Proton launches feature allowing parents to reserve their child's Proton Mail address

[PurpleDime]

Earlier today, Proton released this short ad on YouTube.

Born Private | Proton Mail

At first, I thought its purpose was mainly to raise awareness about the privacy of children, while promoting Proton Mail, but it is actually the launch of a new feature that allows parents and guardians to reserve a Proton email address for their kid/ward.

Reserve your child's private email | Proton

Reserve your child’s username in Proton Mail | Proton

This feature is designed for parents, legal guardians, or family members who want to:

• Secure a private email address in their child’s name early
• Prevent someone else from claiming the address
• Prepare for future needs such as school, communication, or online services
• Introduce email to their child when they are ready

Reserving a Proton email address means that you can choose and secure an available Proton username for your child, even if they are not yet ready to use email.

We’ll hold the address for up to 15 years. The account is inactive by default and cannot send or receive emails.

Unlike standard email accounts, a reserved address bypasses inactive account deletion policies, ensuring that your child’s email address stays protected until they are ready to activate it. This can be done using an activation code.

[anon25722375]

Really showing how cult like (and scary) these big tech companies are with them taking capitalism to the extremes to the detriment of all people.

[KathyM (Kathy)]

Based

Lock in now to prevent your kid having a cringe username

[banana]

I don’t know how to articulate it exactly, but this feels… weird. Kind of creepy, in a psychological-manipulative way. I don’t know how to say it. Cult-like may be right.

I’ve been thinking of moving on from Proton. Dark patterns like this have been weighing in my considerations.

[Aflame-Blighted]

@banana

I’ve been thinking of moving on from Proton.

Me too. They are very convenient, and the price is actually great once you start listing the alternatives one by one.

My account expires in May, time to do some thinking.

[anon25722375]

I’m confused. What’s your reasoning for moving away from Proton? In other words, what problem do you have with it?

[banana]

I have many problems with Proton, but none of them individually severe to prompt me to move away. Like, they are each forgivable in isolation. But the problems together have been amounting to a decent amount of abrasion. This particular problem I’m pointing out in this thread is comparatively less concrete. I’d have to write a longer post about it, but I can’t do that right now.

[Nightingale]

This actually feels like a scam. They will get 1 dollar from you for nothing… You can create an account whenever you want. Why reserve it now. Also, are you even sure your kid is going to like the username you choose. Maybe in 10 years marksmith@proton.me will be considered lame and they might want 1EAXG@pm.me as the address.

[PurpleDime]

@banana

I have many problems with Proton, but none of them individually severe to prompt me to move away. Like, they are each forgivable in isolation. But the problems together have been amounting to a decent amount of abrasion. This particular problem I’m pointing out in this thread is comparatively less concrete. I’d have to write a longer post about it, but I can’t do that right now.

I’m also curious about what you find specifically creepy about this feature. I don’t think it’s dumb, and I am sure some parents have thought of it long before Proton Mail existed. Especially if you have a common name like John Smith. I have quite a few friends with names so common they were hard to find on FB. And as someone who loathes having numbers in their username, I find this feature useful.

That being said, like you, I also have issues with Proton. I’m particularly curious of which of their practices you consider to be dark patterns.

[phnx]

@Nightingale

You can create an account whenever you want. Why reserve it now.

So that you reserve the email address and no one else can take it. I’m sorry, but it’s literally in the name. Whether it’s considered cool or not is completely irrelevant, and a firstlast@example.com format email is great for professional use.

[PurpleDime]

@phnx

@Nightingale

You can create an account whenever you want. Why reserve it now.

So that you reserve the email address and no one else can take it.

Also, it’s not the same as creating an account yourself. Proton reserves the username for you, and it is on hold for 15 years. You don’t have to do anything else after. There is no risk of losing it because of inactivity.

You also have to remember that Proton doesn’t allow you to create more than one free account. Even if you have a paid account, you could only create one free one for your kid. What if you have more than one kid? Hence, this new feature.

@Nightingale

Also, are you even sure your kid is going to like the username you choose.

That is a risk you have to take. It’s true that some kids go by nicknames, even at work, others go by their second name, and some people like to shorten their names Matt Stef instead of Matthew Stefanopoulos. This is perhaps why it might be better to wait until your kid is 5 before choosing their username.

[Throwaway]

Also lock-in to protect their name / reputation.

Years ago I assumed my young kid’s first name / last name was unique. Boy was I wrong. I did a Google search and easily found a social media account of a college-age person with the same name doing some cringeworthy stuff for the world to see.

After that I started grabbing up their first name / last name account on popular email and social media accounts and web domain before the other one could get them and cause more headaches.

[hashcatHitman]

@PurpleDime

That is a risk you have to take. It’s true that some kids go by nicknames, even at work, others go by their second name, and some people like shorten their names Matt Stef instead of Matthew Stefanopoulos. This is perhaps why it might be better to wait until your kid is 5 before choosing their username.

Until Proton allows us to change usernames I just don’t think this is a good idea at all, personally. I made the mistake of creating my Proton account with a username I can no longer stand because I didn’t even realize that’s what I was doing when I first started using their VPN (long, long before I started using their email… should have made a new account). They always give the same excuse as to why they can’t change it: your key is derived from your username. To which I say, “ok, and?”. We can clearly decrypt the data… so we can just as easily change the key. It makes no sense to me. I feel very bad for those in worse versions of my situation, like being trans and having your deadname on your account.

[PurpleDime]

@hashcatHitman

Until Proton allows us to change usernames I just don’t think this is a good idea at all, personally.

Isn’t there already a workaround for this?

If you have paid Proton Mail account, you are allowed multiple addresses. You can create the address you want and make it the default.

@hashcatHitman

I made the mistake of creating my Proton account with a username I can no longer stand

Were you a minor when you created it?

