ProtonMail creates an encrypted calendar to rival Google

ProtonMail, a company most well-known as an encrypted email client, is diversifying its offerings to include a calendar. Every aspect of the calendar will be protected from both external threats and ProtonMail itself. ProtonCalendar is currently available to anyone on a paid ProtonMail plan and will roll out into a widespread beta in 2020.

First of its kind — The Swiss company claims ProtonCalendar is the first completely end-to-end encrypted calendar. The title, description, location, and participants are obscured before it even reaches ProtonMail’s servers.

Companies like Google and Microsoft offer some encryption, but it’s obvious that the protection has a loophole. Both companies run ads in their office suite products. Google’s faced issues with spam infiltrating Calendars in recent months. Microsoft talks a big game about encryption, but won’t leave money on the table and its size makes its Sunrise-fueled (RIP) Outlook calendar a target.

A new player — ProtonMail doesn’t use ads or “make money by abusing your privacy.” It relies on paid subscriptions to support its open-source software. The calendar will join the company’s mail client and a VPN in a growing fleet of enterprise offerings. With more people growing distrustful of big tech companies and how their data is handled, ProtonMail’s privacy-focused suite of apps is a welcome competitor.