Name: Proton Mail - Encrypted Email
Rating: 4.67577 (18802 reviews)

User Reviews for Proton Mail - Encrypted Email

4.68 out of 5

18.8K Ratings

3 weeks ago, Jashhhh

Update review

In comparison to Tuta Mail, Proton is much more secure because in the event of your pass phrase get stolen or you misplaced it, you can always regenerate a new one and it will disable the old one. I could not do this with Tuta Mail because the pass phrase generated at creating your account cannot be changed later, that means your Tuta Mail account can be taken over or hijacked by anyone learning about your original Tuta Mail pass phrase. For those who don’t understand pass phase is the decryption key to all your data, it’s not stored on the service provider’s server. It’s generated using client side technology to guarantee only the user can decrypt their data, it’s the same case with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. If you lose the decryption or private key, all your data is gone or Bitcoin is gone. You must take self responsibility for your own data. I think this is very powerful, it definitely empowers people. Without self-responsibility, people will always be a slave to big tech and don’t complain if big tech harvesting your data for advertising or training their AI or who knows what they do with it behind the scene (like manipulating the search algorithm or influencing people’s opinion especially during election) to enrich themselves and putting you the internet users at risk of data breach to malicious hackers.

3 years ago, Anthony Richard

Underestimated this App

Initially, I downloaded this application for sending contracts and sensitive financial data, but I have completely converted over. I’ve used Spark for years, and Airmail as well, so I was used to over-the-top features and loads of automated mailboxes and various pins, flags, etc. Proton is simplistic and minimalist in aesthetic, and when you first start toying with it, it may seem a bit underwhelming. HOWEVER, once you create some labels and folders, link your business email and all the normal “set-up” that goes along with adopting a new application, its simplicity is its strongest advantage. No more do I feel overwhelmed and under informed by what is in my mailbox. I don’t feel like I need to spend all this time setting up automations and remembering color codes (because Proton uses WORDS+COLORS! Simple thing, yet so helpful). Overall, it’s just streamlined my workflow, taken away the clutter, and simplified my mailbox life. Something I was in desperate need of! Try it, give it a chance, and I promise you won’t regret it.

2 months ago, Vizcarraa

Great mail app for privacy focused individuals

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.

1 year ago, Jobiasrkd

Protonmail the service, is great. Protonmail the app, not so much.

The Protonmail service it self is mostly good. However this app has severe usability problems. I'm writing this as someone who's trying to move away from Gmail towards something more privacy focused. And the Protonmail service is indeed great in that respect. But I wish the developers would try to take some UI/UX lessons from Apple Mail and Gmail. For example, archiving multiple messages is unnecessarily difficult. After selecting one or more messages, the user has to select the Move To Folder option, then touch the Archive folder, then touch Done. In Gmail, archive is a top-level option the user can touch immediately after selecting one or more messages. Am I just completely out of touch to expect that archiving a message is a common action? More common than deleting, tagging or marking as read/unread? Another annoyance is the unreliable behavior when responding to notifications. One would expect that when notified of a new message from the iOS notification tray, the user would be directed to that new message after touching the notification. This happens about 50% of the time. The other half of the time you're often stuck in a loading screen. I've simply started to work around the problem by dismissing the notification, and then manually launching the Protonmail app to find and view the new message. It boggles the mind that what should be a critical user path should be so buggy.

2 years ago, Murdock85

Proton Fail

I’ve been using the app off and on since August 2021, but not as my primary. Then one day out of the blue it logged me out and said “Your session has expired because you have been inactive for awhile or because it has been revoked”. Great. I tried my password, but it no longer works, I guess they erased it with their recent update and or reset it? I do not have MFA or another security email associated with it. When I reached out to them for help they asked me many questions and I answered to the best of my ability. One of which was what was in my sent folder, I told them and another was what time I last logged into the app. Very odd questions, I have no clue the last time I logged into the app, I would not have the precise time and further more I don’t logon into it, I just touch the app! They refused to help me. They stated, “We regret to inform you that the answers you provided were insufficient to validate your account ownership”. I get it, it’s a security thing and in some ways my fault for not setting up more security measures, but I’ve given them a lot of details, what’s in my inbox, deleted and sent folder, also when I downloaded the app for the first time. Still nothing, with no way to help me. Now I have to change my email on a lot of my accounts yet again which you can see in my email box that they asked about. One of which, Dominos I won’t be able to, goodbye to my points for a free pizza and good bye Proton unless you can assist a hungry man out.

4 years ago, Milzc

Can’t send important emails/inconsistent

I’ve been using Prtnmail for a while, and it has recently been brought to my attention that I haven’t been able to send emails to specific secure emails, namely to my Credit Union Financial Operations (finops) and to the Claims Adjuster of my insurance company. Additionally, I can’t use my ProtonMail email address as my primary email address for my bank account, as they don’t allow anonymous email addresses to be used by their customers. Is/are there ways to get around my issues I’m experiencing? These are important emails, and I wasn’t aware that they didn’t go through until I had contacted the aforementioned companies to follow-up with my emails. Had I not contacted my Credit Union, I would not have known that my email message didn’t get received by the finops department of my Credit Union. On the other hand, I did receive an email alert immediately after attempting to send my message to the Claims Adjuster stating that my message failed to deliver. Can somebody at ProtonMail lend me assistance or explain the reason(s) as to why my messages aren’t going through? How can I resolve this issue? This is a deal-breaker for me, and I’ll need to find a secure email server that I can use for more consistency/reliability. It makes me wonder whether or not other important email messages I had “sent” were actually sent to the recipient(s).

