{"id":444003,"date":"2026-01-30T23:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T23:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/444003\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T23:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T23:39:10","slug":"i-finally-quit-gmail-and-couldnt-be-happier-with-this-encrypted-inbox-alternative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/444003\/","title":{"rendered":"I finally quit Gmail and couldn’t be happier with this encrypted inbox alternative"},"content":{"rendered":"

I vividly remember snagging a Gmail invite weeks after it launched 20 years ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I raved about the free service, its novel cloud-based structure, and how it’d be the Next Big Thing online \u2014 insofar as an email account can really be a big thing.<\/p>\n

All my family members and most of my friends got beta invites from yours truly, as I was definitely the biggest nerd around.<\/p>\n

While I’m tickled to have been an early adopter of now-successful technology, though, it’s important to know when enough is enough.<\/p>\n

For me, that time has come, and I’m moving my primary digital correspondence to privacy-focused Swiss provider Proton Mail.<\/p>\n

It’s been a long time coming.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\tI’m finally giving up on Google Drive, here’s why
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The breaking point<\/p>\n

Should I, or should I not be evil?<\/p>\n

No one company should have so much leverage<\/p>\n

We’ve seen a lot go down in the privacy and security realms over the last two decades.<\/p>\n

Google’s been far from the only culprit, but as the default search engine for most browsers and the curator of Android, the Play Store, Google Analytics, reCaptchas, and more, the Big G has more data on the average North American user than any other corporation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m as far from paranoid as any internet user, and even I use a VPN (primarily for spoofing IP geolocation).<\/p>\n

While I don’t do anything nefarious, and nobody’s tracking me for anything other than advertising, I prefer knowing I’m a little safer from bad actors that can hijack the content I’m viewing and thus possibly my hardware.<\/p>\n

But Google creeps me out<\/a>, and I’m no longer comfortable using Gmail.<\/p>\n

The successors to the FAANG stocks, the MAMAA companies (Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet) own a considerable amount of not just forward-facing web resources but also the underlying infrastructure most of the world’s internet relies on.<\/p>\n

I can’t avoid my data passing through the Google Cloud or Amazon Web Services, but I can limit what sites and apps I actively engage with.<\/p>\n

Google’s always innocent until it’s not<\/p>\n

Until 2017, Google automatically scanned Gmail accounts for keywords that it then used to personalize ads within the platform and probably outside it, too.<\/p>\n

Here’s why that should terrify you:<\/p>\n

It had likely been happening since Gmail’s launch.<\/p>\n

Scans included messages from non-Gmail accounts, presumably contributing to shadow accounts<\/a> containing data on those users.<\/p>\n

Widespread publicity via a 2013 Microsoft ad campaign and a lawsuit the same year failed to stop it.<\/p>\n

Google’s proposed settlement was rejected for being overly vague and failing to promise proper disclosure of data harvesting practices.<\/p>\n

What else is Google doing that we haven’t learned about?<\/p>\n

I’m under no misconception that I can extricate myself entirely<\/a> from Google’s clutches. It’s too ubiquitous, and tons of common apps and services rely on its wide range of services.<\/p>\n

Still, I’ll do what I can, which includes moving to Proton Mail, a privacy-centric email provider<\/a> with encrypted, underground servers, practically the polar opposite of Alphabet Inc.<\/p>\n

The surprisingly easy switch to Proton Mail<\/p>\n

Why Proton Mail is my new favorite email provider<\/p>\n

My Proton account isn’t completely new. It’s been lurking in the background for a couple of years after I tested a trial of ProtonVPN a few years back (ProtonVPN was a bit slow back then, but I’m told it’s one of today’s top VPNs<\/a>).<\/p>\n

But I made the jump due to Proton’s comprehensive set of features, as well as the policies it enacts to keep your data private.<\/p>\n

Among Proton’s consumer-friendly practices:<\/p>\n

It opposes data harvesting, ads, and trackers (even the subversive tracking that comes from opening third-party-hosted images).<\/p>\n

It falls under Switzerland’s privacy jurisdiction and isn’t subject to US surveillance.<\/p>\n

Theoretically, no other human can view your emails. If you lose and need to reset your password, you’ll use a pre-established recovery key to access previous messages, which remain inaccessible in case you are somehow hacked.<\/p>\n

Support for end-to-end encryption between Proton users and password protection for external emails.<\/p>\n

A complete, constantly improving feature set, including cross-platform apps, cloud storage<\/a>, and a calendar<\/p>\n

Open source encryption (including optional PGP signing) and independent auditing to ensure strict adherence to standards.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\tGoogle killed its VPN a year ago \u2014 here is the privacy tool I replaced it with
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

After Google pulled the plug on its VPN, I found a better option<\/p>\n

A few clicks, and I never have to access my Gmail page again<\/p>\n

\"A
\n Credit:\u00a0Proton<\/p>\n

Compared to my first brief look years ago, Proton’s UI and general implementation have matured significantly.<\/p>\n

It was a breeze to forward my current Gmail messages to my now-primary Proton address, and the calendar appears to have integrated well, with alerts showing up consistently on my Android phone.<\/p>\n

I’m perfectly happy with the features provided by Proton’s most affordable tier, the Mail Plus plan.<\/p>\n

I can create 10 separate addresses and even a custom domain, as well as shorten my existing domain to pm.me (because @protonmail.com is, admittedly, a bit of a mouthful).<\/p>\n

It includes 15GB of storage, unlimited folders and filters, and can do everything I ever wanted my Gmail account to do.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, it keeps my permanent correspondence out of Alphabet’s umbrella.<\/p>\n

Proton offers various subscription levels<\/p>\n

You can use Proton Mail entirely for free, although it has restrictions.<\/p>\n

You’re limited to 150 emails per day and 1GB of storage, can’t create custom addresses or domains, and won’t have access to the calendar, or the encrypted password manager<\/a> and unlimited VPN offered by the Proton Unlimited subscription.<\/p>\n

But even the free tier’s a far sight better than Gmail.<\/p>\n

Committing to one or two years of the $5 a month low tier drops the price to $4 or $3.50, respectively.<\/p>\n

The Unlimited tier will set you back $10 or $8 per month at those same subscription lengths and afford you 500GB of storage, 15 custom addresses, three custom domains, and unlimited VPN and Proton Pass (its password manager) access.<\/p>\n

There’s also a six-user family plan starting at $30 and three tiers of slightly more business-focused options.<\/p>\n

But I’m really not advertising for Proton here. I’m just choosing to actively take my digital footprint back into my own hands in a way many of us haven’t done since Gmail’s massive rise over a decade ago.<\/p>\n

It’s well overdue, and over the few weeks I’ve used Proton Mail full-time, I can’t say I regret it or will ever look back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I vividly remember snagging a Gmail invite weeks after it launched 20 years ago. I raved about the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,61],"class_list":["post-444003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}