I really wanted to give the Proton ecosystem a fair shot. Its apps are clean, privacy-focused, and the ecosystem has grown enough that I could see myself replacing several Google services with it.
After spending a few weeks with Proton’s apps, one service makes the switch much harder than I expected.
That app has become such a big part of how I use Keep, Tasks, Docs, Photos, and more that Proton still has a major gap to fill.
Proton got much closer than I expected
Replacing individual Google apps was easy
I went into this experiment assuming Proton would feel like a compromise. I expected Proton to cover the basics, but fall short after I started using everything together.
However, that wasn’t really the case. Proton has come a long way.
Proton Mail is polished, Calendar covers my day-to-day scheduling needs, Drive gives me a private place to save and share files (it can even create password-protected links), and Proton Pass covers password management just fine.
These Android apps also share a consistent design, so the setup feels like an actual ecosystem rather than a collection of unrelated tools.
The funny part is that the individual apps were not what stopped me. Proton had feature-rich alternatives that were good enough for the way I use those services.
The problem only became obvious when I stopped comparing apps individually and started thinking about how to use them together.
Google’s biggest advantage for me is no longer any single app.
It is the layer sitting on top of all of them, and that is where Gemini changed the comparison.
Gemini is more than another chatbot
It works flawlessly with Google’s apps
Google’s AI chatbot is where my attempt to move to Proton started falling apart. I don’t use Gemini only to ask questions, summarize articles, or brainstorm ideas.
For me, it’s become a starting point for Google’s ecosystem. Gemini can work with services such as Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Drive, Keep, Tasks, Messages, and Google Photos from the same interface.
That changes how I use these apps every day. I can ask Gemini to create a note in Google Keep, add something to Google Tasks, pull information from a document in Drive, or a specific email from Gmail.
I don’t have to open each service, find the right screen, and do everything manually.
Even Google Photos becomes part of the experience. Gemini can search my photo library for specific photos, videos, and memories, so I can ask something like, “Show me my best photos from my Vietnam trip,” instead of digging through years of pictures.
Proton has Lumo AI, and I like what the company is doing with it. Lumo 2.0 is more than a basic chatbot now, with reasoning modes, image generation, web search, memory, Projects, and other AI features, all while keeping privacy at the center.
It even integrates with Proton Drive. But that still isn’t the same experience for me on Android.
I can’t use Lumo as one command center for all Proton services.
Multistep requests are the real killer feature
I stopped thinking about individual apps
Gemini is more than a chatbot. The individual integrations are useful on their own, but combining them into a single request is what makes the ecosystem powerful.
For example, I can use Gemini to find a specific piece of information from one of my Google Keep notes and send it to someone through Messages.
While driving, I can ask for my current ETA and have Gemini share it with a contact on WhatsApp.
If I have the name of a restaurant, hotel, or shopping mall saved inside a Keep note, I can ask Gemini to pull that name and immediately start navigation in Google Maps.
I don’t have to think about which app I need to open first.
I tell Gemini what I want to accomplish, and it handles the handoff between services for me.
That saves me several taps during a day, especially when I am behind the wheel or trying to get something done quickly.
And these are just a few examples. When Keep, Maps, Messages, WhatsApp, Tasks, Calendar, and other services work together through one assistant, the possibilities become almost endless.
That kind of cross-app automation is exactly what I would miss the most if I moved away from Google to Proton.
Proton gets almost everything right
Make no mistake, Proton’s apps are polished, privacy remains at the center of everything, and the ecosystem now covers more of my daily needs than I expected.
My hesitation is about how my workflow has changed. So, this isn’t about Proton falling short.
It’s about Google having one advantage that matters to me in my routine.
If you are still not sure about Gemini’s impact, connect it to these apps and see the results yourself.