2 years ago, GoHealthyGuru

In the end encryption is vital to our basic human rights

Isn’t combat reaching everyone of us to utilize some form of end and encryption in our communications very much like governments due. When companies begin to read and index emails easily because of the PGP protocols it makes hacking seamless for nefarious actors as well as governments looking to monitor individual citizens in order to target. Therefore proton mail offers an excellent source I’ll be at a pricey cost. It is important to note that another email provider Nonnas to do note provides even more robust encryption as the email address and your subject line are encrypted. They are free service offers similar options as proton mail but far less expensive cost. They are also in the EU with much more stringent privacy standards. Neither one of these platforms are subject to US search warrants. But note it is far more important to encrypt your email address so that you can’t be targeted in the subject line is an equally important tap task to be encrypted. The downside is the GUI is poor very poor. Proton mail offers a nice GY that integrates with the devices very nicely. All in all when comparing email platforms the only other platform I’ve seen that measures up to these two is start Mail.

2 years ago, gtw145

Worse Now

I did not think they could get worse but they have They do not answer any support issues because they are scared to death to face the truth that there failing . It doesn’t reflect here because Apple reviews haven’t been honest in many years but in other Social media and forums people are very upset . They cannot separate regular mail from spam so all your emails are found in spam . I did some extra work for someone at a company and in return I received some big coupons but Proton will not allow any attachments come through even though this company is a trusted and in my contacts. I am also signed up at their site with my proton credentials but that make no difference to Proton. Therefore I had to set up a temporary email with gmail to get the coupon which is insulting because I just got through transferring everything to Proton . Please what ever you do stay away from the premium package because it isn’t worth at all . I really need my head examined because they started going down hill 6 months ago and I still had faith that the premium plan would be better even after the free side was failing on all fronts but that was my stupidity and now I am paying for it . I wish they would give us some sign things will get better but they actually take the time to send me a email to tell me they done have time to answer my support email .

3 years ago, Steve the Geek

Great email service, buggy iOS app

I’ve been on a paid plan for several months and highly recommend ProtonMail, the service, in general. It does what it’s supposed to do, and the privacy focus is first rate. However, this iOS app suffers from two defects— one an actual security risk if unnoticed by a user, and one merely annoying. The serious defect is in the PIN/TouchID feature to lock the app. I use the PIN option (leaving TouchID disabled) and it usually works well enough, but from time to time I’ll open the app and it immediately shows my Inbox without a PIN. I contacted ProtonMail support about this, and was asked if the problem occurred after an app update. I couldn’t determine that, as I have my phone set to auto-update apps. The only workaround is to logout of the app entirely. My other apps with PIN lock features have maintained that setting for years, across major app upgrades. The annoying defect, as others have noted, is the lack of notification synchronization across devices with ProtonMail apps logged into the same account. If I read a new email message on one device, the badge on the other device’s app icon still indicates the unread message. This is by no means a deal breaker, but it should be fixed for a polished experience.

3 years ago, RJudeWade

Can No Longer Recommend

I recommended this app/service—to many of my friends, based on its public stated credo and no longer can—having done so to THE NICEST PERSON I KNOW—she contacted me saying she—terminated her account with “protonmail” and opened another—and was IMMEDIATELY sent a message (mansplaining) internet ABUSE and that “protonmail” may terminate her account (she did this trying to get an address similar to the one she was replacing from another service). This is on the same day that her long standing email was high-jacked and all her contacts and mail deleted and sent scam spam (hundreds of friends and colleagues received emails—myself included). I recommended protonmail trying to give her a positive approach to a catastrophic occurrence. It’s one thing to only allow one free account-it’s another to not allow an individual to change it (which might be done for a myriad of reason). This ironically occurred on the same day that I was going to subscribe and donate (despite the all too apparent lack of diversity on their team—one token women which explains the heavy handed tone in a first email to a new client). If this is how they communicate with new clients I’m glad I didn’t get in any deeper with them. Like most tech companies they are only great when everything is working, but woe to the person who has an issue and expects to be treated both civilly and as an individual.

1 year ago, Carye Marie idc

Egyptian gibberish

If this app has taught me anything is you cannot trust an encrypted email services or app to keep your most valuable emails safe from malware or viruses! I paid $60 for a encrypted email for all my memories I can never replace ••their answer is you changed you passwords too much! Well that’s kinda impossible bc I write them down, so I don’t use the same password on any app! Today I received an email•••telling me to set my account, by using an old password, to put my app in recovery mode!!!! Which is it??? Proton email your app failed to decrypt my emails transferred from my gmail to folders, and now unless you are an Egyptian archeologist you can’t read your most valuable and trusted emails! DO NOT BUY THIS APP! You will lose your most valuable, treasured memories, only to have customer support blame you!! You want a good encrypted email service, use Tutanota encrypted emails!! Save your money, they will deflect and tell you it’s your fault, and then request you complete putting your accounts into account recovery by going online to change your password! It’s a joke!! Absolutely no help, Customer service is a joke, save yourself $60 and buy Tutanota email services! Absolutely no encryption errors and it’s free! Hope my review saves you money and headaches! Peace, love, and safety from an app that loves to blame customers for their failures!!✌🏼✌🏼✌🏼✌🏼✌🏼

3 years ago, Against Goggle

Excellent Service Great For Privacy!

