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submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by mulcahey@lemm.ee to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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.

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[-] comfy@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I only ever used Proton for a few secondary email accounts (compartmentalizing between personal and online) and I started transitioning shortly before they got in the news for statements.

My main problem was that I realized that I couldn't use email forwarding (or at least without paying for a plan, I forget), and I couldn't manually handle it with a third-party client without paying for their bridge, so unless I wanted to have to open and log in to an old email address for the rest of my life, I basically had to pay to deprecate an email address or move to another provider without risking any future emails to the protonmail address being lost, and I wasn't in a position where paying was an option for those addresses. Now I only register single-use throwaways on Protonmail (despite their efforts to detect and stop it).

[-] Akito@lemm.ee 1 points 2 days ago

Now I only register single-use throwaways on Protonmail (despite their efforts to detect and stop it).

That kinda sux. There are plenty of other, more suitable, services for that. I would recommend not wasting this great service for such purposes.

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[-] Kirk@startrek.website 2 points 3 days ago
  • 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.

[-] Swarfega@lemm.ee 2 points 3 days ago

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 :(

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[-] rivalary@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago

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.

[-] EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted 1 points 2 days ago

Not sure about the Mail app, but the Calendar app was definitely slow, though I believe that's because it didn't have offline caching and just fetched from the site every time you opened it up. Terrible, lazy design IMO.

[-] Swarfega@lemm.ee 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

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!

[-] Bronzie@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago

It does. I use Proton (paid) and she uses Google. Guide here

[-] Swarfega@lemm.ee 1 points 3 days ago

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?

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[-] endofline@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 days ago

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...

[-] EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted 2 points 2 days ago

It's not a scam. It worked perfectly first try for me back when I tried it out like a year ago.

[-] endofline@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago
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this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2025
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