Why I don't like Proton (my thoughts)

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New Proton Drive “Scan document” feature on Android depends on Google services.

You can check it yourself: disable camera access to Google play services and this feature will refuse to work.

So Proton says, I have to scan documents via Google cloud (?) services, leaking data to one of the most privacy intrusive corporation in the world? That feature supposed to be private! What if I wanna scan medical data?

Seriously, Proton?

It seems like the are rushing to attract as many users as possible trying to suggest “neat and simple tool”. But using privacy intrusive software under hood.

Their soft on Android is disaster. Most their competitors (like Infomaniak and Tuta) already have completely degoogled apps on F-Droid (yeah, I know, but I am not talking about F-Droid now), which works perfectly (including notifications) on completely de-googled devices like iod OS or lineage os.

They got requested thousands of time (over 1,2K votes) to support F-Droid, to remove google shit from apps (over 1,8K votes) and to support Linux normally (over 1,9K votes).

But what we have now? ProtonMail castrated on degoogled phones (no push notifications!), ProtonDrive uses google services to scan your documents (idk if it processed locally (I hope locally), but iff on google servers it is disaster).

Still no ProtonDrive app for Linux. Super inconvenient workarounds how to install and update Proton Pass and Proton Authenticator on Linux (no repos, only manually)…

And it is more annoying, because they support shitdows from microslop natively.

Yeah, for now it is one of the best providers, and I will continue using it, but this petty but nasty details ruins all Proton experience.

If Proton wanna build ecosystem (as they claim) there is no need of using anything from google ecosystem: for privacy and business (google is their competitor) reasons.

That’s why I like to encrypt data manually befor uploading to Proton apps or use web versions (I do not grust their apps because of google “contamination”, while their web apps is perfectly fine)

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I am on Proton Drive 2.34.1 and I couldnt find this feature?

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I just updated to 2.35.0-beta and can’t see it either.

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I think OP is referring to Proton Drive adds OCR scanning

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Thanks for the link, however I still couldn’t find that feature, neither via web app or via android app downloaded from Proton website.

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Which OS are you running on your phone?

This surprises me because I have a normal Android phone, but I’m not logged into a single Google service on it and I have Google Play Store disabled. I download all my apps from F-Droid or the Aurora Store.

Proton Drive works fine, but I have noticed that for over a month now, I am not longer apple to log onto the Twitter app. Every time I log in it fails even though my credentials are correct, and I suspect it could be because I don’t use the Google Play Store.

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I’m not sure why your point on Windows support is so upsetting.

It’s simply market dominance that dictates where apps will be built natively first. It’s not them simping for Microsoft or something.

I’d love Proton Drive on Linux, but that’s part of the deal to sometimes miss out on apps due to the atom-sized market presense. They did launch their Authenticator app with .deb and .rpm support, so they do care about Linux.

But my hunch is that building Proton Drive for Linux is their most complicated app due to how it integrates with system files. All their other apps are basically isolated web apps, so it’s easier to build for Linux.

It seems like you have a personal grudge against Proton. They are the most accessible way to leave the big three ecosystems for something private. But they aren’t the be-all-end-all for Privacy.

I’m on GrapheneOS, but I haven’t faced the issues you describe. It’s possibly my region has an older version so it may come to me, but I have no pending updates yet.

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Edit: removed part about roasting and crying due to my post being flagged by community members because it made them uncomfortable. Anyways, yeah proton sucks with some stuff, and it makes you wonder wth is going on…literally some basic stuff, so it makes me say “forget them”. But at the same time, im thankful for them, i think they are great, and ill happily progress further into my journey and probably leave them behind while wishing them all the best.

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It is vanilla Samsung (temporary, untill my SHIFTphone arrive)

I do not, I still use them. The post vibe wasn’t “Proton is bad”, it was “Some things in Proton are nasty”. I just don’t use their apps, if they aren’t on F-Droid (anyway they won’t work normally (for ex notification) without google)

Yeah. I am only posting my thoughts and some criticism, I am not trying to cancel Proton…

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Hmm, its not on my phone, Proton Drive 2.34.1 @ GOS 2026032001 :woman_shrugging:

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I also have 2.34.1 and it shows up for me with the same error on GOS. Could be hidden behind by feature flag that they only enabled for certain users (canary deployment).

After some research (which could be wrong) I found this: ML Kit  |  Google for Developers. I guess this is probably what Proton uses.

The reasoning behind that is probably that they don’t have to develop and maintain a camera/vision pipeline, the app is smaller etc. I have to say I still don’t like it as during scanning you also have to trust Google. Which is exactly why people move away from Google to Proton in the first place.

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Exactly. Proton reliance on google shit is so irrational from privacy perspective

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It’s not always irrational imo but in this case it is since they’re outsourcing the most privacy-sensitive part of the feature to Google Play services.

Push notifications are different imo. With FCM, Google is in the delivery path, but whether Google sees the actual notification content depends on how the app implements it. If an app sends a normal FCM notification or data payload, then Google necessarily handles that payload in transit. If the app is privacy-conscious, it can instead send only a wake-up ping/token through FCM and fetch the real content from its own server afterward. So relying on Play services for push can be a pragmatic compromise. It’s not ideal of course but it’s not too bad either. There are also non-Google alternatives (like UnifiedPush) of course.

Document scanning is different imo. Here Play services is not just relaying a small wake-up signal. It gets camera access and runs the scanner flow itself. Google says the scan flow is on-device, which is better than cloud OCR, but you’re handing raw document images to a proprietary Google component. That being said we don’t know if they’re using ML Kit but I suspect they do.

Edit: It might also be that I’m totally misunderstanding something about how ML Kit works so take it with a grain of salt

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Who do you recommend otherwise? It’s too bad about proton, given their fairly sleek and easy UI.

I’m in the market for an email, cloud, and VPN.

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Since you asked me- What/Who do you currently have? If you have Gmail and no vpn, i’d go Proton lol. An affordable Proton plan gets you a lot and makes transitioning into privacy-friendly things easy. I also really like their password manager, however some think it is smart to diverisfy PW manager and Authenticator to a different organization while using Proton suite. So say…. bitwarden, ente auth, proton suite, is an excellent setup for someone just getting into it.

If youre not just getting into it, you probably know enough to make a decision!

No more derailing the thread, sorry OP.

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The proton suite is good for someone who wants a temptingly priced suite of very competent apps. Someone who is just getting into it should think very carefully about what they are getting into. Sharing password manager login criteria with other apps is a big no no imo.

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Generally, I use Proton, but through WEB apps OR F-Droid versions (if present).

But I still a little furious that they outsource scanning documents (which supposed to be private) to google (which is one of the most privacy intrusive corporation)

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As @DailyChems suggests, it is highly likely Proton is simply utilizing standard android’s on device AI to perform the task, rather than sending it to their server and process it.

Until (if ever) a basic (but swappable) on device AI model, with relevant infrastructure, is included in AOSP, I don’t think much can be done.

Edit: Well, you don’t really need sophisticated AI models to do it, but if a on-device AI is available, it unlocks a lot more possibilities.

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Just came here to add more data. I’m also on Graphene OS ( 2026032001), however when I installed the proton drive app via sandboxed google play I saw the new scan document upload option, and the subsequent request for camera permissions for play services.