deepen

Switzerland-based Proton, the privacy-focused firm behind end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) webmail ProtonMail and other apps, has acquired Standard Notes, a note-taking app founded back in 2017. By adding Standard Notes to its portfolio of apps, Proton will deepen its reach with an engaged community of pro-privacy users, layering on additional cross-selling opportunities as well as boosting the utility of its app ecosystem. And while there is some usage overlap, a Proton spokesperson said that less than a quarter of Standard Notes users are already Proton users. Proton said the Standard Notes app, which is available for both mobile and desktop, will remain “open source, freely available and fully supported”. Commenting in a statement, Mo Bitar, founder and CEO of Standard Notes, talked up the sense of shared mission.