV! They use it to hack and track systems so why would we trust express VPN at all at all!! Anymore?
Is Proton mail really owned by google put out front companies to mask that there working with he gov!? They got a lot of funding from shady companies. They were Swiss jurisdiction un touchable right!!?? Wrong all the gov had to do was subpoena the court and Proton complied with all requests!
Is even Nord VPN safe?? Are any of the VPNs safe? Probably not since when purchasing Nord it takes you to a cloud service to pay that is based in the USA!! Seems like they are using shell companies to mask Nord! Gov ? Probably!
Yet still no review on (LavaBit)!! Why??
Can we please get a solid review on LavaBit since no other email service is even safe anymore at least LavaBit has technology that when u email and delete it after they cant even read it! So why is it not reviewed!!??
Lavabit is based in the US. This was the fundamental problem before in 2013, and nothing has changed. I do not recommend using any US-based email services. Other “eyes” countries are far less concerning. This is explained more in our guide on the 5/9/14 Eyes here.
And regarding your claims about ExpressVPN, we took at close look at the parent company Kape Technologies here and found out that the facts are much less concerning than the unfounded rumors.
I’ve had an account for nearly 2 years now, it works fine on my phone and in an internet browser but the bridge software for outlook is a nightmare. I run 3 PC’s, all of them have outlook software, none of them download all of the emails, sometimes emails don’t come through for days and then suddenly start again, other times they never come through and I have to delete the account entirely and start again. I’ve had one of their techs looking into it for months, but still lots of requests for me to try this and that, but no solution. A Tech company this big should have this sorted by now, come on Protonmail, fix your glitches.
I paid this service, I write them every 3rd day when my email doesn´t work. It works only in telephone, it doesnt work in browser and outlook. I paid this service, made new clients with this email as I believed reviews!!!! But I ma so sorry and tired of it, I had blackout of my email like 7 times (it did not work 1 or more days) in last weeks.
these guys just blocked my email account and i lost access to blockchain XD
Customer service is of no service. Days go by and no resolution. Protonmail mail will end up going under and open up with a new name and new Customer service.
I’ve had good luck with ProtonMail.
I would like it if they modified the “Trust” dialog box used when you receive an e-mail with a public key attached to have it display the e-mail address and the entire fingerprint. If you hover over the six alphanumeric digits it shows, you can get the entire fingerprint, but in a smaller font that is difficult for me to read. This can be a problem if you send an e-mail with your public key attached and their response contains the attachment. It wouldn’t do much good to encrypt the e-mails to the recipients with your own key.
Other than that, I’m quite happy with it. That’s especially true once I figured out how to get my best use of it: I have created filters to cover just about any e-mail that comes in. The filters puts the incoming e-mail in the right folder and attaches the appropriate tag. When desired, the filters star the e-mails as well (I don’t star certain mailing list e-mails that I don’t need to look at in the next few days.) Thus, I just have to monitor the “Starred” messages. When I unstar them, they disappear from the Starred list and require no further action since they are already in the folder I wanted for them. The only e-mails that go to the inbox are those that I haven’t set up filters for and so I just need to go through those every few days and add filters to handle them. Then tag them and move them to the folder the filter would have done.
I USED to be happy with Proton mail, but now I can’t get into it – the “so called customer service” just screws with me. I paid over $54 and I can’t access my emails. SO, I reset the password AND I can’t retrieve the data even though they said you can!
Trouble service. Had it for a while and I’m a paid subscriber . They turned to garbage. Try getting someone in customer service to respond . So sad . What good is a secure email if they have no customer support. Please trust me don’t waste your money
I’ve been using Protonmail for a few years with Apple Mail, and several times have had emails totally disappear and have to reset.. I was hoping this complete overhaul of the interface meant they fixed the issues, but no. Today I updated my email signatures on several emails using custom servers (i.e. my work emails) and now all emails from the last 7 days have disappeared in an instant in Apple Mail. I can see them when I go to the website, but not on my brand new Macbook Pro running OS 12.4 (Monterey). I have to keep the site open and set up notifications now. It’s very unsettling when you’re paying for something that’s so shaky and unreliable. I still love it (when it works) but I’m always afraid to do anything – and now that includes updating my signature.. will never do that again LOL!
Umm. The websites and some parts of Proton Mail has been changed. For example, you can now truly create an anonymous email account without giving your email or phone number. Please update this review
Yes, the website and branding have changed, forcing us to update everything and get new screenshots. But don’t worry Mr Robot, it’s on the To Do List.