I am a ProtonPlus paid user, I started with a free account but I actually paid 2 years in advance I like it so much. I really am not cool with advertisers having the ability to read my emails which often contain much personal info. The ONLY reason I am giving 4 stars instead of 5 (which is not really protons fault) is because there are some companies that will either not accept your email address from proton or some online stores that will cancel your order when you give them as your email. It has only happened a couple times so far. I’m pretty sure the reason they don’t accept is because they are assuming your are some kind of criminal or scammer because you have a private email. When in actuality it’s because people are starting to realize what are huge problem we are facing with these tech companies knowing every detail of our life and mind. Anyways I’m hoping as more people start to use Proton, the stigma will be erased. Also if you notify proton of this they contact the company that is denying your email. Other than that it’s great! Some great features for filtering your emails into different folders too

2 years ago, Dave143739

They segregate free users

Putting such a short time limit on users to upgrade their storage to 1GB by finishing an arbitrary checklist is incredibly disrespectful and demanding. People have things going on and many users will not meet the time limit for valid reasons. For ProtonMail to not understand that, shows that it is not the equitable, accepting, inclusive company it claims to be. For example, the Google community would be outraged if Gmail gave all users one month to upgrade and then segregated the father undergoing chemo, the depressed student drowning in school work, and the stressed single mother of three into permanent inferior accounts. The time limit is immoral if it is permanent. It is basically saying “screw your chemo, screw your depression, screw your stress. Give us money for something other accounts get for free because you could not log in for a month.” This policy is honestly disgusting. Companies that treat their users like tools to be used and manipulated do not last. Good companies don’t find ways to divide, segregate, and alienate users into account castes before they’ve even been able to decide if they want to become a paid user. I reached out to customer support but they basically told me it wasn’t their problem and I should have prioritized their useless checklist over something serious that was going on in my life.

9 months ago, 54JAMNC

Awesome service and app

I have been a Proton user for a number of years ever since I first understood the need for a more secure email service than than what the various freebies were offering. Proton’s free service is amazing, but I also wanted to support the organization and take advantage of some of their other services, so I have been a subscriber for awhile. I use the Proton email app (as well as the Proton Drive and Calendar apps) on my iPhone and iPad, and I have never had any issues on either device. The email app is nicely designed with a clean interface. The app (and web-based version) works really well, and I know that my data is more secure because of it (and I’m not being inundated with advertisements that seem to know way too much about me). I highly recommend Proton all around and am grateful that such an organization exists given the myriad companies that want your personal information in exchange for a “free” service. Keep up the great work!

1 year ago, Randomdude76

Go anywhere else

I can’t even tell you what using this app is like. Why? Because proton has flagged my account for “violating their terms of service.” My brother, my father, and I all made accounts in order to deal with a consulship appointment. Because we made them at the same time, under advice from a law firm, proton flagged our account. Simple fix right? Wrong. Customer service has been beyond unhelpful. They refuse to read any information we provide and simply refer us to their TOS (which says absolutely nothing about 3 people making account who happen to share the same last name). The best the can offer is “read only” which again, is useless to us as we need to be able to communicate back and forth with the consul using these accounts, and this was a mistake on their end. They simply refuse to do anything about their mistake. DO NOT USE under any circumstances, this company has absolutely horrendous customer service. It has completely put me off any and all services from this company and I will be telling all of my friends, coworkers, and anyone who will listen to take their business else where. Such a simple fix on their end and they will not do it and will not provide any reasoning.

5 years ago, HeySRI

Great service, lacking a few features to make it a home run

ProtonMail is an excellent service for both the privacy conscious and the masses. The reason so many email providers are free is because it the provider is in a privileged position to scan all of your emails. ProtonMail sets itself apart from the rest, and doesn’t read your email, or store it in a format that they can access. I would highly recommend a paid plan, even if you don’t need any paid features. Pay for your usage with your money, not your data. However, the absence of one feature makes the ProtonMail experience painful (-1 star): No notification dismissal syncing. If I read an email on my iPad, it will still show the notification on my phone until I open the app. Almost every other mail/chat app has notification dismissal syncing, but when I asked ProtonMail about implementing this feature, they said it was not possible. If they found a way to add this feature (and it’s possible considering other services can do it), then this service would be a true 5 stars.

1 year ago, HaVoK-O7

Excellent all the way around

Though there are some features missing from more traditional email applications (e.g., auto-reply, calendar integration, read receipts, pins, etc.) it handles the main concerns and uses very well. Encryption is great, though still needs a bit of growing to handle end-to-end encryption of the subject line and email addresses which is currently encrypted, but not end-to-end. I have had no issues with emails coming or going, and the app works smoothly with current functions. Having the ability to quickly encrypt emails to non-proton users is also great. While there are plenty of free services out there, they are free for a reason. With Protons’ new pricing plan, one can get the VPN, email, drive, and calendar services all under one price which is seriously worth it to me for the privacy. These apps really help to take control of your data and take control of your online presence. While I understand people who believe they have nothing to hide from bots and “anonymized” data collection, there is a really big difference between a company loosing fully encrypted data the company cannot even access, and data transmitted encrypted but stored on company data services unencrypted. Companies pay ALOT of money for granular data to target people with specific advertisements, so understand for these free services that the user is the product. Please keep up the good work, people rely on these services.

2 years ago, Buds

My new primary email service

After using Gmail since it was invite only way back in the mid-2000s, it was time for a change. My private emails should not be subject to scans that serve me ads and do who knows what with my data. I had a free ProtonMail account for several years but finally went all in. I purchased a paid plan, decided to setup my own custom domain, and have migrated all of my “critical” email over to ProtonMail and I won’t be looking back! The redesigned Mail app has significantly improved the end-user experience and added a lot of features that were lacking in the original app. It’s easy to use, intuitive and you certainly don’t need a degree in Computer Science to understand how it works. On the few occasions where I’ve needed to reach out to them for support, their reps were always friendly and helpful. I’m excited to see them expand their product offerings into things like cloud storage, VPN and calendar.

