Proton Updates & Release Notes

What is the CLI?

Last week, we finished launching the Proton Drive SDK, a shared engine designed to harmonize Proton Drive across all platforms and to bring you the features you need faster. Today, we’re taking the next step: Proton Drive CLI is here, available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

The CLI brings the power of our cloud storage and end-to-end encryption to scripts, backups, and deployment pipelines without the hassle of writing code. It’s built on the same Proton Drive SDK that powers our official Proton Drive client applications, and is fully interoperable with them.

For our developer community: While we are developing our fully-featured Linux app, the CLI already allows you to script a lot of Proton Drive’s key features from your favorite scripting environments (or even schedule jobs with cron). The CLI is intended to complement the Proton Drive application. It’s not a full replacement — for example, only the applications include a full synchronization engine that runs in the background — but rather a way to achieve many goals from a lightweight scripting environment.

A command-line interface (CLI) is a program you run from a shell, such as Terminal, PowerShell, or SSH. You pass a command and arguments, it does the job, and exits. Like other Unix command-line tools, you can pipe and script the Proton Drive CLI together with other tools into larger workflows.

The Proton Drive CLI is a single binary you can drop into that world. It supports common Drive operations such as listing folders, uploading and downloading files, trash, sharing, or invitations. Results are displayed in plain, readable text by default — and if you’re building automation on top, you can switch to a machine-friendly format using the --json (or -j) parameter.

How does Proton Drive CLI help?

Until now, using Proton Drive as part of an automated workflow — alongside tools like deployment scripts, backup jobs, cron, or internal runbooks — meant either doing it manually (like opening the app or dragging files) or reverse-engineering Drive’s internals to write custom scripts that were brittle and hard to maintain. The CLI changes that by allowing you to run Proton Drive operations directly from the terminal. It can, for example, upload files after a build finishes, back up a folder on a schedule, invite a reviewer, or check what’s been shared.

This is especially useful when you need a specific action to happen at a specific time, rather than keeping folders continuously in sync, such as publishing files after a release, taking a snapshot of a shared folder before an audit, or revoking access when someone offboards. The CLI runs the operation, tells you if it worked, and exits.

It’s a natural fit for anyone who already works in the terminal and for teams who want their Drive workflows written down as repeatable commands rather than a series of clicks to remember.

Get started with Proton Drive CLI

At launch, the CLI covers the essentials: sign in and out, browse and manage files and folders (including trash), and handle sharing and invitations.

A few typical flows:

proton-drive auth login

# Upload files from local directory to folder in My files
proton-drive filesystem upload ./reports/* /my-files/Reports --conflict-strategy skip

# See who has access, then invite a colleague
proton-drive sharing status /my-files/Reports
proton-drive sharing invite --user [email protected] --role editor --message "Please review reports" /my-files/Reports

# Download to a local backup directory
proton-drive filesystem download /my-files/Reports ./backups

For the full command set and flags, run proton-drive help or proton-drive --help. For example, proton-drive filesystem upload --help.

Find out more about using the Proton Drive CLI.

What comes next

Upcoming additions to the Proton Drive CLI include support for:

• Photos and albums
• Files and folders shared using a secure, public link
• Multi-account support for larger teams and managed service providers

Our long-term goal is to bring everything you can do in the Proton Drive app to the command line.

Download Proton Drive CLI

The fastest way to get started is to download the pre-built binaries for your platform:

Download Proton Drive CLI

On macOS and Linux, you’ll need to make the file executable after downloading (chmod +x proton-drive). Once that’s done, run proton-drive version to confirm the build.

Sign-in happens through your browser — no password on the command line. Your sessions are stored securely by your operating system (Windows Credential Manager, macOS Keychain, or libsecret on Linux).

Build from source

Prefer to build from source? The CLI is implemented in TypeScript, packaged with Bun (new window), and available for download in the Drive SDK repository (new window). After cloning it, you can install the dependencies and build the CLI from the main directory:

cd js/cli
bun install
bun run build
./release/proton-drive auth login
./release/proton-drive filesystem list /my-files

See the CLI README in the repository for more details.

Fair use and rate limits

Proton Drive CLI follows the same fair use policies as all Proton Drive clients. To stay within limits, only upload or download what has actually changed — don’t reupload the same files repeatedly or rewrite entire folders when only a few files are new. Accounts that generate unusually high traffic are temporarily throttled to protect the service for everyone.

Now in your terminal, with the same level of privacy

Proton Drive CLI is available today, and more features will soon follow. Everything you do through the terminal is protected by the same end-to-end encryption as the rest of Proton Drive. Download it, try it, and let us know what you build. And if you’re on Linux: a full-featured desktop client with sync is on its way.

End-to-end encryption is at the core of Proton Drive. It’s what keeps your files private, so only you and the people you choose can access them — not even us. Because every file operation is protected this way in our cloud storage apps, cryptographic performance has a direct impact on how fast uploads and downloads feel.

After our previous SDK performance improvements across uploads and downloads, this latest update builds on that work by making Proton Drive’s core encryption layer even more efficient.

Proton Drive uses the OpenPGP standard to encrypt file contents, and we’ve now adopted a cryptographic advance introduced in an update to the standard. A big part of building the SDK throughout this year has been moving Drive’s file operations onto a shared foundation, making the apps faster and smoother across all platforms. The result is an up to 4x boost in performance for file uploads. It also lays the groundwork for the next generation of Drive features.

Performance impact

Encryption has a major impact on how smooth the app feels during everyday use, so cutting that cost by up to 4x makes file uploads feel much faster, especially on the devices where performance matters most:

• On mobile, our benchmarks show encryption of a 4MB file that used to take 97ms now takes 32ms.
• On more powerful processors, the same operation that used to take 12ms now takes 3ms.

Encrypting an HD movie or 1,000 high-resolution photos used to take your phone about a minute and a half, or a fast desktop around 12 seconds. With this update, the same work finishes in about 30 seconds on mobile and around 3 seconds on a desktop.

How Proton Drive become faster

The structure that Proton Drive uses is a file node, which can have many revisions, each representing a version of the file. The contents are then chunked into blocks. The node contains cryptographic material which is used to encrypt the blocks. This cryptographic material on the file node consists of the node key (a locked PGP secret key) and a content key packet (a PKESK encrypted with the node key).

The PGP messages that Proton Drive uses for file contents consist of two packets:

• A public key encrypted session key (PKESK): This is the node’s content key packet, shared for all blocks.
• A symmetrically encrypted integrity protected data packet (SEIPD): This is the encrypted block contents.

The new encryption scheme

Before this cryptography update, uploaded files used a v3 PKESK and a v1 SEIPD. Now, the encryption algorithm requires a v6 PKESK and a v2 SEIPD. The symmetric encryption used for content is AES-GCM, which makes full use of hardware encryption on most modern devices.

Because the session key is shared between revisions when files are updated, all revisions on a file must match the encryption scheme used by the first one. This means clients must be updated to take the PKESK version into account when making a change to a file and uploading a new revision. Clients built on the Proton Drive SDK will handle this automatically, as the information is carried in the session key. The key is generated here (new window) and used when encrypting the blocks (new window).

To avoid issues with decryption later, revisions submitted with the wrong version will be rejected. This means that clients which don’t support the feature will not be able to update files uploaded after this change comes into effect. Make sure to update your Proton Drive clients to get all the performance benefits.

