Proton Mail Android PWA

Hello, does someone use Proton Mail PWA on their Android devices? How is the experience when compared to the native application?

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I use it but I’m just a lowly newbie I’m sure you want to hear from someone with more technical knowledge. But anyway my native app was gmail and as far as I’m concerned anything is better than gmail. I do like it. Thankfully its easy to use because if you have any issues you’re pretty much on your own. Maybe its different for users who pay. I hope that’s not the case. With me its a matter of try before you buy. They haven’t instilled confidence in resolving issues in a timely manner.

Is this a collateral effect question from the Private Space restriction to create shortcuts in the home screen? I was just assessing the option to start using PWA in the home screen to circumvent the only app that I want to keep in the private space but also would be nice to have the shortcut. Anyways, I’m also curious about the experience using the Proton Mail PWA.

The Proton Mail PWA is acceptable to me. I have a free Proton account and only use it for backups. And I don’t have it notify either.

Comparing with a Tuta Mail PWA, Proton doesn’t auto log me out like Tuta does. Some may want that, and there might be a setting but I haven’t looked.

I’ve seen a few of the most popular service providers advertising their PWAs and am wondering if they might be ‘more private’ than a native app. I’ve tried to find information online, but still have a few questions:

  1. Are PWAs any less (or more) secure and private than native apps (Proton Mail for example)?
  2. Can the PWA access cookies (i.e. see what other websites the user is logged into or visiting) in the browser?
  3. Do notifications come through on PWAs?
  4. Are PWAs processing data in the background when closed?
  5. Is it any better to use a Chromium-based browser over a Firefox browser, or vice versa?
  6. Is using a ephemeral browser that deletes data on closing a bad idea for PWAs? Does the existence of a PWA force sessions to persist and merge with subsequent sessions in the browser?

Grateful for any help.

It lacks some swipe actions and of course push notification whej its off but other than that it is basically on par with the android app.

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So when the PWA window is closed it’s entirely ‘off’? Not able to process any data in the background like native apps can?

The thought of PWAs has given me a few options to consider. For example, should I use the Proton Mail PWA instead of the app, because Proton’s app relies on Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) for push notifications, which includes trackers. Presumably, less is shared with Google if I use Proton’s PWA because they do not have push notifications via FCM (or do those little notification bubbles share data?). I would just need to check the PWA for new mail, or set up notification mail to a Tuta Mail app, which has its own independent notification system.

Won’t bother with PWAs if they are not as secure or private as native apps.

EDIT: I’ve just read that FCMs can be used within PWAs, which means they are no more private in my use case than a native app (Proton Mail for example). :frowning:

If I deny Proton’s app permission to push notifications, presumably Google’s FCM will not gather any data, or is it that Proton’s app will still send the same data to Google (which they can store) but their FCM simply stops the notification from displaying on my device?

Native apps implement certificate pinning, which is better than PWAs. Plus native apps can use device hardware. Cannot say one is better than the other, but I prefer native apps for critical software.

Ideally no. Origin rules prevent them.

On Android? Yes chromium is better. No site isolation in Firefox.

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Thank you so much. :pray: