Proton Mail adds direct Gmail integration, but traditional migration methods are much better By Alan Tepper

With over 100 million users, proton mail The largest privacy-oriented email service. In particular, I consider it one of the best When used properly and ideally. We’ll get to those details later, but first, let me clarify that I’ve been a happy user of Proton Mail (with its own domain), Proton Calendar, and other Proton tools since 2023, nine years after its birth. Proton Mail is the biggest In right terms End-to-end encrypted email hosting service since 2014. Proton Mail is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and is owned by the non-profit Proton Foundation through its subsidiary Proton AG. uses proton mail Truth Unlike other common email providers like Gmail and Outlook.com (Hotmail.com), Proton Mail uses client-side encryption to protect email content and user data before it is sent to the server. Even Proton does not have the keys to encryption. Only the metadata is unencrypted. Of course, encryption is often lost if you communicate with users outside of Proton Mail, but that is not the main focus of this article.

Clarifying privacy goals by migrating

If you are planning to migrate proton mailAt least one reason may be to achieve better privacy. This goes far beyond the content of your email messages. It is also meant to reduce or eliminate Big Tech constantly knowing our exact location. As I mentioned in my 2024 review Fairphone 4 with /E/OS Privacy Operating SystemStandard Android (Google and iOS) continuously report the device’s location to Google or Apple respectively (several times per hour) even when location services are supposedly deactivated by the user. In fact, Google recently settled the lawsuit by agreeing to pay U$93 million. Google owns Gmail. By following the preferred traditional migration from Gmail to Proton Mail (as explained next), we stop using Google applications in our smartphones, or even connect to the Gmail servers from another application or browser.

traditional migration

I’ve helped many of my clients migrate from their existing emails (Google or otherwise) proton mail. Options exist depending on how much historical mail exists, i.e. how many TB, GB or MB – and how much spam the user is currently receiving.

• If the volume of historical email is low (i.e. well below the capacity of the targeted Proton Mail plan), the user can use Proton’s Easy Switch to replicate it. If the user at the old address is receiving a small amount of spam, The entire old email can be forwarded To the new Proton Mail address (with or without a professional domain).
• On the other hand, if the volume of historical emails is large (i.e. much greater than the capacity of the targeted Proton Mail plan), the user should not use Proton’s Easy Switch to replicate them all, as it will not fit. In that case, this historical email may remain with the old provider (Gmail or otherwise) for occasional access only from the computer, may not be accessible from the smartphone, or it may only be downloaded and accessed locally on the computer. If the old address is receiving a large amount of daily spam then only very specific return addresses or domains should be set to forward to the new address, i.e. only a few. For some reason, you cannot notify them of the new address or they are unable to update it. In the case of Gmail, this can be easily done from a computer. This is the best place to do so.

After forwarding, Google only knows that it went to a server in Switzerland, nothing more. With either of the two methods of performing traditional migration, it is recommended to inform the closest contacts about the new address (family, friends, customers, banks, health services) and add a note in the signature suggesting people update their email address to the new one. Doing this as well as using a privacy phone, like the one I reviewed in 2024 or my current Murena Fairphone 6 with /E/OS (not stock Android) and by not installing the Gmail app or otherwise connecting the smartphone to the Gmail servers, Google no longer has constant access to the smartphone’s location.

What is the new Gmail integration in Proton Mail and why avoid it

Proton has launched a new feature that allows users to connect their Gmail accounts directly inside proton mail Application. This may sound good at first, but it is very bad. When you use the Gmail integration within Proton Mail, Google can see your originating IP address and associated location data when your emails connect to and pass through their servers. Because the integration essentially acts as a bridge to your existing Gmail account, several factors apply:

• Email Content and Routing: Emails sent to or from your Gmail account are routed through Google’s servers, which means Google can read them and see where the email came from.
• IP and Location: Whenever your email program connects to Gmail, your device’s IP address (and therefore your general geographic location) is logged by Google, just as it would if you were using the official Gmail app.
• Proton’s Security Measures: While Proton removes tracking pixels and ads from incoming Gmail messages in your inbox to protect your privacy, it can’t stop Google from logging your connection data on their end.

it is By Google’s own admission! If you want to completely hide your location from Google, you should avoid connecting your Gmail account to third-party apps like Proton’s Gmail integration (or any other app that connects directly to the Gmail servers), as it requires providing access to your Google account. You should follow one of the two possible traditional migrations mentioned above, and also use a smartphone built for privacy like my current one Murena Fairphone 6 with /E/OS (Not stock Android).

Integration of your professional domain with Proton Mail

All clients who host with me TecnoTur.LLC Get free help integrating your domain with Proton Mail. This includes the latest requirements for email deliverability: DKIM, DMARC and SPF.

My overall opinion about Proton Mail and Proton Calendar + Tips

i love everything about it proton mail And proton calendar. I have only two important and pending requests, one for each.

1. Please add Full IDN support in Proton MailSo that the accented domains appear in a nice way instead of being displayed in punycode. Your competition already does it well.
2. Please add 4-weeks upcoming Display on Proton CalendarApart from day-week-month. Your competition already offers it. The upcoming performance of 4 weeks is much more efficient and productive.

my upcoming book

To get information about its release, go here GetPhonePrivacy.com Or Privacytelefónica.com.

This is a good Castellano article

Proton Mail includes direct integration with Gmail, but most traditional migrations