Whenchoosing an email provider, privacy and convenience ought to be the two most important things in the modern digital age. While support for passkeys and encryption covers the former front, convenience is a mix of platform-agnostic support, and advantages of the ecosystem of apps built around it. Gmail is a fine example, offering Drive cloud storage, convenient access from virtually any device, and integrated support for a massive suite of Workspace apps. Rival Swiss privacy brand Proton is also hard at work, making its email service more accessible with a new desktop app for Windows and Mac.
Proton was started as a crowdfunding campaign back in 2014 and has since established itself as a secure and privacy-focused brand. The company started with Proton Mail, but has since expanded its suite of apps withProton Pass,Drive, Calendar, and VPN for password management, cloud storage, planning, and secure internet access, respectively. Ten years on, this privacy-first initiative can hold a candle to other email services. It has become the go-to service for professionals, journalists, activists, and heads of state who cannot risk compromising their privacy.
Mac app for Proton Mail
Since it is a relatively newer service, Proton mail is still catching up with the likes of Gmail. However, Proton just announced a significant update for its email service with the addition of a new app for Windows and macOS. Although you can access Proton Mail’s web UI from any machine, anative program for desktopbrings several advantages, such as offline access to your emails and their attachments, and reliable encrypted connections to Proton servers. Proton Mail Bridge goes the extra mile and allows integrating your inbox with any other third-party desktop email app like Microsoft Outlook.
The desktop app unlocks a few other possibilities you don’t get with the web UI. For instance, you can pin a desktop app to the taskbar on Windows (dock on macOS) and benefit from automatic updates delivered straight from Proton. This development gives Proton an advantage over Gmail, which doesn’t have a dedicated desktop client to this day.
Email auto-forwarding
Heaps of improvements to Mail and Calendar
Even if you prefer sticking to the web UI for email, Proton has announced over 50 new features which enhance your user experience. First off, the company has now become the first email provider to supportemail auto-forwardingwhile preserving encryption between Proton Mail accounts. Unencrypted auto-forwarding support is available as well, and it is a valuable asset for businesses where auto-forwarding has been set up to streamline workflows and get communication across to the correct departments.
Snooze emails and return to them later
The newsnooze emailfeature enables constructive procrastination, so you may get to emails when you have the time for them. You can always customize the snooze time and duration as well. On the web, attachment previews are here now, so you don’t risk downloading and opening potentially unwanted files. Proton is also revamping the Android app UI design this quarter after carefully considering feedback from its users. Other remarkable changes include support for three new languages, support for larger inline images, strike-through formatting support,
Proton Calendar’s new features in action
Alongside a desktop app for Proton Mail, the Swiss brand also announced a similar program for Proton Calendar, also available on Windows and macOS. Now, this encrypted calendar has been optimized to work eight times faster, with a searchable index on the web UI.
Of these updates, support for auto-forwarding emails is reserved for paying Proton Mail Users. All other features are available even on the free tier of Proton Mail and Proton Calendar.
