Have instant access to your cloud storage, anywhere
Proton is the company behind Proton VPN and Proton Mail (which were unified under a single roof in May this year), and generally just known for its security-centric services. Proton also introduced a cloud storage service called Proton Drive in September, but users have been putting up with a web interface since then. Thankfully, the service finally has an app interface now, just like all the best cloud services do.
As with most of its other services, Proton proudly advocates for its new cloud storage solution as an alternative to mainstream offerings like Google Drive and Dropbox. With the app, Proton Drive users on Android and iOS can now enjoy access to their files with encrypted cloud storage. Commenting on the app launch, Proton founder and CEO Andy Yen said:
People have historically had very few options for secure personal cloud storage. While there have always been apps to upload and store files on your phone, they provide poor privacy and data leaks from mobile devices are common. Proton Drive brings end-to-end encrypted file storage to iOS and Android and aligns with Proton’s mission to ensure that privacy tools are easy to use and freely available.
The Proton Drive app is free to download and offers security features like encryption for file metadata, so bad actors can’t even determine the type of file they may be dealing with. Proton Drive allows users to generate temporary viewing passwords for content with predefined expiration dates, for when you want to share your files with non-Proton users temporarily.
The free tier offers 1GB of cloud storage, but you can upgrade to 200GB of storage for $4/month. A bundle subscription combining 500GB of storage with benefits of other Proton services like Mail, Calendar, and VPN will set you back $10 per month. And since Proton is incorporated in Switzerland, those robust Swiss privacy laws help keep government eyes off your data. All we need now is a Proton Drive desktop client — that one’s currently slated for a 2023 release.
