Why tf does Proton Mail need Google Play Services to show notifications?

Murcielago with this approach you are just hiding from the fact that you use Firebase for notifications albeit in an indirect way (by thinking that two different users can not be linked by other personally identifiable activity, network connection or tracking and fingerprinting).

[deleted]

Good point, thanks for clarifying. I didn't mean to say that activities of two user profiles cannot be linked by other measures - I am aware of that problem.

That's why it's just a suggestion of a workaround that might offer the original questioner an idea until Proton implements alternative push notification, if he

• is dependent on push notifications
• can't/won't change his email provider

foxjaw Proton is already susceptible to Apple/Google Push notification theft, since they also reveal the mail titles as well as the sender mail, which is very insecure tbh.

This is incorrect. Please double check your statements before posting.

For Apple users, on each login, the app generates an asymmetric keypair, saves the private key on Keychain, and sends the public key to Proton’s push notification server accompanied by the user’s session ID. This server encrypts every push notification with the public key, and the application extension decrypts it using the private key from Keychain, ensuring that Apple (or an intelligence agency sitting on Apple’s servers) does not have access to the contents of push notifications. Raw push notifications are not persisted on the device for long and are not included in backup. The private key is removed from Keychain on logout, and the public key is not reused across sessions.​

https://proton.me/blog/ios-security-model

For Android users, Proton Mail’s push notification servers always encrypt the notifications they send, and the Proton Mail client decrypts these notifications locally. These notifications are never stored on the device.

https://proton.me/blog/android-client-security-model

If need be, an individual could always simply turn off their device's notifications on the lock screen to be more private. That way, someone who picks up their phone won’t be able to see the individual's contacts, message previews, reminders and alerts.

foxjaw And beware that proton can write anything in their blog. As long as they don't back it up, we're never sure. Their backend is closed source.

That doesn't really mean anything. The same could be said about any website.

What's your source for your last sentence?

foxjaw Whether encrypted or not doesn't matter, as long as the underlying service controlled by Google themselves.
Whatever you see in the notification, Google sees that too.

Can you provide a source supporting this claim? Is the assertion that Google somehow can break all encryption?

de0u Beware that anyone can write anything anywhere at anytime. As long as they don't back it up, we're never sure.

foxjaw

Whether encrypted or not doesn't matter, as long as the underlying service controlled by Google themselves.
Whatever you see in the notification, Google sees that too.

Is that the case? Proton says that their "notification servers always encrypt the notifications they send, and the Proton Mail client decrypts these notifications locally."

Would be interesting to know what exactly Google sees of this...

foxjaw A personal opinion is as reliable of a source as Wikipedia. There's a reason why Wikipedia is not an approved source for information when writing a paper for school...

ErnestThornhill

You don't have to take their word - check the GitHub: https://github.com/ProtonMail/proton-mail-android

Phead I'm aware. I was (jokingly) quoting foxjaw in that response.

ErnestThornhill
Apologies, didn't get that.

foxjaw Whatever you see in the notification, Google sees that too.

foxjaw Notifications are never encrypted on both Android & Google.

Both of these statements are not really true.

(Just a note, I don't know about Apple's APN, so I won't comment on that)

FCM is a push messaging service, not a push notification service. When a message / "notification" comes in, the app is woken up and can process the notification and display something. Many apps/services send messages with empty data fields, like Signal. Apps/services can also elect to encrypt data in the data field. It all depends on their implementation.

Given that, an FCM message without extra personal data included will only allow Google to see very basic info, like time and which service is sending the message and to who.

But of course there's the flip side to this. Lazy app developers can just shove a bunch of plain text data into notification messages.

As for whether the apps/services in question really send personal info via plaintext in FCM messages, I really don't know, but I seriously doubt it. I'd suggest you read through the code in their apps that process notifications to know for sure.

I suggest you read through this page: https://firebase.google.com/docs/cloud-messaging/concept-options

You can reason these other aspects like security, encryption, etc all you want, except not answering the main question itself ? Did you guys even read the thread title ?