As someone who cares about user privacy, I’ve thought a lot about locking down my Gmail account over the years. But it’s not easy to leave Gmail, nor is it easy to change email providers in general. Not only do you have to send your new email to all of your contacts, but you also have to change your address with every account you currently have. It’s a hassle, and, unfortunately, not worth the compromise—even if Google is spying on most of my activities. I’m not even involved in Google’s ecosystem; I can only imagine the gravitational pull of this platform on people using Google Photos and Docs—not to mention the Android OS.
Proton Mail can make Gmail more private
Now, it looks like there’s a fairly simple way to improve your email privacy without sacrificing the convenience of Gmail (or switching email providers altogether). On Thursday, Proton announced that its email service, appropriately named Proton Mail, now supports gmail. For the first time, you can link your Gmail account to Proton Mail, and use it to send and receive messages from your Google address instead of your Proton address.
On the surface, this announcement seems completely out of character for Proton. The whole point of the company is that it offers what Google doesn’t: productivity services without compromising user data privacy. Invoking Gmail into Proton Mail seems counterintuitive and is only convenient for Proton users who have an active Gmail account. Conversely, however, the integration goes a little deeper: Proton says its app will remove any trackers, ads, or spam from all Gmail messages coming through your Proton Mail inbox. Plus, by checking your Gmail in Proton, you avoid using the Gmail app, which gives up even more of Google’s data collection.
According to Proton, by choosing to read your Gmail inbox in Proton Mail, you deprive Google of the data it typically uses to build a profile of your activity. Sure, you’re still using Gmail, but Google can’t see which emails you open, how long you read them, or how you use its services. That said, your entire Gmail history won’t be ready here. The company says that when you connect your Gmail account, “recent” conversations will appear, but not all New Later the emails will arrive in your mailbox.
Gmail can be end-to-end encrypted in Proton Mail
Perhaps the best benefit here is that, through Proton, your Gmail messages can be end-to-end encrypted (E2EE). Gmail offers E2EE on its platform, but only for some users (specifically, Workspace accounts). With Proton, any Gmail user, regardless of subscription, can take advantage of E2EE – but with one condition.
What do you think so far?
If you are the only person using Proton you will not notice the benefits of E2EE. For example, if you send a message to a Gmail user from your Gmail address in Proton, the message will not be encrypted from end to end. However, if both participants are using Proton to access Gmail, the emails will be E2EE. This is a bit strange, since it’s unlikely that many of your contacts are using Gmail within Proton. That said, this encourages privacy-minded Google users to add Gmail to Proton Mail, which is a clear win for Proton.
How to set up Gmail in Proton Mail
Proton says this feature is rolling out gradually, so you might not see it right away. However, once you do, the company says setup is easy. First, open Proton Mail, then go to Settings and select “Import via Easy Switch.” Here, connect your Gmail account and you’re done.
