Proton Technologies AG has announced that its ProtonMail app on iOS is now fully open source, with the code now available on GitHub. Giving some reasons for the open sourcing of the app, the firm said that it believes “in transparency, the power of community, and building a more private and secure future for all.”
The open sourcing of the app follows a security audit of the software carried out by the security firm SEC Consult. Proton said that by opening up its code, it helps build the trust of its users who can see what the app does and can even use the source code to build their own version of the app if they don’t trust the binaries being distributed.
Commenting on the open sourcing of the application, Proton said:
“Developers are free to implement and build upon the methods that we have documented and published. We believe that when developers work together to solve real-world privacy challenges, everyone benefits, and we hope that the publication of our code will result in safer and more robust iOS apps.”
Accompanying the release of the source code, the firm has also documented the iOS security model which can help the public review some of the more unintelligible code found within the app.
With the source code now open, reviewing the code for bugs is an option if you’d like to earn some money via the ProtonMail bug bounty programme. Also, if you’re new to the Swift programming language and creating apps for iOS, reviewing existing programs and seeing how they work is a great way to improve your coding skills.