I signed up to Proton when it was invitation only so I feel extremely lucky that I was able to reserve the username that I wanted. As I previously said, I hate numbers in usernames and have never created a username with them. I also like having a short username if it’s possible, and for that you need to get in early.

On a loosely related subject, I think it kinda sucks that Proton doesn’t let you check the availability of a username before reserving it. This is something they could easily remedy.

[hashcatHitman]

@PurpleDime

If you have paid Proton Mail account, you are allowed multiple addresses. You can create the address you want and make it the default.

You can do that, but you can’t change your username, which determines, among other things, which address you are allowed to claim as your *@pm.me address.

[PurpleDime]

I am confused.

To my understanding when you have a paid subscription, you can make any of your Proton addresses a @pm.me address. I use that domain for all my Proton addresses.

Moreover, once you change your default, you can presumably then delete the address you didn’t like.

[hashcatHitman]

@PurpleDime

To my understanding when you have a paid subscription, you can make any of your Proton addresses a @pm.me address. I use that domain for all my Proton addresses.

It seems so. I must have misunderstood because of the “Short domain” section in the ProtonMail settings.

I maintain that changing usernames shouldn’t be a big deal and that I want to see the option, though. Deleting the address doesn’t really change the fact that your username is your username. I’d rather it be a sequence of random numbers than what it is.

[PurpleDime]

@hashcatHitman

Deleting the address doesn’t really change the fact that your username is your username.

It depends on what your situation is, and it is possible yours is unique and similar to mine.
There are 2 possible scenarios.

1. Signing up to any Proton service by creating a Proton Mail address.
2. Signing up to any Proton service outside of Proton Mail by using a non-Proton address.

1) USING PROTON SERVICES WITH A PROTON MAIL ADDRESS

In the first situation, which is likely the most common, if you have a paid Proton Mail account, you can create multiple addresses, and make whichever one you prefer your default. You can also change your default address at any point. In addition, when you have a paid Proton Mail account, you can sign in with any of your Proton addresses, even the non-default ones.

2) USING PROTON SERVICES WITH A NON-PROTON ADDRESS (EXTERNAL ACCOUNT)

In the second scenario, when you sign up to any Proton service outside of Proton Mail (Proton Pass, Proton VPN, etc..) you can use any non-Proton address (eg: GMail) as your username.
It’s called an external account.

Using Proton services without a Proton Mail address | Proton

When you create a Proton Pass account with a non-Proton address, you have an external Proton account, and your username is your email address (jordan.smith@gmail.com).

And when you have an external Proton account, you cannot change your username (your Gmail) to a different non-Proton address. Meaning that if your current username for Proton Pass is jordan.smith@GMAIL.com you cannot change it to jordan.smith@YAHOO.com. Never.

To be clear I am talking about your account username, not your inbox address where emails to your aliases are forwarded. That can always be changed.

When you have an external Proton account, and you want to change your Proton username/email, your only option is to create a Proton Mail address for that account. But understand that once your Proton Pass account is linked to a Proton Mail address, you can never change it back to a non-Proton address.

@hashcatHitman

I maintain that changing usernames shouldn’t be a big deal and that I want to see the option, though.

If you have an external account, I agree 100% that you should be allowed to change your username to a different non-Proton address i.e. from jordan.smith@GMAIL.com to jordan.smith@YAHOO.com. Not being able to do it presents a security issue, especially if the email provider for your username shuts down.

However, if you have a Proton account with Proton Mail address as your username, you can already change it any time you want if you have paid account. All you have to do is create a new address, make it your default, and discard or delete the one you don’t like.

But remember that Proton only lets you delete one Proton Mail address per year. And when you delete an address all of its data gets wiped out, including the emails you received and sent with it. And nobody will be able to reserve that username again.

THE ONE THING I HAVE MINOR DOUBTS ABOUT

Suppose you have Proton Unlimited with 5 Proton Mail addresses managed by your account. Since you can log in to Proton Mail with any of your Proton addresses, I would assume it is the same with Proton pass and Proton VPN. Meaning that if jordan.amith@pm.me is your default Proton address, and fresh.cow@pm.me is your second address, you should be able to sign in to Proton Pass and Proton VPN with the latter too. I don’t see why it wouldn’t be the case if you have Proton Unlimited or Protn Mail Plus.

[hashcatHitman]

Thanks for your response. I’m in the first situation.

@PurpleDime

However, if you have a Proton account with Proton Mail address as your username, you can already change it any time you want if you have paid account. All you have to do is create a new address, make it your default, and discard or delete the one you don’t like.

I can confirm that you cannot delete the Proton Mail address that is associated with your username, even once it is no longer the default (the one in the middle is my username@protondomain email, which was created automatically when I chose my username, as I remember it). I have Proton Unlimited. This isn’t because of the 1-year restriction, as I haven’t deleted any of my addresses before, and still have the option to for other addresses.

To my knowledge, the only actual workaround for the problem I have is to:

• create a new account with a different username
• contact support and get the accounts merged such that I can keep my other addresses

But I don’t know how that would affect things like my Lifetime Pass + SimpleLogin. I suspect I’d need to update all the SimpleLogin aliases too.

Anyway, this is all veering a bit off-topic I think, but at the end of the day I guess I just don’t think making accounts for kids ahead of time with immutable identifiers is a great idea. My ProtonMail account is my own fault, but I have several other accounts with similar issues I can thank my mom for.

The only immutable identifier an account should have should be some sort of internal random one, in my opinion.

[Grapeg]

My first reaction was that it is creepy and that was before I saw the baby picture.

I don’t like proton’s marketing at all, it’s very agressive in a superfically innocent looking way. The products are very carefully configured to pressurise you into the unlimited plan.