Best of proton.me on Kiwi News
Most upvoted by Kiwi News readers
10 stories from proton.me have been shared on Kiwi News since 20 January 2024, with 23 upvotes and 6 comments in total. The latest was shared on 7 May 2026. They are listed below, most upvoted first.
Text under a title is an AI summary of the linked article.
- Introducing Proton Wallet – a safer way to hold Bitcoin | Proton
Proton has launched Proton Wallet, a self-custodial Bitcoin wallet with early access limited to Proton Visionary and Lifetime users and their invites, plus a waiting list. The company says the wallet uses end-to-end encryption so Proton never has access to users' Bitcoin, and each wallet's recovery seed phrase is known only to the user. Sending Bitcoin works like email when both parties have a Proton Wallet, and the wallet offers integrations for buying Bitcoin in 150+ countries. Proton Wallet is operated by Proton Financial AG, a Swiss subsidiary of Proton AG.
- Instagram drops end-to-end encrypted chats 8th of May
Instagram's help pages say end-to-end encrypted messaging on Instagram will no longer be supported after May 8, 2026, and users are told to download any chats or shared media they want to keep before that date. Instagram has not publicly explained the decision or said what will happen to existing encrypted chats after the deadline. The article notes that Meta had promoted end-to-end encryption across its messaging products since 2019, when Mark Zuckerberg announced the plan. The piece is published by Proton, which is a privacy company that makes encrypted apps and promotes alternatives to Instagram.
- Big Tech passkey implementations are a trap
Proton Pass now supports passkeys for everyone across all devices, and the article argues that Big Tech passkey rollouts have undermined the technology's goal of universal security. It says Apple, the first major company to roll out passkeys in 2022, optimized them to work mainly within its own products, and that Google, which announced passkey support in 2023, has similarly limited them, including by preventing users from exporting passkeys. The article contends that closed implementations like these make universal adoption less likely, and it presents Proton Pass's free, open-source, cross-platform passkeys as an alternative.
- The hidden risks of AI chat logs
Chat logs from AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and DeepSeek can expose sensitive personal information, and users need privacy-first alternatives. A legal order has compelled OpenAI to preserve ChatGPT output data indefinitely, and OpenAI founder Sam Altman says ChatGPT does not offer "legal confidentiality." In July, reporters found more than 100,000 ChatGPT conversations indexed by Google, and a January 2025 DeepSeek database exposure included over one million AI chat logs. The company behind the Lumo assistant, which says it does not log data or train models on chats, calls for transparency and zero-access encryption.
- Introducing Docs in Proton Drive – collaborative document editing that’s private
Proton has launched Docs in Proton Drive, a collaborative document editor with end-to-end encryption that the company says keeps even keystrokes and cursor movements private. Docs was built as a joint project with the team from Standard Notes and supports real-time collaboration, comments, and import and export of .docx, .txt, .md, and HTML files. According to the article, Proton cannot access document content or metadata such as file names, and the feature is rolling out to all users over the next couple of days.
- Outlook is Microsoft’s new data collection service | Proton
Proton's article argues that the new Outlook for Windows has become a data collection and ad delivery service for Microsoft and its 801 third-party partners. It says European users see a disclosure listing 801 third parties that may process their data for purposes including personalized ads and identifying users through device scanning. The article also reports that, according to Heise Online and XDA, the new Outlook syncing with third-party email accounts can send IMAP and SMTP usernames and passwords to Microsoft servers, with Heise saying the credentials are transmitted in plain text. Microsoft has not issued a public response to these criticisms, according to the article.
- 2023-24 privacy washing list from Proton
Proton says privacy washing, the marketing of surveillance-based ad products as private, was the biggest new privacy threat of 2023 and will grow in 2024. The article cites Google's "enhanced ad privacy" feature in Chrome and Android, which it says gives Google exclusive data collection rights, and a lawsuit over Chrome's Incognito Mode seeking $5 billion. It also predicts that automakers, internet service providers and insurance companies will increasingly adopt the practice, citing Kia's privacy policy and Liberty Mutual's data sharing.
- Meta is using private AI chats for ads — what you can do
Meta is using users' interactions with its AI chatbot, Meta AI, to personalize ads and content across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp as of December 2025. The change applies in nearly every region, with exceptions in the EU, the UK, and South Korea, where privacy regulations such as the EU's GDPR remain in place. The article says in-app ad preferences are limited and do not fully stop behavioral targeting, and it recommends steps such as turning off personalized ads, separating Meta accounts, and sending an opt-out request. It also promotes Proton's Lumo assistant as a privacy-first alternative.
- Introducing Proton Sheets: Secure spreadsheets for business
Proton has introduced Proton Sheets, an end-to-end encrypted spreadsheet tool within Proton Drive that it presents as a privacy-focused alternative to Excel and Google Sheets. The article says Proton Sheets is encrypted so that no one, not even Proton, can access a spreadsheet or its contents, and that encryption covers metadata such as filenames. It also says the service is protected by Switzerland's data privacy laws, and that anyone with a Proton Drive account can use it for free. The article criticizes Google's embedded Gemini AI in Sheets, noting that Google's own support page warns users not to share confidential information with it.
- Proton is transitioning towards a non-profit structure
Proton is transitioning to a non-profit structure in which the newly endowed Proton Foundation becomes the primary shareholder of its for-profit operating company, Proton AG, with a charter to keep the company focused on its original mission. Founder Andy Yen, joined by co-founder Jason Stockman and first employee Dingchao Lu, endowed the foundation through a donation of Proton shares. The foundation, as the largest voting shareholder, can block hostile takeovers, and Proton plans to contribute 1% of net revenues to it when conditions allow.