Over the past couple days, we have received an increasingly large number of emails from Lavaboom users concerned about what appears to be the impending closure of Lavaboom. The news was first broken by Lavaboom developer pzduniak on Reddit.
Since we are also working on bringing privacy back online, we can understand better than most the many challenges that must be overcome to build a secure email service. The truth is, email is difficult, especially as you scale. Today, when discussing storage infrastructure at the ProtonMail office, the units of conversation are Terabytes and Petabytes. On top of all of this, you add the complication of properly implementing end-to-end encryption. Other aspects of emails such a spam filtering and email deliverability also need to be tackled. Of course, there are also mobile apps to build.
These challenges are indeed daunting, which is why we brought together a dozen incredibly smart scientists and engineers from CERN, MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Caltech, and ETH Zurich to pull it off. Such a monumental undertaking also requires resources. This is why we raised 2 million Swiss Francs to supplement the 500,000 Swiss Francs we raised through crowdfunding. With this institutional support from foundations backed by the State of Geneva and the Swiss Federal government, we have a strong balance sheet. ProtonMail has more than enough financing to continue development until we introduce paid premium accounts.
For the Lavaboom users searching for an alternative, we are happy to tell you that email privacy is alive and well. We know many of you are looking to transition quickly so we are happy to provide priority access to existing Lavaboom users. Simply sign up for an account here: protonmail.ch/invite and then email us at contact@protonmail.ch and we will expedite sending you an invitation.
You will be joining over half a million people from around the world who have already signed up for ProtonMail to get free and easy to use secure email. While we have purposely limited the size of our beta, in the coming months, we will opening up ProtonMail to millions of others worldwide who want to take back their online privacy. With your support privacy is not only surviving, it is thriving.
Best Regards,
The ProtonMail Team
21 comments on “Transition assistance for Lavaboom shutdown”
That sounds great on your part!
I hope to be part of protonmail soon (I requested my invite more than a week ago) and finally getting out of outlook and gmail.
Please keep us posted about the paid accounts! (Prices, features, etc)
Thanks a lot!
Does the android app work without google services? I hope really hope so :/ It can’t be available on the F-Droid Store because its closed source right?
I would like the .apk file was available without the Play Store :/
if they were to provide .apk files (I understand why you want this as when people download apps from the apps store its traceable!), is it possible to install on a phone which isn’t unlocked/jail broken?
Yes, you can install .apk files without jailbreaking/rooting/whatever your phone 🙂
Thanks Prof!
Nice post, thanks, ProtonMail team.
when the ios app become available? I would like to get it… I have an ipad mini 3 tablet and lots of time the web interface is laggy during email writing…
I can’t wait for the iOS app! I’ve been using it for awhile but can be clunk with the browser in iPhone.
20th of august, on the app store. at whaaattt timmmmee !!???
Good job guys 🙂
I am not sure if the beta apps will be available on the stores. It should be invites to the ios developer account… maybe… But I am wating from the morning too 🙂
I can’t wait for the ios app to be up and running!
You and me both! I’m willing to pay for it; which says a lot because I don’t buy many apps.
If the app is open source it should be published on F-Droid.
Your e-mail service is amazing, I use it as my primary e-mail account. I am glad you guys do great work with the fantastic team that is being put together.
All the best!
What do we have to do in order to get the iOS app?
Is the app available in all regions? Still no sign of it on the east coast.
Check our latest blog entry for more information.
Can I get a second PM account? I was waiting for one from Lavaboom 4 3 weeks and then they shut down. Thx
It is possible if you register on the waiting list again.