4 weeks ago, bond__64

It’s not perfect, but it’s always worked

I think people often become accustom to the convenience of virtually perfect, bug-free mainstream apps by developer-giants. Protonmail is a more privacy-oriented alternative to these other mainstream apps. However, being so, and with the added security and privacy measures, I don’t expect it to be virtually the same as the native included OS mail client. I could go into detail about the various bugs I’ve encountered over the time I’ve used the app, however, these bugs have never caused the service to fail, and there are other variables with the way that I use ios that could be responsible, such as not having automatic application updates activated, etc. Bottom line is that, Protonmail has provided the alternative service that I was seeking, and has never been unusable throughout the time I’ve been using it. Five stars for end-to-end encryption. Keep up the good work.

2 years ago, Mppkll

Service gets 5-Stars, The new iOS app 1.5 Stars.

The service is fantastic, in fact I am a subscribing customer and an so glad to have shed my spyware e-mail accounts. The iOS app was never great but it was adequate, the latest version released 4/8/22 is horrible. It has this “Conversation” mode “feature” much like the focused inbox thing in Outlook that groups e-mails together from the same sender/subject. I know that many people might love this but I hate it! The app also removes the past messages in the tread from the chronological listing in the inbox so only the latest message shows, I REALLY HATE THIS! Often I go looking for something I know I got 2 weeks ago but someone in the thread sent a message later so the message from person A from 2 weeks ago is missing and you have to open the one from Person B a day ago to find the one from Person A, Aggghhhh! Just give us options! Many people like that style but some don’t. Please give us a way to turn this off. I hate this so much that I’m trying to figure out how to reinstall the old version.

2 years ago, TrumpetEagle15

Much better! Thank you!

I am an individual who relies on a screen reader to navigate content, and I have contacted Proton numerous times, giving feedback on accessibility. I wrote a review a while ago expressing concern over BoiceOver not reading a given message/composer field. Within the last two releases, the problem no longer exists; I can now use VoiceOver to read my message before sending it. Every time I contacted someone, Proton responded within 24-48 hours, and every time they stated that they passed my feedback to the respected team. Proton has improved its accessibility, making my life easier. While there is still work that can improve the user experience for screen reader users on iPhone, it is a step in the right direction. I will continue using the service and provide advice concerning accessibility. Thank you for all your work thus far!

1 month ago, Basic.Brenda

Why

*Edit- I understand and don’t disagree. My request is that you consider offering a lower priced package that provides the ability to organize without the extras. For those of us who don’t need or want everything, but could really use the organization benefits. I’m not requesting this out of desire, but out of need. What you provide is exceptional and I don’t want to lose that. I appreciate all that your team offers. All I ask is that you consider the request. Broader picture perspective. If you feel that you need to charge for folders and labels please consider creating a separate paywall option at a lower price point. Charging $60 yearly baseline for the ability to organize emails is steep. The four folder + three label restriction for the free version isn’t useful. I don’t need 10 addresses or 25 calendars. I doubt many do. Is it that costly for you to provide us the ability to sort and organize? I love proton. I loved it more when there were typical options that basically every other mail app has.

4 months ago, 73929301

Horrible billing practices

Instead of canceling the subscription at the end of the billing cycle like every other paid email company, proton downgrades immediately and then issues nonrefundable credits unless you cancel within the first 30 days. Adding insult to injury, according to their terms and conditions these credits expire after 24 months. Even if this is all listed in their terms and conditions, it is an unethical and non-standard billing practice. EDIT: Proton responded by promising to share my feedback with their team like they have on every review similar to mine. This has been a complaint for years and yet they still haven’t changed their policy. Promises don’t mean much if you never plan to follow through on them. I already contacted proton through social media channels and through their support and was denied a very small refund both times, so I’m expected to believe sharing my ticket number here will change anything? (I don’t have one regardless). You are not a “refund friendly” company if you deny a less than $20 refund to a long time customer when I contacted two separate agents two separate times.

3 years ago, wetfrog

Proton great but..

I love proton services and all that they do, especially in these days. I use other proton services and use proton mail online which is very nice. Regarding this app, it’s just OK. Not like the online service but OK. I would give proton five stars but for this particular app I’m knocking a star, I would actually knock more stars off but I realize that this mail app is in it’s just beginning form. My big issue is that I am visually impaired and it’s extremely difficult to see what’s on the screen because the Mail app uses tiny fonts. Plus it does not follow my iPads fonts settings. It’s stuck on its own tiny tiny fonts. So it makes it very difficult for people with visual issues to see. I just do not get why designers programmers default to such tiny fonts. They must be designing these apps on their phones. Plus this app seriously needs a dark mode. Hopefully all these will eventually be done and then I can rave about yet another proton app.

4 years ago, JeffTPharmD

Excellent Privacy Focused Email

TLDR version: great app/service for the price. App could use some creature comforts from an app like Spark or Airmail. It does what it advertises and does so at a fair price, especially if paired with their VPN product. In my opinion it works best when paired with something like gmail for the items where security isn’t as critical. That way you’re not missing out on the convenience of google for certain items (family calendars or contact sync to iDevices for example), at least until Proton is able to provide solutions for those use cases. Only suggestions to make this mail app better would be to have a one touch option for archiving a message on the screen when I read a message. Currently one must either call press to open the menu bar further then again the archive, or press the folder button at the top then choose the folder and press apply. The second functionality improvement would be use of share sheet or at least ability to export a message as a pdf. Every now and then it’s nice to be able to forward an email to someone as a text and export to pdf makes that happen easily. The other suggestions are cosmetic only, and that is more color schemes, at least a light and dark would be nice and the option to use other app icons. The lock is nice but they also have the various proton logos that would work well too.

