Top all-time · #83
Proton
Company blog · protonmail.com/blogsecurity
Proton is the company blog at protonmail.com, writing about security. Since 2015, 408 different Hacker News readers have linked it 610 times, most often “ProtonMail free encrypted email client”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 1 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
Mostly linked as a privacy-focused Gmail alternative, and its blog posts are cited on encryption, transparency reports, and responses to legal data requests. Commenters also cite its support pages and pricing.
- Recommended for · 1 comments
- One commenter says Proton's reply in the climate activist arrest case, given in its blog post, makes sense.1
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Proton Mail is the world’s largest secure email service with over 100 million users. Available on Web, iOS, Android, and desktop. Protected by Swiss privacy law.
Most-linked posts?
- ProtonMail free encrypted email client45 people · 48 mentions · first linked 2016-01-28
- Secure Email Based in Switzerland28 people · 30 mentions · first linked 2015-11-07
- Transparency Report – ProtonMail Blog19 people · 20 mentions · first linked 2017-10-23
- /security-details15 people · 18 mentions · first linked 2016-03-18
- ProtonMail Bridge12 people · 12 mentions · first linked 2016-12-23
- /pricing11 people · 11 mentions · first linked 2017-01-24
- /blog/protonmail-threat-model/9 people · 12 mentions · first linked 2017-10-23
- Clarifications regarding arrest of climate activist8 people · 10 mentions · first linked 2021-09-06
- Improved Authentication for Email Encryption and Security8 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2016-12-01
- Search Risk – How Google Almost Killed ProtonMail8 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2016-10-26
What Hacker News says?
https://protonmail.com/ Spike on iOS is a client that wraps email in a chat like UI if the people are free to chat real time. Not sure if it’s on Android. There a numerous video chat sites not connected to Zoom, or FB properties whereby, etc I gave my family an ultimatum and being the tech savvy one they jumped to Signal Social inertia is a thing conceptually, but it’s not gravity. It can be bent any which way
Comment linking /
on “WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app”Submitted EU citizens’ rights are under threat from anti-encryption proposals as a story · 698 points
HN discussion> I can't think of a free Gmail alternative that's not as bad as Gmail's practices Protonmail comes to mind: https://protonmail.com/
Comment linking /
on “Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store”Submitted Clarifications regarding arrest of climate activist as a story · 470 points
HN discussionEver tried https://protonmail.com/ ? I wonder if they face the same kind of challenged?
Comment linking /
on “Google Is Eating Our Mail”Submitted Australia’s vague anti-encryption law sets a dangerous new precedent as a story · 467 points
HN discussionI'm a paying customer (paid for 2 years upfront), and I only found out after paying that ProtonMail has an incredibly poor implementation of 2FA . All it supports is app-based authentication[1]. No support for U2F (FIDO) keys[2]. No support for sending SMS to phones. In comparison, my Google account is protected with: (a) three distinct U2F FIDO keys that are stored safely in different countries, (b) three separate…
Comment linking /support/knowledge-base/two-factor-authentication/
on “Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension”Submitted Why ProtonMail is more secure than Gmail as a story · 440 points
HN discussionhttps://protonmail.com/about indicates they're funded to some extent by Charles River Ventures ( https://www.crv.com/ ). They were initially crowdfunded, and also get funding from a Swiss nonprofit foundation.
Comment linking /about
on “Zoom Acquires Keybase”Submitted Using Zoom? Here are the privacy issues you need to be aware of as a story · 393 points
HN discussionProtonmail[1] is a viable free alternative to google/microsoft/yahoo. Also has client-side encryption and is hosted in a mountain bunker in Switzerland, so there's lots of points for security & privacy. [1] https://protonmail.com/
Comment linking /
on “Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube”Submitted Gmail confidential mode is not secure or private as a story · 356 points
HN discussionhttps://protonmail.com/blog/protoncalendar-beta-announcement...
Comment linking /blog/protoncalendar-beta-announcement/
on “Mozilla lays off 250 employees while it refocuses on commercial products”Submitted ProtonMail Now Supports Bitcoin Payments as a story · 336 points
HN discussionThere are pros and cons to this, we think it's positive (aligns the EU with privacy), but we provided all the details in the below link so people can draw their own conclusions: https://protonmail.com/blog/eu-funding/
Comment linking /blog/eu-funding/
on “NordVPN confirms it was hacked”Submitted ProtonMail blocked by Vodafone Turkey as a story · 327 points
HN discussionI call that bullshit until you have a single proof for that. Everything is opensource, the data s are located in Switzerland on there own hardware. They have open communication and a yearly transparency report: https://protonmail.com/blog/transparency-report/
Comment linking /blog/transparency-report/
on “Mozilla VPN”Submitted Introducing ProtonMail's Tor hidden service as a story · 322 points
HN discussionSurprised nobody has mentioned ProtonDrive[0] as a near future candidate for eliminating these types of incidents. Since the data is encrypted, ProtonDrive can't make arbitrary value judgements on your data. For me personally I can't wait for it to arrive so I can wean myself off Google properly. It's the one final thing that I need to replace Google with: Proper Encrypted Cloud Storage. [0] https://protonmail.com/b…
Comment linking /blog/protondrive-security/
on “Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content””Submitted The ProtonMail Android app is now open source as a story · 316 points
HN discussionProton’s reply makes sense https://protonmail.com/blog/climate-activist-arrest/
Comment linking /blog/climate-activist-arrest/
on “Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address”Submitted OpenPGPjs has passed an independent security audit as a story · 245 points
HN discussionProtonMail's blog post: https://protonmail.com/blog/climate-activist-arrest/
Comment linking /blog/climate-activist-arrest/
on “Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address”Submitted How to stay private when using Android as a story · 244 points
HN discussion>Tell users you are being logged on website. Frequently not legal >Put alert warning that account has logging enabled See above. Gag orders a problem with government in general. They do have a warrant canary page though, as well as a transparency report. https://protonmail.com/blog/transparency-report/ >Change the service so collecting logs is not possible You mean stop serving HTTP and MX requests? >Stop adding cap…
Comment linking /blog/transparency-report/
on “Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address”Submitted The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct to investigate Apple as a story · 237 points
HN discussionThey do https://protonmail.com/tor
Comment linking /tor
on “Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address”Submitted ProtonMail iOS app goes open source as a story · 231 points
HN discussion"Their homepage says..." Is the parent suggesting that no one should bother to read the Terms and Privacy Policy, linked to from the homepage. https://protonmail.com/privacy-policy Despite the parent's claim, the Privacy Policy says the company may log IP address. Temporarily. Irrespective of any request from local authorities regarding a specific user. IOW, they may log anyone's IP address temporarily regardless of…
Comment linking /privacy-policy
on “Climate activist arrested after ProtonMail provided his IP address”Submitted ProtonMail Bridge is now open source as a story · 228 points
HN discussion
