At the time I received the popup, I refreshed the page, and it was gone. I’m not sure if clicking outside the popup would have worked. If there’s no x to close, then that’s what’s called a “dark pattern.”

Here is the popup: https://i.ibb.co/7yqc8d1/proton-Copy.png

This isn’t the place to discuss my issue or share my ticket number. I don’t link my Proton account with my Lemmy account. I heard back from customer support, and I replied to the email with all details on February 2. I haven’t heard back. The email I received ignored my issue and instead told me how to unsubscribe from emails.

I got it from the official F-Droid link

I have, unfortunately. The web site gives me obtrusive indismissable popups sometimes (in Firefox with uBO), and I’ve seen promotions within the Proton VPN app itself, which is something other Unlimited subscribers have experienced as well, though not all of us, for some confusing reason.

I made a post about it not long ago.

Are you using the paid version? OP’s thinking about paying, but if Discord works on the free Netherlands server, perhaps one of us should let them know.

Fwiw I’m always using Proton VPN (paid version) on my phone (Android) and frequently on desktop as well (both Windows and Linux).

I use Discord on all these platforms, and I’ve never had trouble using it while connected to a server via Proton.

There was no x on the popup. There was no way to exit other than to agree to use Proton Pass. I told you this.

Thanks for responding! It does make me wonder why I and others did. It was presumably the same version of the app. I was using the official app from F-Droid.

Do you live in the EU, out of curiosity? A lot of Unlimited users have said they saw the promotion, not just me, and so I’m curious why not everyone did. It was very noticeable to me since I open the app frequently

You know how that goes

I’m using the F-Droid version too. However, the popup appeared on their web site using Firefox with uBlock Origin.

I guess I’m alright with using Mega. I’d prefer open source of course, but I mostly just don’t want to use something from Google, Apple, or Microsoft.

Oh so for example, I could say: “I tried this, but it didn’t work.”

Thanks, I appreciate this very much! I’ll try to stick to your advice

I feel seen! It’s weird that some people don’t seem to have gotten the ads. Maybe it was just people in certain countries? (I’m in the US)

I’ve already been using Bitwarden, and I love it so much. I honestly pay for it just to support it.

The main things are the VPN itself and Drive for cloud storage. I too have thought about IVPN or Mullvad, but neither seem quite as good as Proton. Mozilla also has a VPN service, but I never see it mentioned.

And I’m way too non-techy to think of self hosting or anything like that.

Bookmarking this. I wish I could learn. Maybe I can take it slow and learn one piece at a time. The main reason I used a VPN was after I was IP banned on reddit. I decided I don’t really need sites seeing my real IP address, and I’ve never been comfortable being served data that are curated for my location. I like that with a VPN I can at least see which sites are up to this fuckery.

I searched and found this: https://old.reddit.com/r/ProtonVPN/comments/17sh434/how_do_i_stop_the_ads/

I didn’t see anything else about it, and as you can see there is no useful information or discussion in that thread. The rest of the threads mentioning the Black Friday deal all seem populated by totally-not-bots who are thrilled to see the deal.

I’m so glad I left that site.

Doesn’t setting up your own VPS take some level of technical skill? I have virtually no expertise in stuff like that, and even reading about it goes way above my head.

If it is, then I’d submit an issue on github next time it happens, but first I need them to give me a real response!

Fair enough. I think it’s disgusting how these big tech companies seize control of these systems.

Also, have you tried Skiff mail? I actually like it more than Proton. It lets you create 4 (I think) aliases for free.

The main Proton services that will be hard for me to replace are the VPN and drive.

https://i.ibb.co/nQtzZ1r/Screenshot-20240203-131041-Fennec.jpg

I’m sorry I went off. I’m sure you were trying to be helpful, and I took it personally when you said I was worked up, which I shouldn’t have done.

When I first got a new work computer, I forgot to install it at first, and it’s gotten so bad out there. If uBO didn’t exist, I don’t think I’d really use the internet very often.

I feel like I’d choose self hosting for a lot of things if I could. I lack the technical expertise. I’ve tried educating myself, but it’s way over my head.

Thank God it wasn’t just me! I wish I had taken a screenshot.

I too have the F-Droid version. There’s another comment in this thread describing this in detail, including even a link and the version I’m currently running.

The ad I saw was a promotion for some end of year sale that didn’t even apply to me since I’m already an Unlimited subscriber.

The other ads I’ve seen have been pop-ups on the Proton web site that can’t be xed out of.

The worst part is I am a paid subscriber! That doesn’t stop them, though.

Yes. I said in my post that I sent them one last email, and their response will determine whether I find it worthwhile to continue with their services.

I also got similarly irrelevant responses from their Mastodon account though, which is supposedly a real person.

Great, thanks!

Yes! I think it started around Black Friday, and I think the lightning bolt might have been a thing. I wish I’d screenshotted it. It was very distracting as it was designed to catch your attention, and there was no way to dismiss it.

Someone else mentioned that it should have disappeared or be able to be dismissed and that maybe I got a bugged version of the app, because it was constantly there for me, I think up until the promotion ended. And the promotion didn’t even apply to me since I already pay for Unlimited.

I am fed up with Proton! And I’m also overwhelmed with comparing alternatives, so I truly appreciate the recommendation.

You don’t happen to know any alternatives to Proton Drive that don’t require a self-hosted server? (I’m not very techie.) I was looking at CryptDrive, but its 100MB limit might be difficult.

Are they full page ads?

No. It was a box that appeared about 3/4 up the screen with information about the promotion. If I clicked it, then it took me to a page with information about subscribing to the promotional deal, which was super confusing since, as I said, I already pay for Unlimited.

And are you on Android or Apple?

Android.

And this is definitely the official app that you downloaded from their site, right? Or from the Play store or whatever?

This is the one I have.

It’s the official F-Droid release. The version I currently have is 4.9.40.5.

Then tell me that? If that’s the case, then why would Proton be so dodgy about answering my questions? I clearly and repeatedly described the issue I was talking about, and they continuously sent me information on subscribing to emails.

If it is an issue, then I would want to submit it on github. If it’s a non-existent feature, then I’d want to request that. But I can’t proceed with any certainty when they don’t answer simple, direct questions.

So my issue at this point is not even so much the ad as it is the bigger problem of the dodgy communication from Proton.

Good to know! I’ll switch to using that one instead. Thanks for letting me know!

This was the thing they were advertising. It appeared to be something actually baked into the app that was promoting this deal. It ended on January 3. Maybe I can try downgrading to the version of the app from that time period? I’m pretty sure it was hard-coded into the app itself during that time. I frequently open that app throughout the day, and it was there every time.

No. I’m kicking myself for not getting a screenshot when it happened. I’ll double-check on my phone in case I accidentally took a screenshot, but I’m pretty sure I don’t have one.

Try these:

https://i.ibb.co/KK2Rphd/wtf.png

https://i.ibb.co/THYcH6w/proton-Copy.png

You should use uBlock Origin. It’s pretty much mandatory in today’s ad-ridden hellscape.

I’ve never seen a single ad on that site using uBlock Origin and Firefox/Fennec. I wasn’t even aware that they run ads.

Yes, I’ve been happy with the products, so I hate to do it, but I’m thinking of alternatives. If they said “Sorry, we don’t have that feature” or something it would at least answer my questions. This dodgy behavior on their part is a huge red flag.

proton on here just boosts posts about them

They do the same via email. I contacted them through their help portal like they told me, and I got an email with the exact same canned response that doesn’t have anything to do with my inquiry! I’m about done with them. I pay for Unlimited and they can’t even answer a question?