Proton, the provider behind popular secure email and VPN services, just launched a new feature for its Proton Drive software to help you securely back up all your photos on mobile.
Both free and paid subscribers can now use this feature to secure all your most precious memories directly within the Proton Drive Android app. The same functionality is planned to follow on iOS, too.
The company believes this long-awaited release makes Proton Drive rise above its competitors in a crowd photo storage market. Most importantly, it’s another step towards its mission of establishing itself as a strong alternative to “Google Photos, Amazon Photos, and other privacy-violating providers.”
Proton Drive Photo Backup
“Unlike cloud storage services from Big Tech, Proton Drive’s use of end-to-end encryption ensures your private photos cannot be leaked, even in the unlikely event that Proton Drive itself is breached,” said Andy Yen, Founder and CEO at Proton.
According to Photutorial, more than 5 billion photos were taken every day globally in 2023, in fact, and that figure is even expected to grow next year. These private images can give away all sorts of personal information if compromised. Now, Proton Drive seems to have found a solution—at least for Android users.Â
Photo Backup allows you to backup both photos and videos. It encrypts all photos before uploading, so not even Proton should be ever able to access your private and personal memories. It uses Proton Drive’s end-to-end encryption (E2EE) which promises to also secure your files against vulnerabilities found in many third-party apps and any other common threats targeting cloud providers. Â
Proton said that its community has been requesting this feature repeatedly since the launch of Drive in late 2022. Every Android user can benefit from it, with free users receiving an initial storage allocation of 1GB.
📣 Only two weeks after the Proton Drive #MacOS app launch, we’re happy to announce automatic photo backup for the Drive #Android app! 📸Securely back up your precious photo and video memories to Proton’s end-to-end encrypted cloud.Learn more: https://t.co/Sy6OM88qpU pic.twitter.com/CsQIP1tdnxDecember 7, 2023
Not just more privacy, though. According to Yen, this new feature equipped Proton Drive to deliver even more value besides encrypted backups.
He said: “[Photos in Proton Drive] can also serve as a replacement photos app that offers intuitive photo management and browsing. With photos in Proton Drive, you’ll never run out of storage on your phone again, and you’ll be able to access photos from all your devices in one place.”
Photo Backup comes with automatic syncing of camera uploads and gallery, meaning you’ll never have to worry about remembering to secure your pictures. It lets you access your stored images even when offline and is so easy to use, thanks to an intuitive grid view interface. You can easily select, download, preview, or delete your photos and videos within a couple of clicks.
As mentioned, free Android users now have 1 GB of space to fill. You need to upgrade for more space, starting from 500 GB at $9.99 per month.Â
Photo Booth comes just after two weeks the provider released its MacOS application and is now available for Android devices only. The provider is currently working on the iOS version which will be first released in the beta and after fully implemented for all Apple users at a later date.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
