People using Proton: how do you manage your calendar and contacts on your Android device?

Privacy Questions
1

I’m considering migrating to the Proton suite, but currently I use the contacts on my phone and rely on my email provider’s (Fastmail) CardDAV server for sync and sort-of-backup. I also use my email provider’s CalDAV server for syncing between my phone’s calendar and my desktop’s calendar. I really like using the integrated contacts and calendar on my OSs, while having the contacts and calendar also available anywhere through Fastmail’s webapp.

I’m aware in Proton I wouldn’t be able to sync contacts and calendar through CardDAV and CalDAV, and I should use the proton apps instead. But I want to keep using Android’s integrated contacts and Android’s and MacOS’ integrated calendar, while still being able to access them through a webapp.

Do you forego webapp access and use a separate CalDAV and CardDAV service for calendar and contacts like EteSync? Do you rely on the Proton apps and forego OS integration? Is there a clever way to integrate Proton’s contacts and calendar into the OS while using the Proton apps for sync? Do you self-host a Hydroxide service for serving CalDAV and CardDAV of your Proton data? Something else?

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2

I just don’t use proton calendar that much since i prefer caldav access on fossify calendar. At least on android, can’t even search proton calendar for entries. Its nice being encrypted and all but i prefer open standard caldav and carddav to use whatever foss client i want.

3

Which CalDAV service do you use?

4

I used to host an instance of nextcloud on oracle free tier and sync caldav and carddav there but that one time os upgrade bork everything, i’ve since reinstall and haven’t had time to setup nextcloud again. I’m horrible at keeping config backups of my vps so now I’ve chosen to just use a third party as my caldav and carddav provider. Currently syncing to disroot and vivaldi.

5

I personally keep things separate. I heavily use Proton Calendar on Android and desktop, and keep my contacts on my phone. I hope for better contact integration but for now it works. The only thing I miss is the fact that contacts’ birthday don’t show up in Proton Calendar so I use a third-party for this. All works well enough as it is.

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6

I do this exact thing. Ended up with birthdays just as tasks in the task app on my phone. Honestly works well and reminds me to call, write, or say something on that day.

7

I don’t use Proton Calendar and only use their Contacts “app” as a backup.

This is because until recently I didn’t have Proton + so the calendar was so limited it was useless.

My main beef is that their calendar can’t add any event in Offline mode, which is a bummer for me.

8

It is a bummer when it happens and let’s hope that gets resolved soon. I personally always have some amount of network so it works.

9

I also have, but sometimes choose to go on Airplane mode when I need to focus.

10

If you only want a private app for contacts and calendar, why not try Tuta Calendar (see: Contact Integration)?

Push notifications are private too because Tuta does not use Google’s Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM).

11

I tried that actuatually but they dont support most of the meta data so of you rely on it you actually will lose your labels for example that are not synced. Pretty useless implementation imho.

12

Thanks for the suggestion, I didn’t know they had that feature. I just tried it and I don’t think it fully fits my needs though. It seems to only sync from Tuta to contacts, but if I create a new contact on the Android contacts app, it doesn’t get synced into Tuta. Also, the calendar doesn’t do anything similar, and the calendar app doesn’t have widgets :frowning:

I guess I’ll have to stick with Fastmail or migrate to EteSync or a self-hosted solution if I want to increase privacy on my contacts and calendar

13

If you end up using EteSync, please post about your experience here. It used to be recommended on PG but removed for being too buggy (sync errors). That was a long time ago though.

14

I’ve not tried the app. Are you saying it’s one way synchronisation? If you save your contact to the Tuta app where it’s encrypted (inc. email address) you are able to call them from Google’s Phone app, but not the other way?

15

Correct. If I create or edit a contact in Tuta, the change shows up on my Android contacts app, but when I create or edit a contact, the change doesn’t show up in Tuta. It’s also weird that Tuta doesn’t show up as an account in the Android contacts app, it looks like they are doing some nonstandard trick for implementing that integration with the Android contacts.

16

I have a Synology NAS, so the least friction method for me was Synology Contacts & Calendar, but you can run a radicale/nextcloud instance on a Pi or on your desktop or whatever too. My NAS is local-only still, but Davx5 has a setting to only sync when connected to a certain wifi SSID, so I just have it set up to only sync when its connected to my home network. Haven’t ran into any issues with creating events on the go or anything yet too.

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17

Assuming you answer me. Unfortunately, Tuta (free plan) is even worse as you can’t even consult your calendar on offline mode.

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18

I use icloud calendar because

  1. i use it by years
  2. I want a caldav and carddav and Icloud has them
  3. switch means that i should make a choice and i haven’t strong evidences that other are better then Apple.
  4. Icloud calendar and contacts are the unique services that i use by Apple.
19

Can’t look at it in the app whilst offline?! :hushed: That’s very bizarre and disappointing.