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Proton Mail

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Proton Mail
Screenshot of the Proton Mail website, showing the conversation view of a message in a user's inbox
Available in
List
Headquarters
Plan-les-Ouates, Switzerland[1]
OwnerProton AG
URLproton.me/mail
CommercialNo
RegistrationRequired
Users100 million (April 2023)[2]
LaunchedMay 16, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-05-16)
Current statusOnline
Web Client
Repositorygithub.com/ProtonMail
Written inTypeScript and Go
LicenseGNU GPLv3[3][4][5][6]
Website

Proton Mail[a] is a Swiss[7] end-to-end encrypted email service which was first launched in 2014 and is operated by Proton AG, which also operates Proton VPN, Proton Drive, Proton Calendar, Proton Pass and Proton Wallet. Proton AG is owned by the non-profit Proton Foundation.[8] Proton Mail uses client-side encryption to protect email content and user data before they are sent to Proton Mail servers, unlike other common email providers such as Gmail and Outlook.com.[9][10]

Proton Mail received its initial funding through a crowdfunding campaign, and initial access was by invitation only; however, beginning in March 2016, Proton Mail was opened to the public. Acquiring more than two million users by 2017,[11] users grew to almost 70 million by 2022.[12]

The source code for the back-end of Proton Mail remains closed source.[13][14] However, Proton Mail released the source code for the web interface, iOS and Android apps as well the Proton Mail Bridge app, under an open-source license.[15][16][17][18]

History

[edit]

On May 16, 2014, Proton Mail entered into public beta.[19] Due to high demand, after three days beta signups were temporarily restricted to expand server capacity.[20] Afterwards, Proton Mail implemented an invite-only waiting list.

In summer 2014, Proton Mail received US$550,377 from 10,576 donors through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, while aiming for US$100,000.[21] During the campaign, PayPal froze Proton Mail's PayPal account, thereby preventing the withdrawal of US$251,721 worth of donations. PayPal stated that the account was frozen due to doubts of the legality of encryption, statements that opponents said were unfounded.[22][23] The restrictions were lifted the following day.[24]

On August 14, 2015, Proton Mail released major version 2.0, which included a rewritten codebase for its web interface. On 17 March 2016, Proton Mail released major version 3.0, which saw the official launch of Proton Mail out of beta. With a new interface for the web client, version 3.0 also included the public launch of Proton Mail's iOS and Android beta applications and the removal of the waiting list.[25]

On January 19, 2017, Proton Mail announced a Tor onion site.[26] On November 21, 2017, Proton Mail introduced Proton Mail Contacts, a zero-access encryption contacts manager. Proton Mail Contacts also utilizes digital signatures to verify the integrity of contacts data.[27] On 6 December 2017, Proton Mail launched Proton Mail Bridge, an application that provides end-to-end email encryption to any desktop client that supports IMAP and SMTP, such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Apple Mail, for Windows and MacOS.[28]

On July 25, 2018, Proton Mail introduced address verification and Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) support, making Proton Mail interoperable with other PGP clients.[29]

Around July 2021, Proton Mail's security and cryptographic architecture were both independently audited by Securitum, a European security auditing company, who uncovered no major issues or security vulnerabilities, and the audit results were publicly published.[30]

In April 2022 Proton acquired SimpleLogin, a company based in Paris, France that provides email aliasing addresses. SimpleLogin functionality was subsequently integrated into Proton Mail, but the email masking service is also available independently to use with any email provider.[31][32] That same month, Proton also announced that users would now be able to create @proton.me email addresses, to complement the @protonmail.com addresses that were previously the default choice.[33]

In May 2022, following a rebrand of Proton, a space was added to the official name of the service, transitioning from ProtonMail to Proton Mail.[34] In February 2023 a new version of the Proton Mail Bridge was launched that was considered to be a major improvement.[35] Proton Mail Bridge allows Proton Mail to be used with any third party email client on Windows, macOS, or Linux, without losing end-to-end encryption.

