Proton Mail - Encrypted Email

So, I’ve been using this app for close to, if not over a decade, and it’s largely been fantastic. It’s still probably the best email service imo, but the last update is creating significant irritation. First, they moved the compose button from the top right to the bottom right. Even knowing that, I still struggle to find it and wonder where it went at times. They also made it hover over whatever box you’re in, so if you have a habit of looking down your whole inbox before scrolling, it gets in the way of things. That second part is a minor quibble, but I *hate* it so much. It’s wildly distracting and ugly. Bigger issue though is the broken “load image” button. At first it was just gone , but now it just doesn’t work 100%. I appreciate the effort to block trackers and I still want that, a lot of emails I don’t need to see the images, but I’m a collector and I have several websites I’ve used for decades, I need to be able to see the images in their links and I’m ok with letting *those specific sites* use trackers (do I like that they do it? No. But I am willing to settle). Now I’m lucky if even half the images load *after* pressing the load images button. It’s just really frustrating and distracting. I used to love proton mail, I’ve never gotten unwanted spam since switching. But these are big irritations that came uninvited. Whatever happened to “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?”

This mail client is awesome, it’s free and it’s really free. The upgrade plan isn’t necessary nor required for full functionality of the app. Most products on the App Store that are free have a hidden catch or cripple the free version unless you pay a subscription. Yes Proton has paid subscription to upgrade the storage options but for most individual users what they give you is plenty and if you need more than they give you then you should maybe think about how you use email as a person because 1gb is plenty for mail, if you need more then you most likely are using your mail client for something other than mail or you are too lazy to keep your mail cleaned out. The proton vpn, which is also free and unlimited usage, however the paid plan for the vpn is needed in order to pick your own exit node country. All in all the suite is great and even on macos or windows you can download the “electron” mail app and use it as an open source client for desktop use. It’s just not the official app, however it is transparent in the coding and is basically the webui with some custom css implemented in order to give you a free ui to proton. The only down side to all of this is you can’t just use proton with your favorite mail app. However I’m personally very content with my setup! Highly recommended and very secure!

This application gets a lot of things right. The service blocking trackers is a wonderful future that is welcomed for someone like me who values their privacy. There are some things that the app is missing that I hope there are added in the future. The ability to choose which maps opens when you click on an address would be great. Also being able to add an email address from a third-party service through the application would be wonderful as well, instead of having to go through the website on a browser to add the email. I do also wish that there were more customization options for the layout of the app. As well as selection of colors. I like that there is a dark mode however, I wish there was an actual dark mode option for OLED screens. these are more of quality of life improvements than things that are needed in the app however, I think that the app itself and the functions and services are provides are more than adequate and definitely worth the price. EDIT: Apparently you can a third party email to this service, but only if you’re paying for a business account… If you’re paying a premium for this service that should come as a given, not something locked behind a larger paywall.