Proton Calendar

Overview

Proton Calendar is a privacy-first scheduling tool developed by the scientists who met at CERN and created Proton Mail. Unlike traditional calendar services that scan your schedule to build a profile for advertising, Proton Calendar ensures that your life remains your business. By using end-to-end encryption, the service guarantees that nobody—not even Proton—can view your appointments, participants, or locations.

As a direct alternative to Google Calendar, it offers a familiar interface but with a fundamentally different approach to data. It is part of a larger ecosystem of privacy tools, meaning your calendar works hand-in-hand with your secure email and cloud storage, providing a comprehensive “de-Googled” experience without sacrificing usability.

Key Features

End-to-End Encryption (E2EE)

Most calendar services only encrypt data “in transit” or “at rest,” meaning the service provider holds the keys to your data. Proton Calendar uses E2EE, which means the encryption process happens on your device. Your event details are scrambled before they ever reach Proton’s servers, ensuring total confidentiality.

Seamless Migration with Easy Switch

Moving away from Google Calendar is often the hardest part of switching. Proton’s “Easy Switch” tool simplifies this by connecting directly to your Google account to move your events over automatically. It preserves recurring events and historical data, so you don’t lose your timeline.

Privacy-Preserving Notifications

Proton Calendar provides notifications for your events on web and mobile. On mobile, these notifications are designed to provide the necessary alerts without leaking sensitive event details to the operating system’s notification logs more than necessary.

Privacy & Security

Proton Calendar is headquartered in Switzerland, which means all user data is protected by some of the world’s strongest privacy laws. It is not subject to US or EU surveillance mandates that could compromise data integrity.

Furthermore, because the service is zero-access, even in the event of a data breach at the server level, your calendars would remain unreadable strings of ciphertext. The cryptographic signatures used also ensure that your calendar data cannot be tampered with by unauthorized third parties.

Getting Started

1. Create a Proton Account: Go to proton.me and sign up for a free or paid account.
2. Open the Calendar: Access the calendar via the web interface or download the Proton Calendar app from the App Store or Google Play Store.
3. Import Your Data: Use the “Easy Switch” tool in the settings menu to import your existing events from Google Calendar.
4. Set Up Sync: Ensure you are logged in on both your desktop and mobile devices to keep your schedule synchronized across all platforms.

Who Is It Best For?

Proton Calendar is ideal for:

• Privacy-conscious individuals who want to stop Google from tracking their daily movements and habits.
• Professionals (like lawyers, therapists, or journalists) who need to keep their meeting schedules and client names strictly confidential.
• Existing Proton users who want a cohesive, secure ecosystem for their digital life.

Final Verdict

If you are looking to reclaim your privacy from Big Tech, Proton Calendar is the most robust and user-friendly alternative to Google Calendar available today. While the free version is somewhat limited in terms of the number of calendars you can create, the security benefits and the peace of mind provided by Swiss-based end-to-end encryption are unmatched. It is a polished, professional tool that proves you don’t have to sacrifice convenience for security.