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Proton Mail, the encrypted email service, has introduced its native desktop app currently in beta for selected Windows and MacOS users. Previously, users accessed the service via the web or a “bridge” for desktop programs. The new app provides offline access and includes Proton Calendar.

Image Credit: Proton

Finally, Proton Mail has a native desktop app that is currently available in beta for select Windows and MacOS users.

Naturally, desktop users have had access to the encrypted email service since its launch almost ten years ago. Initially, this was done via the internet, and later, a “bridge” allowed users to access Proton Mail accounts using desktop programs like Thunderbird, Apple Mail, and Outlook.

However, parent company Proton is doing away with the browser and bridge middleware in order to serve end-to-end email encryption straight from its own clients, all thanks to a dedicated desktop app.

The desktop application offers offline access and can be accessed straight from the Mac OS dock or Windows Start menu. Proton Calendar, an encrypted calendar app that Proton released in 2019, is also included in the package.

Proton Mail for Desktop with Calendar. Image Credit: Proton

Proton also unveiled a few new features that will be accessible to Proton Mail users on the web and desktop in addition to the new app. Among them is email auto-forwarding, which lets Proton Mail premium users create rules that will forward messages automatically between accounts while preserving end-to-end encryption (E2EE).

Proton CTO Bart Butler said in a statement, “Messages sent between Proton Mail accounts are always end-to-end encrypted by default, but to maintain end-to-end encryption for messages forwarded to other Proton users presented a huge technical challenge.” “We had to find a way to re-encrypt messages for distinct recipients while keeping the content hidden from the server. This is the first encrypted email ever made possible by our cryptographic engineers.

Additional new features include attachment previews, which give users a preview of email attachments without requiring them to open the attachment in full, and “snooze,” which lets users schedule reminders to deal with important emails later.

Proton Mail Snooze. Image Credit: Proton

push for privacy

When Proton was founded in 2014, its services were limited to encrypted email. However, since then, the Swiss company has grown to include VPNs, a password manager, a calendar, and Proton Drive, a cloud storage solution with a desktop app.

Proton has primarily focused on offering encrypted alternatives to well-known incumbents like Gmail in its pitch, but its new app goes above and beyond by bringing native support to the desktop.

Proton CEO Andy Yen stated in a statement, “Even though many people use email on desktop in a browser, desktop apps can still provide certain advantages such as better offline support.” “We have chosen to release a desktop app because of this, as even Gmail does not offer it.”

The new Proton Mail desktop app is limited to users on the Proton Visionary plan during its initial beta phase. This plan was previously exclusive to legacy users who signed up early in the company’s history. However, from now until January 3, 2024, the company is reserving space for Visionary plans.

Beginning in early 2024, Proton Mail for desktop will be available to all users. The company has confirmed that, similar to its other applications, the new email clients will be open sourced “in due course.”