Proton Mail’s Android app requires Google Play Services for notifications. This isn’t a real issue if you already have these installed, but, for those who don’t, it means they can’t get any Proton Mail notifications.
While having no Google Play Services installed is a very uncommon setup, it’s a lot more common for privacy-oriented users, such as those who would look at Privacy Guides.
A third-party app, You Have Mail, available on F-Droid and GitHub, checks for new Proton Mail emails at an interval you can set, and sends you a notification when one is received.
Through this app, you can accomplish what Proton Mail have not yet added in their own app; receiving notifications on Android, without Google Play Services.
I think this app should be recommended, in a little note under the Proton Mail recommendation, for those who don’t have Google Play Services, and aren’t aware of this option.
Nice find, it is coded in rust and kotlin so it looks solid. However maybe not to be recommended but rather mentioned since it’s not directly privacy related.
Do you know what is the secure level of You Have Mail app ? My fear is this service seems convenient but it increase attack surface giving the fact that you have to give login and password of your proton account. Can you trust this small app to have the same security level than proton s infrastructure to protect user s logins and passwords ?
Thks
Of course it increases attack surface. So does everything else. Using Google Play Services for notifications also does.
No, you can’t, because they obviously don’t have the same resources. But that is not a reason to disregard it. The entire open source world is built on-top of small projects.
Ok thanks !
I don t deny the opensource benefits, on the opposite ! But giving your password of your main email account to a third party app isn t nothing neither ! Actually I would love to use this app because i desactivated Google play service and i now have to open protonmail app to check if i have new mail or not. I m pretty convinced that the developper of this app is benevolent. But i have to acknowledge that i don t know anything about this app nor its security and that it need very sensitive datas in order to work.
That s why i asked you some info. I hope we receive some info to increase trustworthiness of this great project !
I m pretty convinced that the developper of this app is benevolent. But i have to acknowledge that i don t know anything about this app nor its security and that it need very sensitive datas in order to work.