3 years ago, NicknameElizabeth

Protonmail good; app not so much

I like proton mail except for the silly “All Mail” box which seems to store things I thought I deleted. The app doesn’t allow you to bcc yourself on all messages automatically which is something I started doing a while ago. So I find it annoying. So when I try to clear out my inbox and clear out all mail, I delete my sent messages that I hadn’t filed and lose all record unless I filed a response to the message I sent. I can learn new habits I suppose, but I wish the app allowed me to say I always want to bcc or cc myself. PS: the developer responded to my silly “all mail” comment. They like the box. But here is the issue. I use thunderbird. I go in and delete all junk and trash. However those messages stay in the all mail box. To get rid of them altogether, I have to delete the messages in the all mail box. But when I do that, it deletes all my sent messages. So deletion works one way from trash and junk but two ways from sent mail.

3 years ago, HelotNet

No dark mode

So many people talk about eye strain from our screens, but with me it’s even more important. Thus, the “clean white” that Apple bragged about ten years ago and is still their default screen mode is very troublesome to me. Many apps, then, also default to this, and Proton Mail is one of them. But, many qpps, to counter this, have a Dark Mode for those of us who want — or in my case, need — darker, less eye-straining, backgrounds. So, I submit to Proton, PLEASE build a default Dark Mode as an settings option. Yes, the app is compatible with Apple’s Accessibility option for Invert Colors, but then when you set it so the main mail screen is dark, if you pop up the side menu, that’s white again. Thus, not enough. Thank you for your time and consideration. If this were fixed, I’d give the app five stars.

3 years ago, Aniphone5suser

Still no email threads????

ProtonMail is the only email client I’ve used that doesn’t have an option to thread emails of the same subject and/or from the same sender. If you’re having a conversation with someone and want to find a precious message, you have to scroll through ALL of your inbox and manually search for the email. If you receive frequent emails on the same subject, like updates on a specific forum, your inbox will be flooded. Instead of having one email chain, you’ll have dozens of emails of the same subject and from the same sender crowding up your inbox. And it will be difficult to pick out any important emails. It’s ridiculous that the ProtonMail developers haven’t fixed this problem. Even tiny obscure email clients with a single developer have better UI, and they at least respond to complaints. ProtonMail is clearly not interested in addressing the problem. Update May 2021: I originally wrote this review about a year ago, and I received a response that email grouping was in the works and would be implemented in a future update. Well, a year later, ProtonMail still doesn’t have the very basic, essential feature that every other mail service has. The word “feature” doesn’t even sound right. Is grouping text messages by contact really a “feature” on my iPhone? No, it’s expected. There’s not a phone on the market where you have to scroll through all of your text messages to pick out individual replies to read a conversation with someone.

5 years ago, VC Fan

Face ID not working to login to App

It seems that Face ID is not working to login to the App. I’ve tried multiple times by first logging in manually and then enabling Face ID. But every time I logout and then try to log back in, Face ID is not initiated. I login manually again and see that Face ID is disabled. I enable it again, but it goes back to being disabled every time I close the App. Is the Face ID function only for access when the App is logged in, or is it designed to allow fore using Face ID to login when initially opening the app? Reply to developer: I saw your reply and do not agree because after three days of trying, the App will now allow me to login with Face ID. I don’t know what changed in the App, but I just kept doing the same thing. I have now installed the ProtonMail App on my wife’s phone and Face ID is working properly too. Increased my rating from 3 to 4 stars. Update #2: thanks for replying back to feedback so quickly! No, I did not need to choose or select any keychain or password icon. When the app is completely closed (swiping up from the bottom, on both an iphone X and XS Max, to close the ProtonMail app), then pressing the PM icon only once to open the app: FaceID now comes up immediately and after correct recognition, the PM app is unlocked and accessible. It was not like this when I first installed the app, but now it works this way.

5 years ago, wlh2

Great services, app needs work

Very pleased with the email and vpn services. Recently bought a visionary plan to try out a year in hopes of migrating all my domains emails under proton. While the web email works perfect and the iOS apps function ok, I have a big qualm with the UI of the app for iOS. The left column sidebar has this huge separate area, that does not appear to be moveable or collapsible, that lists link to settings, bug reporting, log out, and more. This utility section separates the main mail inbox, trash, archive, etc., from the user designated folders and labels, thus requiring scrolling past the utility section to see folders. It’s an annoyance, folders should be with folders. You can see what I’m talking about in the 3rd preview pic. On the web based, this is not the case, and user creates folders & labels are right under main inbox, trash, etc. this is the way it should be, folders in the mailbox section. I really wish this would be fixed to be either the same layout as web based, or maybe user configurable. Rarely do I need settings or bug reporting, but I use folders and labels multiple times a day for different emails and organizing, and the current app makes this not very cohesive layout. Maybe nit picky, but I am not sure I’d be able to deal with moving all my emails to the service if the app keeps this layout. I’d be bummed as proton supports folders and labels for emails, which I love.

2 years ago, hsgsbrnd

Raw thoughts

I had this vpn for years and I also had express vpn before this one but it is more expensive but I don’t know why by itself it will turn off without me manually doing it. At least once a week I look to see if my vpn is connected and the majority of the time it’s not and ALSO need to reconfigure it he settings on my iPhone. I never had this problem where the vpn would turn off by itself without letting u even know. Vpn privacy is problem great I seriously wouldn’t know but I what I do know is if your not connected the privacy doesn’t matter. Express vpn never did that for me or make me passcode to reconnect the vpn every other day. It makes no sense to even have it if it doesn’t run all the time without me babysitting it. I mainly use it for public Wi-Fi within 2-4 days it will turn off and make me log in every week. 2-3 years it has always done this. Will not renew membership even tho it was a great deal but if it doesn’t stay on I rather kick rocks and not even have one… Also it has gotten more frequent turning of on it own.

3 years ago, Sefarad18

RIP OFF DO NOT BUY THIS TRASH APP

I paid for the plus account and although I was charged it never worked. The support staff was dismissive and unhelpful. I decided to seek a refund from apple and just use my 5 accounts (allowed on app) on my laptop. Then out of the blue and for no reason whatsoever they suspended all five accounts. Mind you I use these for business and had several messages I was waiting for responses on. Suffice to say this app and protonmail are both UNRELIABLE. Do not waste your time on this app or service. This app and mail service is at best helpful for shady characters and NOT for legitimate business operations. Unless you want your business’s brand damaged when your accounts disappear. You’ve been warned. In response to your response I did provide the receipt to Protonmail and you ignored it. My 5 accounts were to be used with my PAID account (order ID mkqqyysnf2) on Sep 17th. Trying to pretend otherwise on the app store reviews is disingenuous at best. I reiterate this is NOT a service that is reliable enough to be used for legitimate business purposes.

5 months ago, BluejaySummers

My privacy

I will suggest the best way to get 5 stars would be to have free or much much lower prices as anyone can barely afford food these days and now I’m paying for mail also I have a free gmail so it’s possible to do. The other is I chose this platform because of its security and I still have my gmail and use it for other stuff not that important and wanted to keep them separate. Now I see if I want more free storage( I’ve only been here a week ) I’ve got to combine them? I didn’t want to. I want the other stuff and want to keep the lesser stuff over there! This is my so called Hope account , the other my regular mail only some was coming this way ( doctors stuff etc., ) however I don’t want to combine them but don’t have the extra money yet , I signed up for a free account now I’m being told something new Not very happy about this!

1 year ago, ctheb1980

Decent product. Awful company.

The product is nice enough, but the way Proton operates is deceptive and borders on fraud. The fact that subscriptions auto renew is buried in the TOS. The the payment screens on the website don’t mention this, and don’t even link to the ToS. I have an account that I have not used in 4 years. They took the money to reactivate my account, but won’t let me log in unless I first pay the 4 years of invoices. There were no renewal or overdue email notifications, and they lock your account after your account is 30 days overdue. So basically Proton I insists on payment for 4 years in which they did not render a service. Support was entirely useless and and just replied with a copy paste response about the TOS. — Reply to dev‘s response: Your support team has wasted enough of my time over that past week. My trust in your company and product is irreparably damaged. Also did you seriously just ask me post my support ticket number in a public review on the App Store? What an epic OpSec fail for a supposedly SeCuREtY / PrIvAcY focused company.

4 months ago, Hamza Lotfi

The best of the best !

Straight to the point, i don’t know if people know what Proton is actually doing with their products, in the middle of the war of data and making money of it, Proton actually won’t take advantage of you, they will give you the security and privacy you need even if you don’t pay them (which i not recommend cause they really deserve all the support). I don’t know who’s really who’s behind Proton cause i’ve never searched, but i think he’s really a great human being, he and his employees, and what makes me even love Proton, in a UI/UX Designer, and in every product, every inch of Proton digital existant, there’s a highly profound, creative design, every move in their applications, the smoothness and high quality can’t go unnoticed. Keep doing what you doing guys, keep changing the world.

2 years ago, Tech_Support79

Much improved and getting better

Ever since the iOS app rewrite a few months ago, the app has only gotten better. It’s now very responsive and navigation and functionality has really come a long way. Also, now that you can select a message and perform multiple actions on it, there’s nothing left to complain about. The only issue I have is the message that tells me the app can’t reach servers and to try again. If I refresh a few times, it seems to connect and pull down mail just fine. This is happening less than it used to but I still get it when I have very good connectivity. Overall though, this has become a 5 star app when it used to be about 3 star. Bravo on the rewrite and I’m looking forward to the calendar app for iOS.

4 years ago, such a fan of Protonmail

go Protonmail ; and thanks developers for all your hard work and courtesy

I am a basic user of email. I had been with Yahoo Mail for as many years as it’s been around. The incessant boring into my brain of advertisements ruined the interface for me and cost me any trust at all in the security of my emails. Proton mail fixed everything that I found depressing about Yahoo! Mail. it’s simple and easy to use; it’s free; the clarity and cleaner layout for me are phenomenal, and I “sleep better“ because of the security provisions. I actually look forward to going in Protonmail just because I’m not gonna be bombed with ads all the time. I’m going to upgrade to the premium version not because I need it but because I want to support the hard-working people who make Protonmail happen. Rock on!

1 year ago, jesus hates us all

This is better than 4.2 stars

Definitely deserves 5 stars. I read through a few of them, and most of the one star reviews seem pretty bogus.(I know 4.2 stars is not bad, but this is a 5 star app all day) The UI is not the same as google. Some of the features are little tedious. But they’re on top of stuff and I never miss any emails. I’ve never had any trouble sending, and no one has had any trouble receiving my emails. If you associate with an institution that doesn’t accept proton, or any other private email, as your primary email. Then you should probably stop associating with them. I ditched Google about a year ago. I don’t agree with them on multiple levels. Proton is secure and they’re never gonna give you up, let you down, run around, or desert you.

