I'm looking to reduce my dependence on Google services as much as possible, and Proton seems to offer the most comprehensive private suite. A number of things seemed to be missing, but most of my information is from reviews that could be out of date. So I wanted to ask which of these features Proton can replicate.
Thunderbird mail syncing (without paid plan?)
Thunderbird calendar syncing
Calendar sharing
Easy move from google drive to proton drive
Sync android photos like google photos
Offline file saving for specific files in proton drive on android
Sync with folder or mount on linux (smb or similar)
Proton Drive is online-only so I’m not sure what you’re asking here. Are you asking if you can download files?
The Google Drive app lets you save a file locally so that you can view it offline. I mean under the hood it is just downloading and syncing, but it's a lot nicer than having to manage the files you want to view offline yourself.
That’s a big negative.
Why? Desktop file backup seems like a pretty similar feature to mobile photo backup (which seems to be working for me).
Edit: also looking at some videos of the Windows client, folder syncing seems to be possible. Just not yet on Linux. Still not sure why it would be bad.
Its bi-sync is a little janky for replication. I use B2 Backblaze for my storage that hides instead of deletes by default. I've "hidden" everything before on accident.
I prefer to unidirectional sync, similar to git, but avoiding merges. My local files are in a crypt "remote" so I have to mount. I wrote a simple script to pull, mount, unmount, push to simplify things.
I was in a similar position and moved to Proton. Their native Linux support is rudimentary, but nobody else provides a better, privacy respecting option. Their web apps work well though, and the email client uses local storage APIs for offline use and search.
I do use Mega for cloud storage though, they're e2ee and have solid Linux (both GUI and really nice CLI) and mobile support.