In April 2024, Proton Mail launched a desktop app for Windows and macOS. A version for Linux is in beta.[36][37][38] The desktop client is only available for users with a paying subscription, despite Proton AG's earlier comments that it would be "gradually be made available to all users, including free".[39] The app also allows access to Proton Calendar.[36][40]

In July 2024, Proton released a private AI writing assistant for Proton Mail called Scribe.[41]

In February 2025, Proton released Proton Wallet, a self-custody Bitcoin wallet.[42]

Encryption

[edit]

Proton Mail uses a combination of public-key cryptography and symmetric encryption protocols to offer end-to-end encryption. When a user creates a Proton Mail account, their browser generates a pair of public and private RSA keys:

  • The public key is used to encrypt the user's emails and other user data.
  • The private key capable of decrypting the user's data is symmetrically encrypted with the user's mailbox password.

This symmetrical encryption happens in the user's web browser using AES-256. Upon account registration, the user is asked to provide a login password for their account.

Proton Mail also offers users an option to log in with a two-password mode that requires a login password and a mailbox password.

  • The login password is used for authentication.
  • The mailbox password encrypts the user's mailbox that contains received emails, contacts, and user information as well as a private encryption key.

Upon logging in, the user has to provide both passwords. This is to access the account and the encrypted mailbox and its private encryption key. The decryption takes place client-side either in a web browser or in one of the apps. The public key and the encrypted private key are both stored on Proton Mail servers. Thus Proton Mail stores decryption keys only in their encrypted form so Proton Mail developers are unable to retrieve user emails or reset user mailbox passwords.[43] This system absolves Proton Mail from:

  • Storing either the unencrypted data or the mailbox password.
  • Divulging the contents of past emails but not future emails.
  • Decrypting the mailbox if requested or compelled by a court order.[44]

Proton Mail exclusively supports HTTPS and uses TLS with ephemeral key exchange to encrypt all Internet traffic between users and Proton Mail servers.

In September 2015, Proton Mail added native support to their web interface and mobile app for PGP. This allows a user to export their Proton Mail PGP-encoded public key to others outside of Proton Mail, enabling them to use the key for email encryption. The Proton Mail also supports PGP encryption from Proton Mail to outside users.[45]

Email sending

[edit]

An email message sent from one Proton Mail account to another is automatically encrypted with the public key of the recipient. Once encrypted, only the private key of the recipient can decrypt the message. When the recipient logs in, their mailbox password decrypts their private key and unlocks their inbox.

Email messages sent from Proton Mail to non-Proton Mail email addresses may optionally be sent in plain text or with end-to-end encryption. With encryption, the message is encrypted with AES under a user-supplied password. The recipient receives a link to the Proton Mail website on which they can enter the password and read the decrypted message. Proton Mail assumes that the sender and the recipient have exchanged this password through a backchannel.[43] Such email messages can be set to self-destruct after a period of time.[46]

Data centers

[edit]

Proton Mail is hosted in data centers maintained by Proton AG in three countries: Switzerland (one in Lausanne and another in Attinghausen in the former K7 military bunker under 1,000 meters (3,300 ft) of granite), Germany and Norway.[47] Each data center uses load balancing across web, mail, and SQL servers, redundant power supply, hard drives with full disk encryption, and exclusive use of Linux and other open-source software.

Reception

[edit]

Technological reviews of Proton Mail are generally positive. IT Pro's review scores it 4 out of 5 stars. It lauds the end-to-end encryption of emails, including for non-Proton Mail users, a robust security, and the interfaces of both the web and mobile versions of the email client, with criticisms of the client's search function and the service's price versus the competition.[48] PCMag also rates the service 4 out of 5 stars, praising the security, in addition to loading embedded images without returning the IP address to senders and setting expirations for messages, but questioning the cap on daily messages even with a subscription.[49] TechRadar gives the service 4.5 out of 5 stars, calling it one of the best secure email services, although it noted limitations such as that it is not suited for voluminous messaging, the reluctance of websites to adopt the service, and that email subject lines are not encrypted.[50]

Proton Mail was the recipient of three Lovie Awards, one gold and The People's Lovie in 2016,[51] and one silver in 2017.[52]

[edit]

