The privacy-focused email service provider Proton, based in Switzerland, has hinted at a substantial upgrade for its core Proton Mail and calendar services.
Although Proton has diversified over the years into cloud storage and VPNs, encrypted email still reigns amazing and is the most intriguing aspect of its most recent disclosure.
Even though Proton frequently promotes itself as Google’s antithesis, at least in terms of privacy, the firm has unveiled a busy roadmap for the upcoming months that will bring about several new features similar to Gmail. That’s a good thing.
As planned, Google has taken considerable pains to make its ecosystem of goods as sticky as possible. For the most part, this strategy has been successful, with Gmail ranking among the most popular email services worldwide.
Gmail is quite useful for users, and it has an email categorization system that automatically classifies inbound emails by type under different tabs to make it easier for users to find particular types of emails (such as “social” or “promotions”). Although customers can opt-out of this system, it is one of the many promises Google offers to entice them to return: the general concept is that “we’ll make your life easier.”
In light of this, Proton Mail will eventually provide a comparable categorization feature. Given that categorization inevitably depends on scanning content, this may raise some concerns about how Proton will accomplish this without jeopardizing users’ data privacy. However, the business stated that it is working to execute this in a “completely private fashion” using the sender category. If Proton is to be believed, this is a well-liked feature that makes it easier for users to leave Gmail.
Proton also announced that it would be introducing new tools to disable email tracking, making it impossible for businesses or malicious individuals to determine when an email was opened, rendering the data useless. This announcement is more in line with Proton’s focus on privacy.
As it stands, Proton Mail’s email search has several restrictions. On the web, message content search is only available to premium customers who have paid for it. Still, there are only so many options beyond metadata, like the subject line on mobile. According to Proton, a complete message search will soon be added to its mobile apps. Users can download emails to their devices and use keywords to search message content using a locally stored index.
On a date
However, future modifications won’t just affect Proton Mail. Nearly a year after it debuted on Android, the business is ready to release a native Calendar app for the iPhone. The Proton Calendar app will also be getting new 3-day and 7-day views similar to Google Calendar, as well as a “full-agenda” view that shows a day’s scheduled activities in a chronological list with limitless scrolling.
Last but not least, Proton will enable users to make to-do lists and convert tasks into pop-up reminders inside the Calendar app.
Integrations
With its Proton Drive cloud storage service just going into beta on the web, Proton is planning to roll out deeper synergies across its product range as it broadens its offerings. For instance, email attachments larger than Proton Mail’s 25MB limit will be immediately uploaded to Proton Drive, where the receiver can retrieve the file using a secure link. This feature has been available from Google since 2013.
Additionally, in April of this year, Proton purchased SimpleLogin, an email alias service that enables users to hide their real email address while registering for online services. Proton stated that it intends to develop closer connections between Proton Mail and the email aliases provided by SimpleLogin.
Finally, Proton announced that it is bringing single sign-on (SSO) to mobile, allowing users of Proton’s numerous apps to access each particular service with a single sign-in. SSO is now only available through a web browser.
Proton still needs to provide precise release dates. Still, it has been stated that Proton Mail’s email scheduling and tracking blocker, the new iPhone Calendar app, and the 3-day and 7-day Calendar views will be available within the next month.
Everything else will touch down throughout 2023 at various intervals.