2 years ago, Lunarglow

Fantastic

I’ve had ProtonMail for a few years and happily pay for the premium services. There are so many reasons why I love this service and some of them are obviously centered around the security aspect and the fact that a giant corporate monolith doesn’t use my data without providing me a way to effectively opt out. I think the most important thing though is that they truly listen to their users and implement improvements based on feedback and don’t shower you with useless platitudes making you think that they care - it really seems that they do. That’s important not just for the improvement of the service but for the comfortability of the people using it. Thanks to those who work hard to keep ProtonMail (and other Proton services) a fantastic product.

5 years ago, Chief Bruno

Excellent email service, private and secure

If you value security and privacy use ProtonMail. Even the free accounts are private and secure. They do not sell your information or scan your emails for keywords to send ads. I have both a free account and a paid account and they both work great. I have been using protonmail for a few years now and I love it. The app features are fine. It has all the necessary features plus security and privacy. Some people are too picky they want an app that covers everything and I don’t think there is an e-mail app that has every feature and still keep you info private and secure. I’ve read some of the reviews, and I have not had any issue with crashes or glitches. Some reviews don’t sound like they are about this app. Not sure what some people are doing.

3 years ago, Sqwet.

love it but needs a hi overhaul

I just want to start out by saying I am a huge fan of proton mail and what their doing and have no doubt that they are currently working on a new ui for this app but as it is now it does feel a bit stale especially compared with the incredible job they have done with their website (stopped using my custom css it was so good) I loved that they let you choose what theme you wanted and everything so yeah 10/10 great product but it could use a new coat of paint and i’m sure the proton team is already behind that so yeah highly recommend because at the end of the day I use it for the privacy factor and the desktop version has a super clean ui and because I can feel confident proton will keep updating and improving it

3 years ago, Swinebone091516

Service is great; app needs creature comforts

All in all, I love Protonmail. I appreciate their mission to promote encryption and secure services through email and how they value privacy over all else. I’ve been a user for a professional email account for over 2 years and it’s rare that I’ve had any problems with the iOS app or the web app. When I do have problems, it’s usually relatively easy to report them and get them fixed in an update. One thing that I would appreciate, however, is some more perks and creature comforts associated with the iOS app. For example, the ability to schedule emails would be great. Equally, I’d love it if notifications synced between devices. I understand that Protonmail’s main focus is security and privacy (which I wholeheartedly appreciate) but it’d be great if they could compete a bit more with services like Gmail or Outlook.

5 years ago, Nethik

Great basic email app

I moved my custom domain from GSuite to ProtonMail mostly due to privacy and security concerns. ProtonMail as a service is solid and reliable. I love it so far. The ProtonMail iOS app (as of the time of this review) is a bit sparse in terms of features, but it’s reliable and I haven’t had any issues. ProtonMail is a solid option for those looking to take their data protection seriously. Currently, the app is lacking some basic features that I’ve come to expect from a typical email app. For example, a calendar (which the team is currently working on), dark mode, and the ability to switch between multiple accounts without having to log in and out. I look forward to when the team finally to rolls out some of these quality of life features.

6 years ago, Kimalah

Multiple Reinstalls of App

I like using Proton to encrypt my emails, and it works great for me on Mac. However, in the two months I’ve had the app on my iPhone (always keeping iOS updated to the most recent), I have had to delete and reinstall three times. The app stops opening for me. I try to open, it shows it is loading for a couple of seconds, and then crashes. When I reported the issue, I was told to update my iOS, which I had stated in my submission was done before sending the bug report. The alternative offered was to join the Beta. I am not comfortable with participating in Beta testing. Otherwise, there was nothing else to offer. I am not happy with this response as it seems others use the app without this issue and give 5 star ratings. I gave 3 stars because when it works, it’s great. But until this issue I am experiencing is fixed, there will be no improvement in my rating.

3 years ago, Wolfgang Treehouser

Non-Techies Should Steer Clear

Protonmail is great, until there's a problem. If you're not savvy about encryption and such, it can be daunting, especially since the fix options they provide may not work for you, may even make things worse. It happened to me. Customer support does respond, and seems to care, but problems don't necessarily go away. Their suggestions aren't helpful when they keep recommending things that have already been explained to them more than once can't be done, for various reasons, like using a previous password when I didn't have one, even though they have copies of earlier correspondence from writing back and forth about the issue. Some suggestions don't make sense. For example, I was having trouble with their iPhone app; so, they want me to do something with nonexistent files on my computer's hard drive???

3 years ago, Flabrn

Nothing is perfect....but ProtonMail is close!

Love it! The ability to encrypt/password protect/and set a expiration time for emails with moderate to sensitive personal data to users that use yahoo/google/hotmail/aol/etc......yes....still people using aol, makes it a game changer for me. I use another IMAP email.....but ProtonMail I believe is what email should be and have been all along. I didn’t give 5 stars because I fall into the old school mentality of nothing’s perfect, and with the new features/capabilities being added all the time, it’s obvious there’s a lot of development still being done that I can’t wait to see. Ignore the naysayers and PC rhetoric ProtonMail! You can’t please everyone....some can never be pleased no matter how much you bow down....so don’t! JS

5 years ago, Baron von Snek

Almost everything I need

I've been a paid subscriber for a while and this app works almost perfectly with the following exceptions: 1. No option for threaded view of messages (something that the web app does support and is sorely missed here) 2. Sometimes the inbox doesn't refresh automatically when a new email notification is triggered. I.e., I'll get a notification of a new mail, tap the notification to check it, open the app, and see no new emails in the inbox. I'll have to manually refresh to see it. 3. After refreshing the inbox to see new mail as in #2, tapping the new message to read it doesn't work for a moment or two. I usually ends up tapping two or three times in my impatience 4. This one is not specific to the app, but the service. It's not clear how much of my data is stored with zero-access encryption. It seems that the contents of emails are, but that senders/recipients and subject lines aren't. When I use the search feature in the web app, my search query is sent to the API and it returns a list of messages with subjects or senders that match my query. If the API can search that data, then it must not be zero-access encrypted. This was a bit surprising to me. I'd like to see these details spelled out more explicitly.