What’s next

This is an big step in evolving Proton Drive’s shared core model toward more performant, more capable cloud storage protected by end-to-end encryption. The SDK gives every Drive client a shared cryptographic core, making changes of this scope possible — and helping us move faster on what comes next. Stay tuned for more improvements this year.

Thank you for your continued support,

The Proton Drive engineering team

We’ve been focused on making end-to-end encrypted cloud storage faster, smoother, and more consistent everywhere you use it. To get there, we rebuilt Proton Drive around a stronger technical foundation: a single, shared engine that unifies all our cloud storage apps across platforms and powers all uploading, downloading, encryption, and more.

These behind-the-scenes developments have an enormous impact that you can see and feel today. It means better, more consistent performance and vastly improved speeds. And it enables us to power more Drive integrations with every other Proton app: You’ll start seeing deeper integrations with the rest of the Proton ecosystem and support for more clients — and yes, including Linux.

Here’s what’s changed for you:

Quicker uploads and downloads

Moving files in and out of Proton Drive is now much snappier across platforms, with uploads up to 3x faster. This means common actions, like Android photo backup and macOS file sync, complete more quickly, letting you get on with your day. And you can access your files with less waiting, whenever you need, even on the go: Downloads are up to 2x faster.

A faster, smoother app experience

Your files and photos now load faster in Proton Drive. And because photos often hold the memories that matter most, such as family moments, travels, milestones, and everyday life, we’ve made the Photos experience smoother too. Enjoy accelerated timeline scrolling and swifter loading of albums and photos, even in large batches.

A stronger foundation for Drive and beyond

This transformation of Drive was made possible by combining knowledge from our Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and Web teams into a single, better engine: the Drive SDK (software development kit).

An SDK is a package of building blocks of code that developers can use to create applications for different operating systems (like macOS, Linux, or Android). Switching to the Proton Drive SDK was like swapping out a car engine for a jet engine. It gives us the power to create faster Drive apps and makes it much easier to develop new features and integrations for every platform.

With the SDK we were able to improve the cryptographic model that protects your data in Proton Drive, ensuring your new files will be end-to-end encrypted up to 4x faster while slashing battery drain and heat on iOS and Android. We’re always looking to make things better, but one thing hasn’t changed: No one but you and the people you share with can access your data, not even us. See the Proton Drive cryptography update for more details.

The SDK is bringing Proton Drive closer to the rest of your Proton apps and, over time, will make it easier for external tools to use Proton Drive for secure file storage and sharing. For example, Proton Drive integration in Lumo (our privacy-first AI assistant) is powered by the SDK. It lets you use your documents productively in Lumo while keeping them protected by Proton Drive’s end-to-end encryption.

For developers and the wider privacy community, a preview of the SDK is available on GitHub, making it easier to understand and build on the shared engine that powers all Proton Drive.

What’s next

Our work on the SDK continues. As it continues to power new features, Proton Drive will become harmonized across platforms, more deeply integrated across the Proton ecosystem, and easier for the community to build on — all while keeping your files end-to-end encrypted. We’re also now actively building one of the community’s most-requested features: the Proton Drive client for Linux, built from the ground up to leverage the SDK.

Whether you’re new to Proton Drive or have been with us from the beginning, now is a great time to try it, share your feedback on UserVoice, Reddit, or X, and help shape what comes next.

Use Proton Drive now

Not on Drive yet? Create a free Proton Drive account and get 5 GB of free storage.

Many of these improvements were made possible by the Proton community: Your testing, feedback, and support help us build a better private cloud for everyone. Thank you!

Privacy-focused alternatives to Big Tech services have never been more important. In the last year, we’ve significantly built out the Proton ecosystem with more essential tools, including a private AI chat assistant, 2FA app, and encrypted spreadsheets, along with new features for our existing products. Our new private video calling platform and appointment scheduling tool are also now available in a new Workspace plan, a privacy-first suite for business users.

We aim to accelerate this pace of development in 2026, focusing heavily on improvements to our existing services. Our product roadmap for the first half of 2026 includes new features and improvements throughout the Proton ecosystem.

As always, our development strategy is rooted in the feedback you give us through our user feedback platform, on social media, and directly to our team. Because Proton is 100% community supported, your input is critical, so please continue to share your thoughts with us.

Proton Mail

Your mailbox will be getting new updates that make it easier to manage and organize your emails.

Find what you need with category view

To help you take control of your inbox, our new category view automatically categorizes your emails to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. You can choose to categorize by different types: Primary, Social, Promotions, Newsletters, Transactions, and Updates. Categories are enabled by default, but you can turn them on or off in your settings and control notifications, so your inbox stays organized without extra setup.

Manage all your email inboxes from Proton Mail

Working from one inbox makes it much easier to handle emails. To support people who have multiple inboxes with other providers and are in the process of switching to Proton, we’re evolving our Forwarding feature. Soon, you’ll be able to send and receive emails from your existing Gmail email address directly from your new Proton Mail inbox.

While you settle into your Proton Mail account and your old Gmail account is still active, you’ll be able to reply to and send emails from your new Proton Mail inbox without needing to visit your previous provider. Support for more email providers is coming soon.

Content search is coming to mobile

Your Proton Mail mobile app is about to become more powerful: Content searching will help you find emails on your mobile app by searching their full body text as well as their subject lines. This enhanced search capability helps you find things faster without changing how search works from a privacy perspective: Your queries stay on your device, keeping your communications, receipts, attachments, and other data completely confidential.

Proton Calendar

Your next-gen calendar with new features

Proton Calendar is being completely rewritten from scratch to deliver a modern, secure experience that includes long-awaited capabilities like offline mode. We’ll be working on this all year, but we’re already rolling out immediate improvements like appointment booking pages and the ability to set Proton Calendar as your default calendar on Android.

Proton VPN

Between online censorship and concerns around age verification systems collecting personal data, VPNs have never been so important. Protecting your privacy should be easy and accessible to all, which is why we’re focusing on making Proton VPN faster, more reliable, and more consistent across platforms.

Unlocking the next generation of performance

As we mentioned in our fall and winter recap in 2025, we’ve been working on a new client-side WireGuard® codebase. This new codebase means a more reliable and censorship-resistant Proton VPN: Your Proton VPN apps will be faster and more reliable, with improved anti-censorship capabilities, and fewer disconnects and dropouts. Beta testing will be available in the coming months for Windows, Android, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Linux.

A sleeker and more private Proton VPN Linux app

We’re planning to make the user experience smoother when you’re using Proton VPN between devices or platforms. Our team is currently working on visual updates for the Linux GUI app that will give you a more consistent experience between apps on different platforms. The modern, sleek UI you know for other platforms will soon be available for Linux. These improvements are coming alongside long-awaited support for the Stealth protocol as part of the new WireGuard codebase. By helping mask VPN traffic, Stealth will make Proton VPN on Linux more private, harder to detect, and better equipped to work on networks that try to restrict or block VPN use.

Stay connected, your way

Last year, we introduced improved connection preferences that allowed you to exclude specific countries and cities from Fastest Country and Random connections permanently for Android. You can set your preferences once, and then your VPN will always pick from locations that actually work for you. Soon, we’re making the same connection preferences available for Windows.

Proton Pass

Keeping your digital identity safe and organized requires a versatile and convenient password manager. That means more storage options and robust autofill capabilities, and new ways to organize and share sensitive information.

Even smarter autofill

Last year, autofill in Proton Pass became more useful with quality of life updates including credit card autofill, auto-type, and HTTP Basic Auth. In the first half of 2026, more improvements are coming for autofill.

iFrame autofill will help your Proton Pass app detect login fields on websites with more complicated layouts, such as online banking or enterprise tools. URL matching, one of our most requested features, will allow Proton Pass to suggest information for the exact website you’re visiting so you won’t need to search for it.

Easier organizing with folders

We’ve been working on the cryptography model that protects your credentials in Proton Pass, which is a prerequisite to offering folders within your vaults. Soon, you’ll be able to sort your items within custom folders, opening up new possibilities for organizing and secure sharing. Your passwords, your notes, your aliases, and more can be organized into categories of your choosing for easier and faster retrieval.

Put your SSH keys to work across devices

Working between multiple devices can be complex when you’re a developer. You can already store your SSH keys in Proton Pass, and soon you’ll be able to use them with an SSH agent to simplify authentication in your Git and SSH workflows. No more manual syncing when you switch devices, plus added security and convenience with biometric unlock for terminal-based authentication.

Read Proton Pass’s spring and summer roadmap

Proton Drive

Ease of use and core functionality are our key focuses for Proton Drive this spring and summer. We’ll be making improvements to Proton Drive that’ll help you upload and download files and photos faster, and work more easily across multiple Proton apps for increased productivity.

Proton Drive is 70% faster and it’s just getting started

Earlier this year, we gave you a progress update about Proton Drive SDK. This project will give you faster and better Proton Drive apps, no matter which platform you’re using.

Since January, you may have noticed that uploading and downloading files and photos on Proton Drive has become significantly faster. Thanks to the progress in building our SDK, downloading shared files is 70% faster and uploading to a shared folder is 30% faster whether you have a Proton Account or not.

In the coming months, we’ll improve performance further and make features more consistent across all of the Proton Drive apps. We’ll be able to add document and folder sync on macOS, which we know many people are eager for. We’ll also working on the highly anticipated Linux app.

Proton Sheets and Proton Docs improvements are in the works

For Proton Docs and Proton Sheets, our focus is on building out their feature and collaboration set, so you can move more of your existing files and workflows out of Big Tech apps.

Since we released Sheets in late 2025, we’ve consistently been making updates and releasing new features. We’ll continue to focus on making improvements to Sheets that give you more power over how you create and manage your spreadsheets.

For Proton Docs, we’ll focus on usability and collaboration features. These updates are essential because they make it easier for you to get work done, whether it’s a solo project or a group effort. Soon you’ll be able to create a table of contents for your Proton Docs, and more updates are coming soon. This will also include shared Drive, one secure, shared storage space giving improved collaboration capabilities to families and businesses.

Enhanced ecosystem integration

We understand that as you move toward privacy-focused apps, you’re moving away from an existing, fully integrated Big Tech ecosystem. To make the transition easier for you, we’re focusing on building our own integrated ecosystem. To make working between different Proton apps more fluid, we’re investigating how we can build closer integration between our tools for faster workflows. We’ll be introducing new integration features in the coming months.

Read Proton Drive’s Q1 recap

Lumo AI

AI assistants shouldn’t advertise products to you, collect your data, or share it with third parties and governments. But those are precisely the risks presented by Big Tech AIs. We developed Lumo last year to provide people and businesses with a private alternative that never trains AI models using your data. Since introducing Lumo, we’re building out tools that make it smarter and better at helping you or your team save time.

A new Lumo update, coming soon

We’re planning to release an update for Lumo that will introduce significant new capabilities. Right now, we’re working on faster speed and performance, and improved mobile apps and additional new features: Watch this space.

Get more done with a desktop Lumo app

Lumo is available on any web browser and mobile device, but we’re developing a desktop app to supercharge your productivity. Lumo for desktop will give you a seamless experience, allowing you to move quickly between your native work tools: email, web, chat apps, and your personal AI assistant. It can be a hub for everything you’re working on, where you can store all your projects and conversations in one encrypted place, and get more context-aware answers for your queries.

A private AI assistant for your platform

For most organizations, building a private AI tool isn’t a feasible. So we’re releasing a Lumo API that will let you add Lumo to your product or software, no matter the size of your platform.

Lumo API offers what Big Tech AI chatbots don’t: a private and secure AI assistant that gives you the benefits of AI without the privacy concerns. Instead of compromising on security, you can build Lumo into your workflows for fully private and trustworthy AI support. With the API, you can also make it easier to use Lumo within other platforms, helping you work smarter and faster.

Moving beyond Big Tech with you, our community

Everything we’ve released in the last year, including our new products and every new feature for our core services, has been possible because of your support. As an independent, European alternative to Big Tech, we see building a private ecosystem of apps as a reclamation of our rights to privacy on the internet and a reminder that there’s a better way to build tech: for people, not profit.

Your investment in our mission is what helps us make better products. Feedback is invaluable to our teams, so let us know in our forums and on Discord, X, Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, Telegram, Reddit, and UserVoice, or leave us a review in the App Store or Play Store. Thank you for helping us build a more private internet, and we’ll see you in the fall for our next roadmap updates.

What we launched in fall and winter 2025

Proton Pass is an essential tool for managing credentials and protecting your identity, but it has become much more than that. Now you can use it even for specialized purposes, whether that’s segmenting access to information among teams or managing developer workflows.

This year, we’re continuing to expand the ways you can use Proton Pass, for teams, individuals, and families.

Our latest updates and upcoming features focus on improving usability, adding more control and flexibility to sharing, enhancing the autofill experience, and providing new tools for developers. Proton Pass is becoming more capable and convenient, all without raising prices or compromising on our values of privacy and transparency.

We know that everyone uses Proton Pass differently. For it to be as useful to as many people as possible, we focused on a few core areas last year.

Improved usability and more convenience

When you’re using Proton Pass, the app should help you get your admin done and make your tasks easier. That’s why we focused on improving usability and convenience.

We introduced improvements for autofill, including credit card autofill, auto-type, and HTTP Basic Auth to handle non-standard login dialogs. Right-click menu and offline mode also gave you more options to tailor Proton Pass for your specific needs.

Enhanced security for your browser extension

As a privacy-first business, our tools have to give our users the best protection possible for their sensitive data. We made Pass Monitor accessible through your Proton Pass browser extension so that it’s easier to spot and change your weak and reused passwords and get notifications if you’re affected by a data breach.

Additional privacy updates included the ability to choose a set period of time after which copied passwords are cleared from your clipboard, and being able to create and use passkeys in Safari with the Proton Pass extension.

Secure secret management for developers

To make it a more capable solution for developers who are managing software development, we introduced Proton Pass CLI which enables engineers to access secrets via the terminal.

Personal Access Tokens (PATs) are now supported in the Proton Pass CLI. PATs provide precise control over the secrets that scripts or AI agents have access to within the CLI. You can manage access more easily by granting scoped access to specific vaults to third-party applications or scripts, making Proton Pass a natural fit for managing secrets across your automation and tooling.

Greater access control for teams

Organizations rely on Proton Pass for a lot more than password management, including access management and enforcing security policies for tens, hundreds, or even thousands of users. We focused on making access management easier and faster for admins, while also providing more granular control over security policies.

Groups now make it easier to organize team members or projects, defining access controls at scale. You can share access to vaults and items at the group level rather than the individual level for faster and easier sharing without compromising on security. This simplifies sharing and access management for admins, who can also choose group owners within their organization. Admins can also create policies to ensure that email aliases and secure links are used responsibly and in line with your business’s security policies.

What’s coming this spring and summer

Our focus for the first half of 2026 is to make continual improvements to our core offerings, improving the flexibility and convenience that Proton Pass can offer you. We’re also committed to introducing new features:

Organize your data your way with folders

Folders will be a significant building block for Proton Pass that will go beyond just helping you organize your items. Introducing folders will require some rethinking of our cryptography model, which we’re currently working on. Eventually, you’ll also be able to share folders and subfolders just like your vaults and individual items, giving you another flexible way to share access.

Folders will be available in the coming months. As well as creating vaults, you’ll be able to create dedicated folders and subfolders to organize crucial information for quick retrieval: you can organize by project, by team, by year, or whatever else you need.

Simplify SSH workflows with the SSH agent

The default SSH agent built into your OS isn’t built for convenience and flexibility, so we’re launching an SSH agent that will let you work with the SSH keys stored in your vaults while keeping them automatically in sync wherever you work. You can already keep your SSH keys in Proton Pass, and with the SSH agent, you’ll be able to use them for your Git and SSH workflows, simplifying authentication and making it easier to work across several computers.

Keeping your SSH keys in Proton Pass lets you use them on multiple devices without needing to manually sync them, saving time and effort as you work. Git workflows are much easier when you can simply use biometric unlock for committing or signing, adding an extra layer of security and convenience to terminal-based authentication.

Do even more with your Proton Pass browser extension

We’re going to continue focusing on making Proton Pass a powerful assistant for you on your web browser.

To speed up your browsing, biometric unlock is coming to the Proton Pass extension. It’ll be available for macOS and Chromium first, with other browsers and OS released gradually. You’ll be able to use your fingerprint or face ID to unlock your account instead of using your master password or PIN code for added convenience. Your account will remain just as secure while saving you time logging in.

We’re also making improvements to autofill in your Proton Pass browser extension. iFrame autofill will detect autofill opportunities in websites and apps with more complicated layouts, like banking apps. URL matching will allow you to configure autofill exactly the way you want, allowing Proton Pass to suggest information for the exact website you’re visiting, a highly requested update.

Because you always need access to your vaults, offline mode for browser extensions is also coming soon. Offline mode is already available for your web, desktop, and mobile Proton Pass apps, so this will keep your vaults accessible when you’re not connected to the internet, no matter which app you’re using. If you’re traveling or if you’ve simply lost connection, you won’t be cut off from the valuable information you need.

Much more than a password manager

Everything we’re developing for Proton Pass makes it easier and more convenient for you to protect your online accounts and organize your digital life. Expanding the core features and capabilities available helps us make Proton Pass a valuable tool for anyone and everyone, at home or at work.

We couldn’t make these updates without the valuable guidance of our community, and we want to hear from you: What would you like to see released for Proton Pass? Tell us what works for you and what you need on Reddit or UserVoice.

Together, we’ll make an internet where your identity is secure and your privacy is protected by default.

Sharing in Proton Pass is flexible by design. Whether you need to share a single item or an entire vault, or grant temporary or permanent access, there’s an option to do so securely from your Proton Pass account. Today we’re introducing groups in business plans to give you more control over your team’s sharing and improve collaboration.

Admins for most multi-user Proton Pass plans can create groups that organize team members by category, such as by team, department, or project. Once you’ve created a group, you can control access to credentials by assigning those groups to specific vaults and items. Instead of sharing items or vaults individually, access is managed at the group level, making it easier to scale up or down as you need.

Groups are available in Pass Family, Pass Professional, Pass Family, and Business bundles.

Create your first group.

What you can do with groups

Groups make it easier to manage access and share items or vaults at scale. Instead of providing or revoking access one user at a time, you can create groups, add members, and assign permissions to all members at once.

As an admin, you can:

• Create structure within your business by organizing users into groups based on teams, departments, projects, or roles.
• Save time by assigning access to vaults and items at the group level instead of sharing individually.
• Reduce manual work by managing access centrally through group membership.
• Streamline onboarding and offboarding by adding or removing users from groups.

Within your organization, team members can:

• Create items and share them directly with groups for easier collaboration.
• Belong to multiple groups, inheriting access (to items or vaults) from all assigned groups and never wasting time chasing access to the tools and systems they need to get work done.
• Always have access to the latest passwords and data shared with the groups they belong to, no matter which device or platform they’re using.

Put an end to unnecessary access

Protecting sensitive data within your business is easier when you team members have access to what they need and nothing more.

This is known as the “principle of least privilege,” and it’s one of the core principles of zero trust security. Zero trust is a cybersecurity framework that means a system never assumes anyone’s identity or access rights, and will verify every time access is attempted.

When it comes to sensitive data such as financial records or customer details, access must be limited strictly to those who need access. Otherwise, insider threats proliferate — 83% of businesses (new window) reported accidental or malicious data breaches caused by their own employees in 2024. If you’re not taking care to ensure that access is limited strictly to those who need it, and regularly removing legacy accounts for ex-employees, your valuable business data is at risk.

Groups make it simple to define who can access what within your network. Working with the principle of least privilege is difficult and prone to errors when you’re managing access at the user level. But working at the group level gives you a much clearer picture of access rights within your organization, making it easier and quicker to enforce properly structured access rights.

Simplify onboarding and offboarding

Introducing a new team member can be time-consuming and error prone, from assigning equipment to ensuring they have access to the tools and systems they’ll need for their role. A team member can get to work faster when the appropriate access is designated from day one. Adding them to a group is the most efficient and reliable way to set up their role and permissions within your network.

Groups also make offboarding easier and safer. Old accounts for former employees and contractors increase your attack surface and risk leaving “ghost access” to accounts they’re no longer authorized to see.

Easier team password sharing for faster work

Sharing credentials, WiFi passwords, payment details, and notes is a daily necessity in the modern workplace.

Vaults in Proton Pass are the ideal location to centralize the information and make it available to your team across multiple devices. But without proper access controls, sensitive information can still leak.

Groups reduce this risk and also ensure that members always have access to the latest version of credentials; if a password is changed by one user, it’s updated in real time for all other users.

Secure links are still available for one-off and temporary sharing, but group access permissions will prevent unauthorized sharing, reducing errors and protecting your network.

See Proton Pass in action

Proton Pass was designed to help everyone take control of their passwords, but businesses have unique collaboration needs and heightened risks. Small businesses are especially targeted by hackers, with one in four experiencing a cyberattack in the last year.

Swiss IT management firm GILAI and the French managed office provider Morning have enabled security and collaboration by switching to Proton Pass.

See how Proton Pass met GILAI’s rigorous security standards

Read about how Proton Pass powers Morning’s business model

Groups is the next step in making Proton Pass for Business the ideal tool for password management, access control, and collaboration. If you’re interested in finding out more about Proton Pass for Business, contact our sales team for more information.

With the launch of Proton Sheets in late 2025 and, more recently, Proton Workspace, Proton Drive took an important step toward becoming a more complete privacy-first workspace for the files, photos, documents, and spreadsheets people use every day.

So far in 2026, we’ve focused on making that experience faster, smoother, and more practical across file storage, sharing, and collaboration. Here’s a look at the changes:

A faster Drive through a stronger foundation

Some of the most meaningful improvements to Drive this year are about speed and reliability. Uploads and downloads are now noticeably faster, whether you’re saving a file, browsing photos, downloading from a shared folder, or collaborating with others. Early this year, Proton Drive delivered up to 60% faster uploads on iOS, as well as up to 30% faster uploads and 70% faster downloads on web. Shared workflows have improved too: Downloading shared files is now 70% faster, and uploading to a shared folder is 30% faster, even for people without a Proton account.

Behind these improvements is a stronger foundation: We’ve been rebuilding some of Drive’s most performance-intensive code into a shared SDK that powers core file operations across our apps. That means improvements can roll out more consistently across platforms, helping make Drive feel faster, smoother, and more dependable overall.

More done, more easily on mobile

Some of the most meaningful user experience improvements are the ones that remove friction from everyday tasks, especially on mobile, wherever you are. We made a number of updates across the Drive mobile apps to help people get things done faster and with fewer steps:

• The photo gallery has improved on iOS and Android, with quicker loading and smoother scrolling through your memories.
• Saving files directly to Proton Drive is now possible on both Android and iOS, making it easier to save something for later without first downloading it and uploading it again.
• Document scanning is now supported on both Android and iOS, so you can easily save important scans like passports directly in Proton Drive for safekeeping.
• On Android, you can upload entire folders to Proton Drive, making it much faster to move lots of files in one go. That’s something even Google Drive doesn’t offer.

More powerful spreadsheets, still privacy-first

Spreadsheets often end up holding far more of our lives than we expect. In our survey, we found that over 70% of people use spreadsheets for budgeting and personal finance. But these files often outlive their original purpose: 67% of US respondents said they still have access to spreadsheets or shared documents they no longer need. Many are also unsure what happens to their data behind the scenes, from ad targeting and content scanning to AI training and data sharing.

That is exactly why Proton Sheets matters, and why we have kept improving our end-to-end encrypted spreadsheet editor.

Among the changes, we’ve added and improved support for workflows people expect from modern spreadsheets, including:

• Import, edit, and export spreadsheets as ODS (compatible with OpenOffice, LibreOffice, and others). Currently in beta
• Hidden sheets
• New paste special options: formula only and link only
• Custom formulas in conditional formatting and data validation
• Support for the =SWITCH formula

These updates help make Sheets more practical for everyday use while preserving what matters most: Your spreadsheet data remains protected by Proton’s privacy-first design.

Strong momentum for the rest of 2026

So far in 2026, our focus has been clear: making Proton Drive faster and more reliable across all platforms for the moments that matter every day. Many of these improvements came directly from listening to our community. We’re grateful for that feedback, and for the people who keep pushing us to make Proton Drive better.

At the same time, we haven’t lost sight of our broader priorities for 2026, including the long-awaited Linux client. We’ll keep building on this foundation throughout the rest of the year.

Thank you for supporting our mission to give people everywhere a secure, private way to store and share files without their data being exploited for profit. Tell us what you would like to see next on UserVoice (new window).

When Proton was created in Switzerland in 2014, our mission was clear: restore digital agency to people who had lost control of their data to Big Tech. Over the past decade, more than 100 million people worldwide have trusted Proton to reclaim their privacy.

But we soon saw that this challenge extended far beyond individuals. In the same 10 years, over 100,000 businesses — from agile start ups to global enterprises — adopted Proton’s secure services. Today our encrypted email, password manager, VPN, cloud storage, and AI assistant (new window) AI assistant (new window) are used by organizations ranging from small teams and startups to United Nations agencies and Fortune 500 companies.

Recently, demand for Proton’s business solutions has surged, and companies have shifted from using individual services to adopting our entire, ever-growing ecosystem. That’s why, today, we’re launching Proton Workspace: a fully integrated suite that brings all of Proton’s privacy-first services into a single offering.

With Proton Workspace, businesses can finally break free from Big Tech dependency and take back complete control of their data.

What’s new in Proton Workspace

Proton Workspace combines Proton’s longstanding products with our new security-first services, including Proton Meet, Sheets, Docs and Lumo AI, across two new plans:

Workspace Standard

Everything you need for a secure collaborative workspace: Proton Mail, Calendar (now with appointment scheduling), Drive, Docs and Sheets, Meet, VPN, and Pass.

Annual price: $12.99 / €12.99 | Monthly price: $14.99 / €14.99

Workspace Premium

Includes all Workspace Standard features plus expanded storage, email data retention policies, higher participant limits per Meet call, and Lumo, our privacy‑first AI assistant.

Annual price: $19.99 / €19.99 | Monthly price: $24.99 / €24.99

Existing Proton Business Suite customers benefit from a free upgrade to Workspace Standard, including the addition of Proton Meet, at no additional cost.

Why Proton Workspace

With Proton Workspace, businesses finally have a trustworthy alternative to Big Tech that keeps sensitive business data secure.

Private (and encrypted) by default

Unlike Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, which were created by companies that harvest user data as their business model, Proton has always-on end-to-end encryption and zero‑access encryption zero‑access encryption, meaning even we do not have access to your data.

Safer by design

Proton’s encryption makes our ecosystem safer by design. Because we do not have access to your encrypted data, an attacker that compromises Proton cannot access it either. Proton Workspace also includes advanced security tools to protect your organization from compromise, such as Proton Sentinel, which is successfully protecting some of the most highly targeted users in the world.

Open source and audited

Because our code is open source, anyone can independently verify that our encryption works as advertised and that there are no backdoors. All Proton apps are regularly independently audited and security tested.

Sovereign and shielded from US surveillance

Based in Europe, Proton ensures your data is protected by some of the world’s strongest privacy laws. Because Proton isn’t a US‑based company, we can’t be compelled by laws such as the US CLOUD Act (new window) US CLOUD Act (new window) to hand over your data to the US government or terminate your services. It is impossible for Proton to independently decrypt your data and share it with any third parties, including governments. Proton also operates our own infrastructure which is independent from Big Tech.

Protected from AI training

Proton’s encryption ensures we do not and cannot use your data for AI training, eliminating any chance that your private data gets publicly leaked through an AI output. Proton’s Lumo AI (new window) Lumo AI (new window) also uses zero-access encryption, meaning we do not have access to your saved chats, ensuring they’re never leaked or repurposed for AI model training. With Proton, there is no risk that your confidential business data becomes business intelligence for Big Tech, which is used later to compete with you.

Built with compliance in mind

Our advanced encryption shields your business from accidental leaks, data breaches, and state surveillance, while also helping you meet strict regulations. Proton Workspace simplifies compliance with regulations such as HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA. It is also ISO 27001 and SOC2 certified, providing an additional layer of assurance for security conscious teams and clients.

Security beyond collaboration

Unlike other productivity suites, both Workspace Standard and Workspace Premium include Proton Pass and Proton VPN — two essential cybersecurity tools for your business. These tools feature breach detection alerts to notify you if a third-party tools you use suffers a data breach, and Dark Web Monitoring which automatically warns you if your data is being sold on the dark web.

Better value for money

Even though Proton Workspace includes additional valuable cybersecurity tools, it is less expensive than comparable Big Tech bundles and far cheaper than purchasing each service individually. Proton puts people ahead of profits, meaning we don’t do annual price increases. For over a decade, we have never raised prices on existing customers.

Make the switch to a privacy-first workspace

The need for privacy and security-centric business solutions is becoming increasingly urgent as geopolitical tensions rise and businesses face increasing resilience, surveillance, and cybersecurity risks.

Whether it’s your customers’ credit cards, your proprietary knowledge, or the trust of your partners, your most valuable assets are information. That’s why data breaches (new window) data breaches (new window) and ransomware attacks are at record highs, impacting both small and large organizations, and costing over $4 million per incident on average.

When you choose Workspace Standard or Workspace Premium, you’re not just protecting your business and saving money, you’re also supporting better independent technology that’s creating a more ethical and responsible digital ecosystem.

Proton has long stood for privacy, freedom, and democracy, principles which are safeguarded by our primary shareholder, the nonprofit Proton Foundation based in Switzerland. Our mission will continue to be providing the trusted, neutral foundation necessary to protect data in an unsecure world.

Switching to Proton Workspace is simple and seamless. Get in touch with our business team to get started today.

Proton Sheets overview

Proton Sheets is rolling out gradually, so if you don’t see it in your Drive account yet, it will appear soon.
Spreadsheets are the backbone of modern businesses, used to plan budgets, manage inventory, supervise members, and organize proprietary data. This is why Excel and Google Sheets are everywhere, but organizations are increasingly concerned that these tools leave their internal data exposed to surveillance, tracking, and AI training.
That’s why we’re introducing Proton Sheets in Proton Drive, our easy-to-use spreadsheet that lets your team collaborate while keeping control of your data. Proton Sheets is protected by end-to-end encryption, ensuring that no one else, not even Proton, can access your spreadsheet and the information it contains. Whether you’re tracking your home budget or managing a multi-team project, Sheets can help you get the job done. Use built-in formulas to perform analysis, turn raw data into easily understood charts, and collaborate with remote teams knowing your information is safe.
With the addition of Proton Sheets, Proton Drive now offers a clear alternative to Google Drive. You get the same, easy-to-use, collaborative tools you need to get work down, only we offer privacy by default.
Anyone with a Proton Drive account can use Proton Sheets for free.
Sign up for Proton Drive
Once you’re signed in, go to drive.proton.me (new window), click New in the top left, and select New sheet to get started.
See what Proton Sheets can do for your organization

Your spreadsheets shouldn’t leak your strategy

It’s nearly impossible to run an efficient business today without tracking metrics or project statuses, which means using spreadsheets. However, if someone gains access to those files, they get a window into the inner workings of your organization.
Most people use spreadsheets built by Big Tech, companies whose business model relies upon monetizing your data. Big Tech may even be a current or future competitor. They design their products to give them access to your information (new window). For example, Google has embedded its AI tool, Gemini, into Sheets. While it looks like a helpful data assistant, Google’s own support page (new window) warns you not to share anything confidential with Gemini since it could be read by reviewers or used to improve its AI. Google makes it hard to know exactly how small businesses’ data will be treated, but it defaults personal data into AI training. It has also left the door open to using companies data to train its AI if they give permission. And since most Big Tech companies are based in the US, they’re subject to weak data protection laws, opening the door to warrantless surveillance.
Your business, your data, and your customers’ data deserve better.

Proton Sheets: Productivity meets privacy

With Sheets, you can easily and securely handle all your business’s essential records and data. It’s the private-by-default alternative to Excel and Google Sheets with end-to-end encryption built in at no extra cost, meaning everything you enter, including metadata like filenames, is secure, private, and can only be accessed with your permission.
Like all Proton services, Sheets is protected by Switzerland’s strict data privacy laws.
If you’ve used a spreadsheet before, Proton Sheets’ intuitive interface will be immediately familiar. It encrypts everything automatically, letting you focus on organizing and managing the data that matters. Whether you’re overseeing logistics, planning projects, or calculating budgets, Sheets makes it simple.
You can use Proton Sheets to:

• Visualize data
  Turn numbers into charts and graphs for instant insights.
• Perform calculations
  Use the built-in formulas you need and expect for day-to-day calculations.
• Collaborate in real time
  Edit sheets together and see updates as they happen.
• Work from anywhere
  Access Sheets securely on any device.
• Stay in control
  Manage who can view or edit your spreadsheet. You can revoke access anytime.
• Import and export your spreadsheets
  Quickly import your existing CSV or XLS files to protect your data with end-to-end encryption or export your files so you can always take your projects with you.

The productivity suite that puts you in control

No one should need to expose their data to use a service. After Proton Docs, a spreadsheet tool was the next piece of the puzzle for a secure workspace. You can now protect your entire workspace, from your email to your calendar, your documents to your spreadsheets. No surveillance. No data harvesting. Just end-to-end encrypted tools built for how you work.
Cyberattacks are becoming more prevalent and sophisticated each year. Proton Sheets offers advanced protection for your data and helps you demonstrate to partners and clients that you take cybersecurity seriously. Small businesses can use Proton Sheets to protect sensitive data, like customers’ addresses and records. Consultants can use Sheets to securely collaborate with external partners. And journalists, NGOs, and entrepreneurs can use Sheets to manage their data, projects, and logistics without fear that Big Tech will scan their work or train AI assistants with it.
All Proton tools are secure by default and productive by design. Organize the data that matters, collaborate across teams, and keep your organization running smoothly with an easy-to-use, secure spreadsheet tool.

Switch to Proton Sheets today

We’ve often heard from our community that making Proton Pass data easily accessible in the terminal would significantly improve workflows, especially for development, scripting, and automation.

That’s now possible in our new Proton Pass command-line interface (CLI), which enables you to securely retrieve secrets and other items across scripts, deployments, and continuous integration/ continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines. The CLI is now in beta version and available for Visionary supporters, with a broader availability across paid plans coming soon. If you have a visionary plan, you can access the CLI beta (new window) now.

Proton Pass CLI is a secure command-line interface that makes your Proton Pass items and vaults available directly from the terminal, including the ability to manage permissions for items and vaults. Working with Proton Pass in the terminal enables automation and productivity while maintaining Proton’s end-to-end encryption and privacy guarantees. Instead of relying on the graphical user interface, you can access your Proton Pass data securely in the environments where you already operate, allowing you to automate tasks and work faster without compromising security.

How the Proton Pass CLI works

Proton Pass CLI provides a simple, reliable way to integrate encrypted vaults into your workflows without changing how you work or adding extra steps. In environments where the graphical UI cannot be used, such as servers or CI/CD pipelines, the CLI provides a secure way to access Proton Pass. You can manage items and vaults, and manage user access to them directly from the terminal, enabling automation that speeds up work while keeping everything secure.

What can you use Proton Pass CLI for?

The Proton Pass CLI gives you much of the same functionality as the graphical UI, including the ability to:

• Securely access items directly in the terminal
• View, create, update, and delete items including passwords, secure notes, credit cards, identities, WiFi entries, custom items, and stored SSH-key items
• Create, read, update, and delete vaults
• Manage member access and permissions to shared vaults and items
• Work in CI/CD, servers, containers, and headless environments via app-password authentication
• Create simple scripted workflows and task automation

What are the benefits of using the Proton Pass CLI?

Speed and productivity with automation and scripting

Proton Pass CLI lets you work directly from the terminal, making it easy to automate everyday credential-management tasks. You can script the creation, updating, and deletion of items and vaults, eliminating manual copy-paste or UI steps and helping you move faster without compromising security.

Secure and simple shared credential management

Managing access to shared items and vaults can be automated. Instead of switching to a web admin console or another tool, you can work with shared items and vaults and manage permissions directly from the CLI.

Secure secret injection

With Proton Pass CLI, credentials can be injected directly into scripts, deployments, and CI/CD pipelines without exposing secrets in plaintext, shell, logs, or command history. This enables automation while maintaining Proton’s end-to-end encryption model.

Reduce the complexity of automation

Automation can be complicated, with many service accounts and tokens required to access secrets in scripts or CI/CD pipelines. Proton Pass supports simple, secure app-password authentication usable across all environments, without extra complexity or add-on products. Deployments and automated tasks can run without additional infrastructure or overhead.

By implementing Proton Pass into your existing workflows, you can enable faster workflows, reduce context switching, and implement secure automation across local development, servers, and CI/CD environments. It’s designed to help you work faster and more securely, fitting into your workday with ease.

Email was born on desktop computers. Early email apps for mobile could feel off — the lag when you open a message, the clumsy taps trying to pull up the right draft, the jolt when you switch devices and need to adjust to a different layout.

But today, our phone is our camera, our calendar, our communication hub, our mobile headquarters. We live on our phones. With this in mind, over the past year, we embarked on an ambitious project to rebuild Proton Mail’s iOS and Android apps from the ground up.

Our completely redesigned apps are fast, modern, and smoother to work with, even when you’re offline. And for the first time, iOS and Android are fully in sync, with the same features and updates arriving side by side.

You no longer have to choose between Big Tech’s convenience or encrypted email’s privacy. Proton Mail lets you have both. Proton Mail v7 (yes, this is now the 7th major release of Proton Mail, but probably the largest update so far) is also a new beginning. Built on an entirely new code base that shares logic across iOS and Android, it will allow us to deliver new features much faster going forward, and they’ll arrive on iOS and Android at the same time.

A modern design that works harder for you

The redesigned interface is clean, intuitive, and built for speed. Navigation is simpler, and the actions you use most (like the composer button), are within easier reach.

This isn’t just about looks. The new design helps you cut through your inbox faster, so you can focus on what matters.

Performance that keeps up

The biggest upgrade in this release is speed. Routine actions, like scrolling your inbox, archiving threads, or replying on the go, all feel instant and are now twice as fast.

Whether you’re rushing to show a boarding pass or catching up on a busy workday, Proton Mail is now built to respond immediately.

Email that works anywhere

Proton Mail’s native mobile apps now have a complete offline mode. You can read, write, and organize your emails without an internet connection. Everything syncs automatically once you’re back online.

That means you stay productive — whether you’re on a train, on a flight, or out of coverage.

The same app on every device

This update finally harmonizes the experience between iOS and Android. Both apps now share the same features — for instance, Android users can now snooze or schedule messages. No matter which device you use, you get a consistent Proton Mail experience.

Overall, we believe the new mobile apps are a major milestone, allowing us to deliver a modern email experience across all platforms while preserving Proton Mail’s best in class privacy and end-to-end encryption.

Built for what’s next

Behind the scenes, we rewrote our mobile tech stack using Rust. Our Android and iOS apps now share roughly 80% of their code, which means faster development and updates that land within the same release window across both platforms. However, our new mobile apps are still native apps, allowing them to have the blistering fast performance that is only possible with native apps. We’ll share a full technical write-up soon.

This rebuild also lays the groundwork for some of the most requested features, and the new architecture will also form the basis of all new Proton Calendar apps which are also on the way, and will also allow for much faster calendar feature releases also.

Getting the update

The new Proton Mail app update is rolling out gradually on iOS and Android, and you might not see it immediately. If you’re on iOS, you can update manually from the App Store. On Android, the new version will appear automatically as the rollout expands.

As always, let us know your feedback on X and Reddit, and we’ll consider your suggestions.

We know you need robust and flexible security solutions. We also know that running a business (or managing a business’s cybersecurity) demands all your attention, which is why we wanted to highlight three important new features for Proton VPN for Business:

Streamline VPN deployment with MDM support

You can use platforms that support mobile device management (MDM), such as Google Workspace, Samsung Knox, and Microsoft Intune, to install and manage Proton VPN on your team members’ Android and Windows devices. This allows you to:

• Automatically install Proton VPN on your organization users’ Windows PCs
• Automatically sign your team members in to Proton VPN

And depending on the platform used and devices to be managed, it also allows you to:

• Monitor deployment
• Manage app permissions
• Configure device restrictions
• Configure always-on VPN and require an active Proton VPN connection for other apps to connect to the internet

Learn more about Proton VPN and MDM (new window)

Dedicated servers in more countries

Dedicated servers from Proton VPN allow you to securely segment remote access to your organization’s servers and online SaaS resources.

Learn how dedicated IPs can help your business (new window)

In response to huge demand from our business plan customers, we’ve now greatly expanded the number of locations where dedicated servers are available from just two countries to twelve countries. We’ve also expanded the number of cities available. You can now lease dedicated servers in:

• United States
• Netherlands
• United Kingdom
• Switzerland
• Germany
• Canada
• France
• Republic of Ireland
• Japan
• Singapore
• Australia
• Brazil

With these new servers, you can access local resources and support remote teams wherever they are in the world.

Learn how to add dedicated gateways (new window)

Manage dedicated server connections with Gateway monitor

In addition to new dedicated servers, we’ve added a Gateway monitoring feature to the Proton Professional dashboard. This improves your organization’s security and provides greater oversight on how your business’s resources are accessed by allowing you to see, at-a-glance, which of your organization users is connected to which Gateway, when, and what device they’re using to do so.

Gateway monitor

Learn how to access your Gateway monitor (new window)

Not sure about how best to keep your small business secure? Be sure to check out

A Practical Guide to Security for Growing Businesses, our comprehensive security ebook by cybersecurity expert and Head of Security at Proton, Patricia Egger.

Download the security guide now

To discuss how our new features can help your business to grow, please get in touch.

Talk to us

Your photos are souvenirs of some of your happiest and most important moments. They belong to you, not to ad algorithms or AI platforms. That’s why Proton Drive gives you a private place to store them — where you can organize your photos into albums and browse them using filters and a timeline, with no tracking and no one analyzing them behind the scenes.

Now, bringing your photo library into Proton Drive is easier than ever. With the latest Windows app update, you can import albums and pictures from Google Photos to a cloud storage that protects your privacy with end-to-end encryption.

Get Proton Drive on Windows

How to move from Google Photos to Proton Drive

• Export your files from Google Photos using Google Takeout.
• Open the Proton Drive desktop app for Windows.
• Go to Photos import.
• Select Import from Google Photos and import your photos and albums to Proton Drive.

Depending on how many photos you have, the process can take a few minutes to a few hours. You can continue using your computer during this time.

For more details, see how to import your photos from Google Photos into Proton Drive.

Why move away from Google Photos?

Your photos hold moments that matter, but to services like Google Photos, they also contain valuable data. Every image can be scanned for faces (including people who don’t use Google Photos), locations, objects, and patterns. These details help build profiles and infer relationships without your knowledge or explicit consent.

And as Gemini AI continues to expand in the Google ecosystem, it’s becoming harder to know whether your personal photos are simply being stored or quietly used to train AI.

Switch to a service that treats your photos as memories to be protected, not data sources to be mined.

Create a free account

Import photos from anywhere, not just Google

While Google Photos import is the highlight of this update, the new feature goes further. You can now import photos from any folder using the Proton Drive app for Windows. Albums are created automatically, so your pictures stay organized from the start.

Whether you’re uploading pictures from a hard drive, a USB stick, or another cloud service, Proton Drive makes the transition simple and private.

Update now and start moving your photos

Photo import is available now in the Proton Drive app for Windows. Download the latest version to start transferring your photo library from Google Photos — or any other source — into a private, encrypted photo storage space only you can access.

Get Proton Drive on Windows

At Proton, we believe your pictures are too personal to be scanned by surveillance systems or analyzed by algorithms. That’s why we built Proton Drive — and the rest of the Proton ecosystem — with end-to-end encryption at its core. Your photos are visible only to you and the people you choose to share them with — not us, marketers, AI training models, data brokers, or anyone else.

If you use Apple, we haven’t forgotten you: Photo import support for macOS is coming soon. Stay tuned.

Your digital life is in your apps, whether it’s your account logins, your files and photos, or your emails. In the case of an emergency, it’s critical that the people you trust can access this information in a secure way.

Be prepared for the unexpected

With our new Emergency Access feature, you can grant permission to trusted contacts to securely access your Proton Account after a set period of time, ensuring nothing important is lost if you’re unable to enter your account due to death or illness.

If you have a paid Proton plan, you can follow our Emergency Access steps to choose your emergency contacts right now. If you’d like to gain access to this feature and all other premium features, you can choose a new plan that supports them:

• Upgrade your Proton Pass plan
• Upgrade your Proton Mail plan
• Upgrade your Proton VPN plan
• Upgrade your Proton Drive plan

Whether you store critical logins in Proton Pass, government and legal correspondence in your Proton Mail, or financial records in Proton Drive, your digital accounts hold invaluable data. An accident, illness, or other unexpected event could leave your data out of reach, and losing access can be a serious inconvenience for your loved ones during a difficult time.

Emergency Access helps you prepare for any eventuality by ensuring the data you store in your Proton Account remains accessible to people you choose — but always under your control. You can create peace of mind for yourself and your loved ones.

How does Emergency Access work?

With Emergency Access, you can choose up to five trusted contacts who can gain access to your account either immediately or after a custom wait time you set in advance, ranging from days to months. Your trusted contacts will also need to have a Proton Account to gain access.

You remain in control: If a trusted contact requests access to your account, during the wait time, you can approve it immediately or deny the request. If you do nothing, the request will automatically be approved after the designated waiting time. You can revoke access or modify your emergency contacts anytime. Once granted, your trusted contacts will be able to securely access your Proton data, including emails, passwords, and files.

To designate emergency contacts, you’ll need to have a paid Proton plan (all paid plans qualify). If you have a Free account and you want to enable this feature, just log in to your Proton Account to choose a new plan. Proton Unlimited also gives you Emergency Access plus premium features of Proton Mail, Proton Calendar, Proton Drive, Proton VPN (new window) Proton Pass, and Proton Wallet.

Learn more about Emergency Access

You control your data, always

Unlike other platforms that offer emergency access services such as Google, Proton’s Emergency Access doesn’t rely on inactivity to determine whether to grant access to third parties, which can undermine your data security. We also don’t limit emergency access to one product, which creates unnecessary headaches for those who may need urgent access to information stored in various Proton apps.

With Proton, you have maximum control, choosing your trusted contacts and setting their access conditions for your entire Proton Account. You can grant access to all of your Proton apps with one invitation, which is made safer by requiring your trusted contacts to also have a Proton Account. Even if you activate emergency access, all of your data remains end-to-end encrypted.

Since you can revoke access at any time, you have total flexibility about who has access to your account and when. You can also modify your emergency contacts at any time.

Emergency access means you don’t need to worry about loved ones missing the information they need at critical moments: Choose your emergency contacts today and take control of your future.

Today we’re releasing a powerful update to Lumo that gives you a more capable privacy-first AI assistant offering faster, more thorough answers with improved awareness of recent events.

Guided by feedback from our community, we’ve been busy upgrading our models and adding GPUs, which we’ll continue to do thanks to the support of our Lumo Plus subscribers. Lumo 1.1 performs significantly better across the board than the first version of Lumo, so you can now use it more effectively for a variety of use cases:

• Get help planning projects that require multiple steps — it will break down larger goals into smaller tasks
• Ask complex questions and get more nuanced answers
• Generate better code — Lumo is better at understanding your requests
• Research current events or niche topics with better accuracy and fewer hallucinations thanks to improved web search

Try Lumo 1.1 (new window)

New cat, new tricks, same privacy

The latest upgrade brings more accurate responses with significantly less need for corrections or follow-up questions. Lumo now handles complex requests much more reliably and delivers the precise results you’re looking for.

In testing, Lumo’s performance has increased across several metrics:

• Context: 170% improvement in context understanding so it can accurately answer questions based on your documents and data
• Coding: 40% better ability to understand requests and generate correct code
• Reasoning: Over 200% improvement in planning tasks, choosing the right tools such as web search, and working through complex multi-step problems

Most importantly, Lumo does all of this while respecting the confidentiality of your chats. Unlike every major AI platform, Lumo is open source and built to be private by design. It doesn’t keep any record of your chats, and your conversation history is secured with zero-access encryption so nobody else can see it and your data is never used to train the models.
Lumo is the only AI where your conversations are actually private.

Learn about Lumo privacy

Lumo mobile apps are now open source
Unlike Big Tech AIs that spy on you, Lumo is an open source application that exclusively runs open source models. Open source is especially important in AI because it confirms that the applications and models are not being used nefariously to manipulate responses to fit a political narrative or secretly leak data. While the Lumo web client is already open source (new window), today we are also releasing the code for the mobile apps (new window). In line with Lumo being the most transparent and private AI, we have also published the Lumo security model so you can see how Lumo’s zero access encryption works and why nobody, not even Proton can access your conversation history.

Get the best performance with Lumo Plus

Everyone can take advantage of the update, but if you want the fastest responses, even more powerful answers, and unlimited usage you can upgrade to Lumo Plus to support the future of privacy-respecting AI and unlock the full power of Lumo.

Get Lumo Plus

AI must be as powerful as it is private

Big Tech’s surveillance-driven AI business model thrives because the most powerful assistants today consume your personal data at massive scale, integrating without your explicit consent into every facet of your digital life. The only way to truly challenge this model is to create alternatives that are just as capable, responsive, and useful — but built with privacy at their core.

With Lumo 1.1, you have a smarter, faster assistant that works for you, not for advertisers, and keeps your conversations private by design. With Lumo, we will be iterating quickly and launching new major features quickly, so look out for Lumo 1.2 to drop next month with even more community requests. Let us know your thoughts on X (new window) and Reddit (new window).