Mac gets Proton Drive encrypted cloud storage

Four months after launching on Windows, Swiss privacy-focused company Proton launched its end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) cloud storage service for Mac.

Nine years ago, Proton focused on Gmail alternatives like Proton Mail, but now it offers VPNs, password managers, calendars, and cloud storage.

After launching Proton Drive on the web in September, native mobile apps in December, and Windows in July, Proton Drive is now fully cross-platform, allowing users to synchronize across all devices.

Proton Drive is part of its plan to launch secure, privacy-focused Google-alternative products. An alternative to Apple’s iCloud for most Mac users.

Proton Drive promises full encryption for files and folders by default, while Apple recently introduced end-to-end encryption for some iCloud data, which users must manually activate. But Proton Drive says it automatically encrypts all data, including metadata and filenames.

Free 1GB of storage, $4/month for 200GB, and the ability to automatically store previous file versions for up to 10 years are available on Proton Drive.

For now, Proton Drive for Mac only syncs files in the Proton Drive folder to the cloud, but Proton is working to enable synchronization for any local folder.

Most of Proton’s apps have been open-sourced, allowing security researchers to inspect the code, but the Drive Mac app isn’t yet. The company says it will be soon.

For Linux users, Proton has said it will happen eventually but is on its long-term roadmap.