According to Proton Mail's transparency report, it is legally obligated to follow Swiss court orders if Swiss law is broken. Due to the encryption utilized, Proton Mail is unable to hand over the contents of encrypted emails under any circumstances, but according to Proton's privacy policy, Proton Mail can be legally compelled to log IP addresses as part of a Swiss criminal investigation.[53] For this reason, the company strongly suggests that users who need to hide their identity from the Swiss government use their Tor hidden service/onion site or Proton VPN, noting in particular that under Swiss law, VPNs are treated differently than email, and Proton VPN is not obligation to keep data retention logs of online activity and cannot be forced to log user activity.[54]

In 2020, Proton Mail received 3,572 orders from Swiss authorities and contested 750 of them.[55] Notable court orders include a case involving death threats made against immunologist Anthony Fauci, a case involving French activists accused of property damage, and a case involving a person allegedly involved in Catalan independence activism and terrorism.[56][57][58] In all three cases, Swiss authorities issued court orders to Proton in response to international requests for assistance. In October 2021, Proton won a Swiss court case that confirmed that email services cannot be considered telecommunications providers, and consequently are not subject to the data retention requirements imposed on telecommunications providers.[59]

On November 15, 2019, Proton confirmed that the government of the Republic of Belarus had issued a block across the country of Proton Mail and Proton VPN IP addresses. The block was no longer in place four days later. No explanation was given to Proton Mail for the block, nor for the block being lifted.[60]

On January 29, 2020, the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media reported that it had implemented a complete block of Proton Mail services within the Russian Federation.[61] As a reason for the block, it cited Proton Mail's refusal to give up information relating to accounts that allegedly sent out spam with terror threats.[62][63] However, Proton Mail claimed that it did not receive any requests from Russian authorities regarding any such accounts.[64][65] In response to the block, the Proton Mail Twitter account recommended legitimate users circumvent the block via VPNs or Tor.[66]

In March 2020, the company announced that even though the Russia ban was not particularly successful, and the service continues to be largely available in Russia without using a VPN, Proton Mail will be releasing new anti-censorship features in both Proton Mail and Proton VPN desktop and mobile apps which will allow more block attempts to be automatically circumvented.[67]

See also

[edit]

References and notes

[edit]
  1. ^ "Privacy policy". Archived from the original on September 5, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  2. ^ Yen (April 18, 2023). "There are now over 100 million Proton Accounts". proton.me. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  3. ^ "iOS mobile app repository". github.com/ProtonMail/ios-mail. Proton AG. Archived from the original on November 1, 2019. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  4. ^ "Android mobile app repository". github.com/ProtonMail/android-mail. Proton AG. Archived from the original on May 26, 2024. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  5. ^ "Proton bridge repository". github.com/ProtonMail/proton-bridge. Proton AG. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  6. ^ "LICENSE". github.com/ProtonMail/WebClient. Proton AG. December 25, 2021. Archived from the original on December 25, 2021. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  7. ^ "Why Proton Mail is in Switzerland". Proton. May 19, 2014. Archived from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  8. ^ "The Proton Foundation". Proton. Retrieved February 26, 2025.
  9. ^ Saxena, Kumkum; Rajdev, Dev; Bhatia, Divesh; Bahl, Manav (June 25–27, 2021). "ProtonMail: Advance Encryption and Security". 2021 International Conference on Communication information and Computing Technology (ICCICT). pp. 1–6. doi:10.1109/ICCICT50803.2021.9510041. ISBN 978-1-6654-0430-3. S2CID 237000409.
  10. ^ "ProtonMail, the Easy-to-Use Encrypted Email Service, Opens Up to the Public". March 17, 2016. Archived from the original on July 2, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
  11. ^ "Fighting Censorship with Proton Mail Encrypted Email Over Tor". Proton Mail Blog. January 19, 2017. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  12. ^ Edelman, Gilad (May 25, 2022). "Proton Is Trying to Become Google—Without Your Data". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on September 30, 2023. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  13. ^ Proton Mail [@Protonmail] (September 25, 2020). "@TheEvanCarroll That is correct. We don't have a stand-alone back-end that can be installed for small deployment, because our backend software is optimized for large deployments with millions of users and distributed infrastructure" (Tweet). Archived from the original on July 10, 2021. Retrieved September 11, 2021 – via Twitter.
  14. ^ "Proton Mail responds on Reddit". April 2, 2019. Archived from the original on November 14, 2020. Retrieved September 24, 2020. We don't plan to open source the back-end code, because it doesn't add trust (users can't verify what code is running on the backend) and doing so would given away information about how we do anti-spam and anti-abuse.
  15. ^ "Proton Mail goes Open Source with version 2.0". Proton Mail Blog. August 13, 2015. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  16. ^ "Proton Mail iOS app is open source". Proton Mail Blog. October 30, 2019. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  17. ^ "The Proton Mail Android app is open source". Proton Mail Blog. April 23, 2020. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  18. ^ "Proton Mail Bridge is open source on macOS, Windows, and Linux". Proton Mail Blog. April 15, 2020. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  19. ^ "Proton Mail Unveils an Overdue Makeover and New Features". Gizmodo. June 8, 2021. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  20. ^ "Über-Secure ProtonMail Beta Maxes Out Servers in Just 60 Hours". Infosecurity Magazine. May 22, 2014. Archived from the original on November 7, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  21. ^ "Proton Mail raises a record $500,000 through crowdfunding to disrupt the state of email communications". Proton. July 29, 2014. Archived from the original on December 3, 2023. Retrieved May 13, 2024. Proton Mail's crowdfunding campaign has surged past $500,000 with the support of over 10,000 backers
  22. ^ Halfacree, Gareth (July 1, 2014). "ProtonMail hit by PayPal account freeze". bit-tech. Archived from the original on November 20, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  23. ^ Howell O'Neill, Patrick (July 1, 2014). "PayPal freezes account of email encryption startup Proton Mail [Update]". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on June 18, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  24. ^ Yen, Andy (June 30, 2014). "Paypal Freezes Proton Mail Campaign Funds". Proton Mail Blog. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  25. ^ "Announcement: Proton Mail has launched worldwide!". Proton Mail Blog. March 17, 2016. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  26. ^ Martin, Alexander J. (January 19, 2017). "Proton Mail launches Tor hidden service to dodge totalitarian censorship". The Register. Archived from the original on January 20, 2017.
  27. ^ "Introducing Proton Mail Contacts – the world's first encrypted contacts manager". Proton Mail Blog. November 21, 2017. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  28. ^ M., Irina (December 6, 2017). "Introducing Proton Mail Bridge, email encryption for Outlook, Thunderbird, and Apple Mail". Proton Mail Blog. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  29. ^ "Introducing Address Verification and Full PGP Support - Proton Mail Blog". Proton Mail Blog. July 25, 2018. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  30. ^ "Securitum Security Report" (PDF). Proton mail blog. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 5, 2021.
  31. ^ "SimpleLogin joins the Proton family". SimpleLogin. April 8, 2022. Archived from the original on December 5, 2023. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  32. ^ Yen, Andy (November 7, 2022). "Proton and SimpleLogin are joining forces". Proton. Archived from the original on June 17, 2023. Retrieved December 14, 2023. We have been following SimpleLogin closely for a long time as many Proton Mail users utilize it to prevent their Proton Mail addresses from being leaked to spammers
  33. ^ "Introducing proton.me, a new email domain for Proton Mail". Proton. April 7, 2022. Retrieved February 26, 2025.
  34. ^ "A new visual universe for Proton". Proton. May 25, 2022. Retrieved February 26, 2025.
  35. ^ Brinkmann, Martin (February 22, 2023). "The new Proton Mail Bridge is a major improvement - gHacks Tech News". gHacks Technology News. Retrieved February 26, 2025.
  36. ^ a b "Introducing the Proton Mail desktop app". Proton. March 14, 2024. Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  37. ^ Khalid, Amrita (December 14, 2023). "Proton Mail finally gets a desktop app for encrypted email and calendar". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  38. ^ Sneddon, Joey (March 14, 2024). "Proton Mail's New Desktop App is Available for Linux". OMG! Ubuntu. Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  39. ^ Sawers, Paul (March 14, 2024). "Proton Mail desktop app officially launches, but remains for premium subscribers only". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  40. ^ Jawad, Usama (March 14, 2024). "Proton Mail's desktop app is now generally available for Windows and Mac". XDA Developers. Archived from the original on March 17, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  41. ^ "Introducing Proton Scribe, a private writing assistant that writes and proofreads emails for you". Proton. July 18, 2024. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  42. ^ https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/24/proton-releases-a-self-custody-bitcoin-wallet/
  43. ^ a b Stockman, Jason (May 22, 2014). "How are Proton Mail keys distributed?". Stack Exchange. Archived from the original on November 15, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  44. ^ Khandelwal, Swati (May 26, 2014). "Proton Mail: 'NSA-Proof' End-to-End Encrypted Email Service". The Hacker News. Archived from the original on November 7, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  45. ^ Yen, Andy (September 22, 2015). "Proton Mail adds Facebook PGP integration". Proton Mail Blog. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  46. ^ "Proton Mail Security Details". Proton Mail Security. January 31, 2016. Archived from the original on October 11, 2023. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  47. ^ Sustaining Proton’s mission over time |https://proton.me/blog/sustaining-mission-over-time
  48. ^ Graw, Michael (October 5, 2022). "ProtonMail review". IT Pro. Archived from the original on August 12, 2023. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  49. ^ Rubenking, Neil J. (December 12, 2022). "ProtonMail - Review". PCMag. Archived from the original on August 12, 2023. Retrieved August 12, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  50. ^ Athow, Desire (June 16, 2023). "Proton Mail review". TechRadar. Archived from the original on August 12, 2023. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  51. ^ "The 6th Annual Lovie Award Winners Announced". The Lovie Awards (Press release). International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. September 27, 2016. Archived from the original on August 12, 2023. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  52. ^ "2017 Winners Gallery". The Lovie Awards. International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. 2017. Archived from the original on August 12, 2023. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  53. ^ "Proton Privacy Policy". proton.me. May 25, 2022. Archived from the original on September 5, 2021. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  54. ^ "Privacy Decrypted #4: Understanding anonymity vs. privacy". Proton. October 22, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2025.
  55. ^ "Transparency Report". proton.me. September 10, 2021. Archived from the original on August 25, 2022. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  56. ^ Silva, Gioia da (August 3, 2021). "«Wenn du noch einmal das Wort Impfpflicht in den Mund nimmst, schlage ich dir und deiner Frau die Zähne aus»: Der Schweizer Service ProtonMail wird immer wieder für Drohungen missbraucht" ["If you say the word compulsory vaccination again, I'll knock your and your wife's teeth out": The Swiss service Proton Mail is repeatedly misused for threats]. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in Swiss High German). Archived from the original on May 13, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  57. ^ "Important clarifications regarding arrest of climate activist". proton.me. September 6, 2021. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  58. ^ "Proton Mail provided user data that led to an arrest in Spain". TechSpot. May 14, 2024. Archived from the original on May 14, 2024. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  59. ^ Shields, Michael (October 22, 2021). "Secure email group Proton wins Swiss appeal over surveillance rules". Reuters. Archived from the original on October 17, 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  60. ^ "Is Proton Mail blocked in Belarus?". Proton Mail Blog. November 15, 2019. Archived from the original on November 17, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
  61. ^ Tsydenova, Nadezhda; Ivanova, Polina (January 29, 2020). Heinrich, Mark (ed.). "Russia blocks encrypted email service Proton Mail". Reuters. Archived from the original on January 30, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  62. ^ "Почтовый сервис Proton Mail заблокировали в России из-за сообщений о минированиях". www.kommersant.ru (in Russian). January 29, 2020. Archived from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  63. ^ "Russia Blocks Encrypted Swiss Email Service Proton Mail". The Moscow Times. Reuters. January 29, 2020. Archived from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  64. ^ "Proton Mail не получала просьб о помощи в поисках лжеминеров". Interfax.ru (in Russian). January 29, 2020. Archived from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  65. ^ "Россия не обращалась за информацией о "минерах", заявили в Proton Mail". РИА Новости (in Russian). January 29, 2020. Archived from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  66. ^ Proton (January 29, 2020). "For now, we recommend using the TOR network (via the TOR Browser) to access our services". X.
  67. ^ "We are rolling out technologies which will help us better overcome attempts to block Proton Mail". Reddit. March 13, 2020. Archived from the original on November 14, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  1. ^ Previously written as ProtonMail
[edit]
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