Proton Mail Review: Free Secure Email Service

Proton Mail is a platform that puts users’ security first with its encryption features. Furthermore, Proton Mail provides a free end-to-end encrypted email service with a user-friendly online interface and mobile apps. There may be many free emailing platforms on the web, but are they safe to use? Henceforth, if you’re in doubt, then go for Proton Mail. It isn’t easy to export emails or access them in any other way, although Proton Mail’s free edition has more productivity tools.

Let’s discover more about this free secure email service with some pros, cons, and features.  Because we at Topstory.online ensure that our reader gets the best only. 

Pros and Cons

Every piece of technology, software, and web-based program has its advantages and drawbacks. Therefore, let’s look at what Porton Mail has to offer.  

Premium versus Free Proton Mail

For its free version, Proton Mail offers 500 MB of online storage to anyone who signs up. Paid subscriptions also include additional productivity tools, priority customer support, and up to 20 GB of storage. However, if you want to use an encrypted email not so regularly, the free service should be adequate.

Proton Mail End-to-End Encryption

It goes without saying how crucial it is to secure your email and its communication from prying eyes. Thus, encryption in email is something that can ensure that. Messages can be intercepted along the route as they go from your computer to the inboxes of the recipients. Furthermore, end-to-end encryption encrypts the message before it is sent and decrypts it once the recipient opens it. Therefore, no one in the middle can interpret or hinder the communication because only the recipient’s personal key can open it. Sensitive information can be transmitted without fearing that it will end up in the wrong hands, thanks to services like Proton Mail.

How does Encryption work

When you send emails to other Proton Mail users, your browser or mobile app encrypts the messages with their key, which is then decrypted when the receiver opens the message. Consequently, you do not need to create separate passwords for it. However, the option to encrypt a message using a password is available while sending it to a recipient who does not use Proton Mail. The receiver will be sent a message with a link to the Proton Mail web interface, and to access your message, they must enter the passphrase. They can respond using the same interface and the same password-protected encrypted message.

Additionally, PGP may be used to encrypt messages. Proton Mail lets you export your public and private PGP keys for use with other services. On the other hand, you can import your current keys to your Proton Mail account if you’ve been using encrypted email. Plus, using a VPN will ensure robust protection. 

Proton Mail’s User Interface

Folders accessible in other email clients are present in the Proton Mail online interface (such as Archive and Spam). It has color-coded labels, stars to highlight communications and automatic rules to classify incoming mail. Furthermore, free accounts are restricted to one custom rule and paid Proton Mail subscribers are able to create an unlimited number of custom rules. In addition, it offers a basic auto-response feature. Moreover, you can shorten your address to just @pm.me by choosing pm.me on the Proton Mail interface rather than typing @protonmail each time you input your address.

Use Proton Mail to Send Email

Proton Mail provides rich-text editor features; utilizing it, users can add HTML formatting and inline graphics to their messages. Proton Mail has a few keyboard shortcuts but doesn’t provide much assistance when composing messages. Furthermore, it does not propose content, times, or recipients, for instance, nor can you build up templates or text samples. Another advantage of Proton Mail’s cryptography is the ability to schedule emails to self-destruct at a future time. Additionally, users can enable two-factor authentication for more security.

Lookup messages using Proton Mail

The fields that can be searched in Proton Mail’s search feature are limited to the sender, topic, and date fields included in message headers. Additionally, Proton Mail is unable to search the contents of emails due to encryption, but you can do so by installing the Proton Mail Bridge application on your desktop.

Using Proton Mail Along With Other Email Accounts

Proton Mail can’t connect directly with other email clients because of how mail is encrypted. Thus, a desktop program called Proton Mail Bridge connects your other email accounts to your Proton Mail account. Furthermore, the Bridge functions as a remote server to allow communication. This connection method works with Outlook and Thunderbird and any other mail client that permits connection to a remote mail server. You cannot configure Proton Mail to send emails using your current email addresses or to gather mail from your existing email accounts. However, utilizing Proton Mail and your preferred email client may help with some productivity issues.