With the launch of Proton Sheets in late 2025 and, more recently, Proton Workspace, Proton Drive took an important step toward becoming a more complete privacy-first workspace for the files, photos, documents, and spreadsheets people use every day.
So far in 2026, we’ve focused on making that experience faster, smoother, and more practical across file storage, sharing, and collaboration. Here’s a look at the changes:
A faster Drive through a stronger foundation
Some of the most meaningful improvements to Drive this year are about speed and reliability. Uploads and downloads are now noticeably faster, whether you’re saving a file, browsing photos, downloading from a shared folder, or collaborating with others. Early this year, Proton Drive delivered up to 60% faster uploads on iOS, as well as up to 30% faster uploads and 70% faster downloads on web. Shared workflows have improved too: Downloading shared files is now 70% faster, and uploading to a shared folder is 30% faster, even for people without a Proton account.
Behind these improvements is a stronger foundation: We’ve been rebuilding some of Drive’s most performance-intensive code into a shared SDK that powers core file operations across our apps. That means improvements can roll out more consistently across platforms, helping make Drive feel faster, smoother, and more dependable overall.
More done, more easily on mobile
Some of the most meaningful user experience improvements are the ones that remove friction from everyday tasks, especially on mobile, wherever you are. We made a number of updates across the Drive mobile apps to help people get things done faster and with fewer steps:
- The photo gallery has improved on iOS and Android, with quicker loading and smoother scrolling through your memories.
- Saving files directly to Proton Drive is now possible on both Android and iOS, making it easier to save something for later without first downloading it and uploading it again.
- Document scanning is now supported on both Android and iOS, so you can easily save important scans like passports directly in Proton Drive for safekeeping.
- On Android, you can upload entire folders to Proton Drive, making it much faster to move lots of files in one go. That’s something even Google Drive doesn’t offer.
More powerful spreadsheets, still privacy-first
Spreadsheets often end up holding far more of our lives than we expect. In our survey, we found that over 70% of people use spreadsheets for budgeting and personal finance. But these files often outlive their original purpose: 67% of US respondents said they still have access to spreadsheets or shared documents they no longer need. Many are also unsure what happens to their data behind the scenes, from ad targeting and content scanning to AI training and data sharing.
That is exactly why Proton Sheets matters, and why we have kept improving our end-to-end encrypted spreadsheet editor.
Among the changes, we’ve added and improved support for workflows people expect from modern spreadsheets, including:
- Import, edit, and export spreadsheets as ODS (compatible with OpenOffice, LibreOffice, and others). Currently in beta
- Hidden sheets
- New paste special options: formula only and link only
- Custom formulas in conditional formatting and data validation
- Support for the =SWITCH formula
These updates help make Sheets more practical for everyday use while preserving what matters most: Your spreadsheet data remains protected by Proton’s privacy-first design.
Strong momentum for the rest of 2026
So far in 2026, our focus has been clear: making Proton Drive faster and more reliable across all platforms for the moments that matter every day. Many of these improvements came directly from listening to our community. We’re grateful for that feedback, and for the people who keep pushing us to make Proton Drive better.
At the same time, we haven’t lost sight of our broader priorities for 2026, including the long-awaited Linux client. We’ll keep building on this foundation throughout the rest of the year.
Thank you for supporting our mission to give people everywhere a secure, private way to store and share files without their data being exploited for profit. Tell us what you would like to see next on UserVoice(nuova finestra).