I’ve been using Protonmail for quite a while but the latest updates are ridiculous، It does everything except open emails (Which is actually the only thing that can be expected from an email)
An error message is constantly displayed instead of an email.
It takes half an hour to load your mailbox due to the use of improper programming languages, And then it can’t even open the email!.
The new version is awful and only has a series of attractive and captivating logos.
It has become very slow in recent weeks (due to the updates?); it didn’t use to be like that. Some images in an email do not even show and takes some time to launch the Inbox. I’m thinking of moving away from it due to all the issues.
Why do you recommend Proton email when there are so many negative comments about Proton mail in this section? I have a Proton email account that I seldom use because I find the free version to be very user unfriendly. Gmail obviously has privacy issues and I would like to ditch it, but it has excellent features and is very easy to use.
https://restoreprivacy.com/email/secure/
From my error report to Protonmail:
Can’t login with my password. Maybe that’s because I use a VPN. You do want to identify and log your users, despite your “privacy mission”. What is the worst, is that you write “incorrect login credentials” when they are in fact correct. THAT IS ONE OF THE WORST CASES OF LYING from your part. Entering the same user and password sometimes work in later login attempts. If you don’t disclose your identity with real IP and easily fingerprintable browser settings, then accessing your protonmail account is random and difficult. That leads to stress.
An honest company would at least have written “you have been temporarily locked out from your account due to our evermore intrusive AI deeming you unreliable” (because I use a VPN for privacy reasons. You know, the thing you claim you represent).
That particular dishonesty “incorrect login…” leads to damaging confusion (“have I been hacked? Has my password been changed?”). That’s what made me start spreading this message around forums. Switzerland may be better than Germany, but Tutanota is more private and more honest than protonmail.
The really weird thing is that the last update, had login information on my recovery email which i have never give them, it has a Update Recently at the top of the android screen. There was 10 emails i could read, from another provider, meaning that proton reads your other email accounts emails, if you put them in as recovery email and are using another email app to your other mails. I cant see that it actually is very private.
Proton Corp’s Andy Yen was recently interviewed by Wired Magazine to discuss his company’s future.
https://www.wired.com/story/proton-mail-calendar-drive-vpn/
Some senior Brexiteers in Great Britain had their ProtonMail accounts hacked and email exchanges they had were released.
https://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-russian-hackers-linked-brexit-150654015.html
This email provider is puzzling. Don’t understand their focus. Yet another new “look and feel ” in bright purple. Oy…
Yeah. Old.protonmail.com was the best version.
This last “New look and feel” of Protonmail – literally destroyed a once decent product. I thought maybe it was just me with the “purple color burn your retinas out” thing?
WHY do all these tech companies do “change for the sake of change” when NO ONE COMPLAINED and NO USERS ASKED FOR CHANGE ???
“Old” Protonmail had a very functional and pleasant and easily usable interface etc.
This new train wreck we’re now being FORCED TO USE – reeks of Google and how they’ve killed-off more, once great and usable good products, than a literal nuke could have done ?
Do all these idiot techies of the young generation drink the same stupid kookaid or bad water or what?
I’ve tried, really tried to give this “New protonmail PURPLE SPECIAL” a try – but I’ve literally ended in a migraine and eyes so blurred and burnt, my day was ruined.
I’ve never taken Proton seriously as my “main email” but it DID (past tense) have it’s place and usefulness at times and I even donated a few bucks to them once. Time to eject out of this now flaming hunk of destroyed wreckage and hunt for a new “throw away encrypted off-shore email” blah blah.
Goodbye Protonmail, RIP 2022 – you literally just made your product unusable and called it a “Upgrade” – nice “work” /sarcasm !
Any suggestions for a main provider? Mainly for notifications from accounts. Mailfence is alright, but not encrypted at rest.
I seriously need to get far away from this protonmail train wreck.
I fully concur with the characterization of PM’s support as “idiots.” For the last month now, I’ve been trying to downgrade my Plus account to the free version. I can no longer pay for Plus because: 1) I found it a bit expensive, considering it was something I never really needed in the first place (I signed on and paid two years ago purely out of charity, simply wanting to show my support for what I thought was an honest company); 2) I couldn’t continue the membership even if I wanted to, as I have lost access to the bank account used to pay for the membership (i.e., my bank card had expired and I didn’t have a new one sent to me to the overseas location where I reside). The irony in all this is that if I had never paid for the account in the first place, i would still have access. What’s the expression — “never let a kind deed go unpunished”? So now I’m embroiled in a communication nightmare with the PM support people in trying to get access to the account so that I can delete messages to reduce the storage. Have sent one message after another to their support team and have received responses but no actual assistance, as the problem of non-access persists. Latest response from them (from robot “Johnny”) reads: “Could you tell us if you have difficulties accessing your mailbox? If so, upon a quick check, we notice that there is an unsettled invoice in April 2022.” After all the messages I’ve sent explaining the situation and that’s your response?! Can you not read?! Incredible. After the system denies my access with the rude message of “Your account has at least one overdue invoice. Your access has been restricted. Pay invoice” (Uhh…no, I won’t and I can’t for the reasons previously given), I next try to downgrade the account to the free version. I’m denied with a flash message that reads something like “one or more users are using too much space to downgrade to the free version.” OK, so let me have access to the account so I can delete messages. Here’s the circular logic in this (which sort of reads like a riddle): Access to the account is required to delete messages to enable a downgrade to the free version, which will in turn enable….access to the account. Where’s Virgil when I need him to get me out of this circle of hell? So….my several requests for assistance have yielded nothing and thus, thoroughly fed up, I finally sent PM support a single-word exclamation telling them what I thought of them. Hint: starts with an “a,” has an “h” in the middle, and ends with an “s.” (Perhaps the best response is the most immature.)
I have been through several proton mail addresses and my experiences is that back door access is a problem at proton mail. Every time I lose control there’s a slew of back-and-forth with proton mail support about issues with the account and the next thing I know my passwords been reset. Big issue I see is the VPN that seems to get added on these occasions which hides the ip of logins. The p.m. me seems to appear out of nowhere and that requires domain service which I have not paid for. And the biggest issue is when you know you’ve been compromised and you delete the account they let it get put right back up the next day and then say it’s not your account. I know my proton mail is compromised when I see that the Messages counter stops working and shows no mail when there are messages and also when I delete my trash and it stays in the trash. So my advice is don’t open a ticket because they’ll lock you out and your hacker will have permanent ownership of your email account. I currently have an email with proton mail with these issues.
Why do they never address back door access and limitations? Time to change the laws about deleting an account permanently. Swiss laws is actually a harbor for hackers. I’d gladly let the government read my boring email if they’d keep big tech and data brokers out.
The free tier can receive pm.me emails. Just can’t send with pm.me unless you upgrade.
Now you’re sounding like this newest generation indoctrinated from a Klaus Schwab globalist(New world Order) think tank.
I would NOT “gladly let the government read my boring email if they’d keep big tech and data brokers out.” The game those Alinskists play, is to create the chaos in hopes you’ll come for the “solution(s) they’ve provided for you to keep you in their control.
I have been a user of Proton Mail for some years..that and Gmail. The “old” proton was great. everything fit well, writing area was great, address book just fine, in other words, a well-done email app. Now they come out with the “new” proton version which you must change to. Now I can’t access my address book in the same browser I was using. And the whole thing llooks like it was designed by one of those “techs” that got a trophy for everything he did. Sad, as the Swiss are usually pretty good but I guess it’s back to Gmail for me.
I closed my Proton Mail account, right after I was hacked a few months ago! I’m still looking for another secure email. I’m considering StartMail, but I like to try it for more than the 7 day trial they offer, that’s not long enough. Does anyone know anything about MsgSafe.io or GMX?
StartMail…really? I’d recommend TutaNota imho.
Isn’t start mail by StartPage web browsing company which is powered by the ever invasive, globalistic,
interfering-into-countries-elections-like-a-spy-agency Google monster?
Yeah, there I said it…the “google monster.”
Thanks for the skinny on StartMail. It was recommended to me; now I will head on over to TutaNota which apparently even beats out Proton Mail which I have never found to be very user friendly.
“May log IP addresses for government agencies” Are you saying that they have been granted permission to log, or that there is some probability that they do it? If it is the latter you want the word ‘might’. Note
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2119
Proton mail filters do not read the inbox. So if someday you decide to organize your inbox – you can’t, unless you want to go through one by one. Is there a security reason for that? I am thinking pop3 and local mail client on linux, will have to research which one. Suggestions?
Their pricing is tiered, and though they quote ‘per month’ it is actually ‘per two years’.
This happened last year and gives the background about their disclaimer that they may log I addresses for government agencies. They will only if required to and in this case they were. Proton has fought off other subpoenas in the past, but this incident involved a potential terrorist.
https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/protonmail-logged-ip-address-of-french-activist-after-order-by-swiss-authorities/
Just tried to renew ProtonMail email account and came across a new bump in road. It’s called 3 D Secure (its actually been around for about 15 years or so)and in my very humble opinion is just a third party parasitic piece of junk(I am being nice here) . So I had to enter more information about myself than Proton asked for and when I pressed submit button, I was told I couldn’t be verified.
Seriously? This is a program available to merchants through Visa according to my research. Out of country (USA) merchants such as ProtonMail use this more than merchants inside U S. .
Because of this third party junk program, I can no longer use ProtonMail and am losing access to my important stuff Why?
Because I live in a small town and my banks VISA never heard of 3D Secure. The banks Visa system has to sign on with 3D secure..
Unless my Visa Card is in the 3D system Proton no longer recognizes me. So 3D Secure and Proton just “cancelled” this small town gal.
3 D Secure sells itself as being an added layer of protection, blah, blah, blah,. If my email’s encrypted, and VPN is involved why all the anxiety?
As far as payment goes the program is redundant, you can either pay or not. How much protection is needed before going overboard? I had plenty available in my Visa to pay this renewal, BTW.
Proton will be losing subscribers like me because of it. Smart move Proton
I am hoping Tutanota isn’t using this garbage if so, I will be stuck with some unsecured US program. Or may solely try using a secure messaging program if there is such a thing.
I liked Proton, it was uncomplicated and worked fine–til now.
When you click on Protonmail’s account settings, the first page it opens up to is usually their purchase options. The rest of the settings should be in the menu on the left hand side of the page.
Only use Protonmail if you don’t mind potentially losing all access to your email and connected accounts in the future… if you make two or three Protonmail emails, they will most likely lock all your accounts for “abuse” and refuse to allow you access back into them. Most people need multiple emails for different things, such as different accounts on the same social media where a unique email is needed for each account. You will lose access to these accounts connected to the Protonmail account if you create two or three. I would highly recommend not using Protonmail for this one reason. I have lost access to many of my accounts which each used a Protonmail account as an email. These accounts were only signed into once and never sent a single email, they were just used to sign up for other websites and social media. Even after explaining this to support, I was denied access into my now locked email account due to “spam” (even though I have never sent a single email from a Protonmail account).
1. Protonmail free users now can stay login in the browser.
2. You can also use ElectronMail app to do the same.
3. It also comes with recovery codes feature.
Had a protonmail account for a few months. My mistake was making it my exclusive account and deleting all others. I used it for business and personal, collected many valuable contacts.
One morning I noticed my browser did not fill in my proton password as usual. So I accidentally typed in old password and bam! No more protonmail. My account suspended, compromise detected. Had to open another email to email protonmail help to restore my account. That’s been weeks ago now, still no access, response from them has been obtuse and ineffective, and I’m doubtful I will ever recover my contacts much less receive emails from those contacts.
So thanks, Protonmail. Thanks for f***ing me over, costing me time and money. Far as I’m concerned, you are either incompetent or intentionally malignant. Not sure which, maybe both, but doesn’t matter now. What matters now is me telling as many people as I can, in every forum I find how sh***y Protonmail is.
That’s strange. I have entered the wrong password on my ProtonMail account a number of times without an issue.
For that matter, someone should not be able to lock your account by trying to guess your password.
Perhaps I’m not understanding something.
Someone actually got ahold of my password and stole my Proton account. I emailed support and answered each of their account recovery questions 100% accurately. They declined to give me my account back.
I even sent them screenshots of me logged into the account, such as the settings menu and IP address screen. They said they do not rely on screenshots because they can be faked and photoshopped, yet the information present in the screenshots couldn’t be faked (IP, name, recovery email) unless the person “faking” them knew all information about the account. All Protonmail would have to do is check if the data in the screenshots (and data I provided) matched the email before it was stolen and the data would have matched 100%. I have no idea how I was denied access back into my own account created on my own IP on the same computer, but oh well. Back to Gmail for me!
Please don’t go back to gmail, the google monster’s honeypot of scanning your emails, unless you don’t mind that sort of thing. Personally, as by the way they’ve behaved on an international, much less, local united States basis… I dont truth them one bit with their spy-on-you business. Sure you may not be a diplomat, where their ClownsInAmerica gone rogue faction spy on you(besides the Non_Sense Agency, still up for debate I think) and joint services, when you need security most, …they(google) aren’t all about just email, and data storage services, but they’ve likely interfered with your country’s elections by shadow banning or deleting your comments, pics or videos relating to your thoughts and sell you as a commodity ti businesses. Please look into TutaNota and follow their instructions to the T…don’t skip anything, not even a suggestion. If you want to go generic, then maybe Mail.com(?) or the others this article suggested. Please do your own research, and verify, verify, verify.
I just opened an account today to make the switch from hotmail.com to protonmail.com but your message isn’t really comforting. Just wondering how did you set up the account? I inserted a recovery email address so in case I lose my login details it will be send to me recovery email. This is what Proton says about account recovery:
“In case you lose your login details, we’ll send you recovery instructions via email or SMS.”
I’ve also setup a recovery phrase which is a sentence with random words which allow me to unencript my data once I reset my password. This is what Proton says about the data recovery:
“After a password reset your data is locked in encrypted form to keep it safe. To decrypt and view your emails and other data, you need a recovery phrase or recovery file.”
I’m really curious if you did the same and still got locked out. A honest reply is appriciated!
“ProtonMail has introduced an enhanced email tracking protection system for its web-based email solution that prevents senders from being tracked by recipients who open their messages.”
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/protonmail-introduces-a-new-email-tracker-blocking-system/
I didn’t see a review for Zoho? I had a small business with private domain that my wife & used for business and now retired would like to continue with our domain email address. We have used the free Google for years, and now workspace is taking over. No longer a business expense and Google’s “bad behavior “, I’d like to find a new email host. I think about 10GB per email is the most we need, probably need IMAP for my iOS client “Spark”, and we need to share calorie keep track of each other’s appointments. Importing our existing MBOX FILES from Google would be important. I am definitely willing to pay something for privacy, but just not sure how much, depending on our features. I have gone through your reviews, but would appreciate some advice. Thank you.
I used Zoho for a while for our users. We dropped it when one user objected to having their e-mail which can contain personal financial information hosted outside the country.
I did encounter one minor issue with Zoho that I remember. If I remember correctly, while using imap I deleted the mail from my spam folder one night and this was interpreted as marking them as not being spams.
In general, I liked Zoho and we would probably still be using it if not for that one user’s objection.
I’ve been using Protonmail for quite a while and, for the most part, I like it. However, the Bridge has caused me many problems AND nowhere can I find instructions on how to delete/uninstall it from my computer. That seems to me a serious fault in Protonmail. I’ve never seen/used any program that did not give a way to uninstall it. I wrote to their support and received a cryptic answer that did not work. I am now awaiting an answer to my second and third requests.
https://github.com/vladimiry/ElectronMail/releases
Do not be fooled by Protonmail’s deceptive claims and do not believe in any policies NO LOGS, because this is the worst of possible profit-oriented postal services, not privacy. They have dodgy and twisted records in privacy policy / terms of use of the service, cheeky and vindictive customer service, which will write after a few days they will not restore the account without any justification. And you remain without mailbox from day to day on which you have everything you need to work. Rate the quality of services offered by this company after reading he whole eview, I guarantee that no one will treat them seriously anymore.
Suddenly, your account has been blocked by the anti-spam system, even though it’s your only account and you have never sent any spam from it (after all, they keep metadata and know it). Therefore, you lose everything that is on this email (the ability to recover passwords to other boxes, bank data, important emails and contacts) and there is no appeal from this, because despite the multiple kind requests, they do not care and and they are not going to help you by writing the same thing over and over again like bots.
No logs policy and zero knowledge? Well, some people also believe in Saint Nicholas … They keep absolutely all your identification data: IP, which you log in, used device, address used to recover your account, or phone number and the same data to confirm that you are a man and metadata. It is also a pity that this data is also a greedy bite for hacker (data leaks happens everyday), corporations and all national services. This is how the website provides private e-mail services?
Of course, all these activities are aimed at preventing abuses: https: / /protonmail.com/privacy-policy, https://protonmail.com/terms-and-conditions. For me it is simple, or there is privacy and zero knowledge about the user, or it does not have it, you can not just be a bit pregnant … Unlike, for example, Tutanota during registration, they do not also mention that you can not have several accounts, and either the fact that after recovering the account, if you forget your password, you will irretrievably lose access to the old e-mails, accumulated on the site, because they are encrypted with the old forgotten password.
If I can suggest something if you do not have any choice, take your account in this damn service as a temporary and do not store any important data on them, nor contacts, use a Tor Network, put your account there, use different IP and logins not related to you, do not set any a password recovery and use to verify RE-CAPTCHA, or temporary email.