The Proton Unlimited Experience
“Privacy is not something that I’m merely entitled to, it’s an absolute prerequisite.” — Marlon Brando
Why proton, why now?
In a world where our digital privacy is slowly being eroded, new normals begin to rise that im not particularly fond of.
All my life i have been an avid Google enjoyer, and it makes a lot of sense, or did back then at least. Free Gmail with significantly more storage that competitors and a far cleaner interface. A online storage tool, a calendar, maps, everything you could possibly need digitally under a single login, a login that would work for just about any site you could need an account for.
It was so convenient… and i was so nieve.
Dramatics aside, I have been eyeing off Proton for some time, the privacy aspect is certainly a welcome change, but tools like modern features like aliases that link back to the same inbox to help differentiate where emails have come from are a god send. But going into the process of seeing what else proton had to offer i cam across there combined plan “Proton Unlimited”, a single subscription that unlocks the full ability of their mail, calendar, drive,vpn, password manager etc for less than the cost of netflix.
initially i was hesitant to pay for something ive had for free for so long, but eventially i came around to the idea of trying it for a year and seeing how it goes, and barely a week in im so glad i did.
Proton pass, my savior.
For the longest time i have been incredibly lazy with passwords. I have no issue making a strong password and remembering it, but doing that for each of every service i use online just felt ridiculous. But over time i would see 1 by 1 each of the old passwords i would use for various things would turn up in leaked password databases and be considered “vulnerable”, so i would just change the password on everything to my new single complicated password…
Within 30 minutes of having proton pass up and running i had gone through and generated a 16 character unique password for every major service i use. Truthfully i think proton is the only company with the track record to make me feel comfortable to use their password manager or i may have done this much sooner with a free alternative, but year after year i would see articles about people pass managers being leaked and their whole lives flipped because of it. So i truly hope im right about Proton here.
VPN? What are you hiding!
I had previously dabbled a lot with the free tier of Proton VPN in the past and had no negatives about it, truthfully the free tier probably could fully meet my needs, but the fact its thrown in to the bundle at a great deal had me very keen to try out some extra features included in the paid tier.
Unfortunately, the native linux app for Proton VPN is somewhat lacking compared to the Windows or thruthfully even the mobile experience. All the major features seem to be there but it does feel a little less refined and clunky than on other systems.
Not to discourage any one else though considering my only real negative is its not pretty enough graphicaly on linux.
Proton Drive, genuinely good.
I have never particularly loved Google drive, i have never clicked with its layout and systems, but after my experience with Nord VPN’s attempt at an alternative i was certain i was stuck with Google. Thankfully i was very wrong, and very please with the experience on Proton Drive.
To start with i get 500gb compared to the 100gb i was getting with Google. The UI is genuinely just cleaner and more navigable and the uploading and downloading process is less headache inducing.
Yet again though linux finds a way to sour it though, as currently there is no native linux app for Proton drive at all, That being said from what i have read it is in development and expected this year. But truthfully i have only ever used google drive through a browser and done everthing manually so im not particularly bothered on this one.
Mail and Calendar
I am going to bundle these two together as they go hand in hand.
Comparing Gmail’s and Proton Mail’s web inbox side by side, i was blown away at how clunky and slow it made Gmail look. I am in love with the tools built into proton mail and will probably end up writing more in the future on it when i have had more time to test it fully.
The Calendar tool is nothing mind blowing, but i honestly think thats a positive. It is just clean, usefull and enjoyable to use. I have allways found it hard to actually use digital calendars consistantly but am eager to try and buck that trend here.
The takeaway of it all
Proton Unlimited as of the time i purchased it was around $14.50 / Month if you pay it in full annually, ~$175 AUD. That isnt a small amount of money, but it is an amount im willing to spend to try and retain a shred of my digital privacy in these everchanging times.
I believe proton is genuinely offering a real service here, and its a nice change to not be the product yourself. I will continue on this journey and come back and write more as time goes on and i get more of a feel for everything.
~ Goodnight - The Rat.