As someone who cares about user privacy, I have thought a lot about ditching my Gmail account over the years. But it's not easy to leave Gmail, nor is it easy to switch email providers in general. Not only do you need to send all your contacts your new email, you need to change your address with every account that currently has it. It's a hassle, and, unfortunately, not worth the trade-off—even if Google is spying on much of my activity. I'm not even all-in on Google's ecosystem; I can only imagine the gravitational pull the platform has on people who use Google Photos and Docs—not to mention Android OS.

Proton Mail can make Gmail more private

Now, it seems, there's a reasonably simple way to improve your email privacy without having to sacrifice the convenience of Gmail (or switching email providers altogether). On Thursday, Proton announced that its email service, appropriately named Proton Mail, now supports Gmail. For the first time, you can link your Gmail account to Proton Mail, and use it to send and receive messages from your Google address, rather than your Proton one.

On the surface, this announcement seems wildly out of character for Proton. The company's entire shtick is that it offers what Google doesn't: productivity services without compromising user data privacy. To invite Gmail into Proton Mail seems counterintuitive and only convenient for Proton users who happen to have an active Gmail account. On the contrary, however, the integration goes a bit deeper: Proton says its app will strip any trackers, ads, or spam from all Gmail messages that come through your Proton Mail inbox. Plus, by checking your Gmail in Proton, you avoid using the Gmail app, which skips out on even more of Google's data collection.

According to Proton, by choosing to read your Gmail inbox in Proton Mail, you deprive Google of data it typically uses to build a profile of your activity. Sure, you're still using Gmail, but Google can't see which emails you open, how long you read them, or how you use its services. That said, you won't have your entire Gmail history at the ready here. The company says that when you connect your Gmail account, "recent" conversations will appear, but all new emails will arrive in your mailbox going forward.

Gmail in Proton Mail can be end-to-end encrypted

Perhaps the best benefit here is that, through Proton, your Gmail messages can be end-to-end encrypted (E2EE). Gmail does offer E2EE on its platform, but only for certain users (specifically, Workspace accounts). With Proton, any Gmail user, regardless of subscription, can take advantage of E2EE—but with a catch.

You won't notice the benefits of E2EE if you're the only one using Proton. For example, if you send a Gmail user a message from your Gmail address in Proton, the message won't be encrypted end-to-end. However, if both participants are using Proton to access Gmail, the emails will be E2EE. That's a bit of a bummer, since odds are slim that many of your contacts are using Gmail within Proton. That said, it does encourage privacy-minded Google users to add Gmail to Proton Mail, which is an obvious win for Proton.

How to set up Gmail in Proton Mail

Proton says this feature is rolling out gradually, so you might not see it right away. When you do, however, the company says setup is easy. First, open Proton Mail, then head to Settings and choose "Import via Easy Switch." Here, connect your Gmail account, and you're set.