3 months ago, nutella_98

Unreliable. No email notifications

I have signaled multiple times to support, even 2 years ago, that Protonmail is not showing notifications when new emails arrive. Today is Saturday. I received an email Thursday. No notification of any kind. Of course support is trying to reassure you that the user is at fault because everyone is stupid but them, and no one knows how to setup a notification correctly even in 2024. Despite all notification are enabled, app deleted and reinstalled numerous times, device is rebooted at least once every week, Protonmail doesn’t notify of new emails. Again, this is not a new issue. This problem goes back at least 2 years. It was around that time I started to use it. Due to this problem, I don’t use Protonmail a lot since it is unreliable and obviously this issue has not been fixed ever since. I have 2 devices with Protonmail on it and both have the notification issue. Maybe notifications only work for paying customers. I don’t see why would I pay for working notifications, and if it is broken, then it’s just a waste of money to pay for a service that doesn’t even work. Since notifications work for other apps (including other email clients), I imagine this is not a device issue. This is an app issue. But whatever. I’m pretty much done with Protonmail. iPad 6 / iOS 15.7.2 iPhone 7 / iOS 15.8.x

3 years ago, 2 Pac patron

A couple Issues

The app works pretty well but I’ve run into two issues: 1) No offline access -not sure if this is a security thing or to keep storage use low, but I can’t seem to access any email if I’m not connected to the internet, even if it’s just a text-based message or I’d opened it a few minutes before. 2) Password Protection/Touch ID glitch: You can secure access to the app by requiring a custom PIN or TouchID entry to open it. I set it to accept both, however the app keeps spamming the touchID prompt, effectively making it impossible to enter the PIN. When you dismiss the TouchID option, it immediately pops back up. Can’t confirm if later model iphones have the FaceID option for the app and if this glitch exists for that method as well. Developers: please address these issues!

3 years ago, Jclark345

Secure but not as efficient as I’d like

I appreciate having secure email that values my privacy. As such I upgraded to the paid version and installed the bridge so I could sync it with outlook on my desktop (this feature is not yet available for mobile but we are told it’s under development). The purpose of this review is to request some simple features that would improve efficiency. I would like the ability to click on a folder marked Unread as a way to filter these emails and find them more quickly. Also I have seen screenshots at review sites that showed an email preview but haven’t been able to configure a preview of email while viewing the list of all emails. It’s a much faster way of skimming through all the emails we get deluged with daily. Was this feature lost inadvertently during a prior update?

Description

Keep your conversations private. Proton Mail is encrypted email from Switzerland. Used by millions worldwide, our all-new email app protects your communications and has everything you need to easily manage your inbox. The Wall Street Journal says: “Proton Mail offers encrypted email, which makes it virtually impossible for anyone to read it except the sender and the recipient.” With the all-new Proton Mail app, you can: • Create a @proton.me or @protonmail.com email address • Send and receive encrypted emails and attachments with ease • Switch between multiple Proton Mail accounts • Easily manage your email with conversations • Keep your inbox tidy and clean with folders, labels and simple swipe-gestures • Receive new email notifications • Send Password-protected Emails to anyone • Enjoy your inbox in dark mode Why use Proton Mail? • Proton Mail is free — We believe everyone deserves privacy. Upgrade to a paid plan to get more done and support our mission. • Easy to use — Our all-new app has been redesigned to make it easier to read, organize, and write your emails. • Your inbox is yours — We don’t spy on your communications to show you targeted ads. Your inbox, your rules. • Rigorous encryption — Your entire inbox is secured, on all your devices. No one can read your emails but you. Proton is privacy, guaranteed by end-to-end and zero-access encryption. • Unmatched protection — We offer strong phishing, spam, and spying/tracking protection for all your communications. Industry Leading Security Features Messages are stored on Proton Mail servers using end-to-end encryption at all times and are transmitted securely between Proton servers and user devices. This largely eliminates the risk of message interception. Zero Access to Your Email Content Proton Mail's zero access architecture means that your data is encrypted in a way that makes it inaccessible to us. Data is encrypted on the client side using an encryption key that Proton does not have access to. This means we don't have the technical ability to decrypt your messages. Open-Source Cryptography Proton Mail's open-source software has been thoroughly vetted by security experts from around the world to ensure the highest levels of protection. Proton Mail only uses secure implementations of AES, RSA, along with OpenPGP, while all of the cryptographic libraries used are open source. By using open-source libraries, Proton Mail can guarantee that the encryption algorithms used do not have clandestinely built-in back doors. Proton Mail in the press: “Proton Mail is a Gmail-like email system which uses end-to-end encryption, making it impossible for outside parties to monitor.” Forbes “A new email service being developed by a group who met at MIT and CERN promises to bring secure, encrypted email to the masses and keep sensitive information away from prying eyes.” Huffington Post Follow Proton on social media for all the latest news and offers: Facebook: /proton Twitter: @protonprivacy Reddit: /protonmail Instagram: /protonprivacy For more information, visit: https://proton.me/mail Our open-source code base: https://github.com/ProtonMail EULA: http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula