What you need:
Google account; Proton account Time required: One hour
Google is more than just a search engine. For many people, it’s also a place to store important files online, maintain an online address book and – perhaps most important of all – send and receive email. But the company’s reliance on your data to show personalised adverts makes many people uneasy. It’s not surprising that millions of users have looked for more private alternatives. The best of these by far is Proton.
Founded and based in Switzerland, where personal privacy laws are strict, it promises your data will always be safe from prying eyes. The company behind it is owned by a non-profit foundation and its structure requires it to always put people before profits. It doesn’t sell users’ data and says that it never will. Obviously it does need to make money to keep running, and its prices for premium services may be a little higher than some. But if you value privacy over everything else, it may be a price worth paying.
Switching from Google to Proton sounds like a lot of work because it means moving potentially thousands of emails, passwords and files. But both companies offer tools that make the switch quick and simple. We’ll explain how to do it.
1
Choose a free or
paid-for Proton account
First, we’ll explain the
differences between Proton’s free and paid-for accounts. Starting with email – the free version of Proton Mail gives you 1GB of email storage. By contrast Proton Unlimited, which costs €9.99 (£8.33) a month – or €119.88 if you pay for a year – gives you 500GB of total storage for all your Proton services combined.
With Proton Unlimited, you can also create 15 email addresses and send and receive an unlimited number of messages, as well as create an uncapped number of folders, labels and filters in your inbox. On the free plan, you have a single email address and are limited to 150 messages a day.