I think proton apps should implement iCloud like simplicity and functionality. phone <=> pad <=> desktop, photos files and backups. let's remove iCloud from the equation and offer this service to android windows users too; so they can enjoy this kind of eco system. privacy / integration / simplicity / reliability is the new 'app killer'.

would also be good if the VPN also worked better with local MDNS / bonjour services too

I need to work with my photo's on my windows laptop. I cannot really use the photo library until that time. So I keep a dependency with other cloud storages like icloud.

Yeah, wild this isn't an option. Am considering leaving proton. Please treat photos like files. Dropbox has a madatory camera uploads folder for example. Users can then periodically sort photos from the camera uploads folder into their own photo folders/albums. Super-restircitve to have them separate. In particualt, it limits the ability to have a secure 3-2-1 backup apporach or via local versioning. This is a security risk in terms of data loss.redundancy for most users and a massive function and UX problem. Please priotise.

I want to explain why the current Photos implementation makes Proton Drive largely unusable for me.

When I enable photo sync from my phone, all images are uploaded into the “Photos” section. This creates several fundamental problems:

- No real folder structure
Photos are stored in a flat, album-based view instead of a proper directory hierarchy. I cannot maintain a clean, year/month/event-based structure like I can in “My files”.

- No desktop sync
Photos uploaded via the Photos feature are not available in the Proton Drive desktop app on Windows. They exist only in the mobile app or web UI. This breaks a core expectation of a drive product: local access.

- No practical sharing for families
Photos cannot be used as a shared, collaborative library. For family use, I need a shared folder that multiple users can see, sync, and back up locally. Photos do not support this workflow.

- Forced manual duplication
To get photos into a usable state, I have to manually download them from Photos and re-upload them into “My files” — on multiple accounts. This is slow, error-prone, and defeats the purpose of sync entirely.

Because of this, the Photos feature is not an enhancement but an obstacle. It creates a second, isolated storage system that:
- cannot be structured properly
- cannot be synced to desktop
- cannot be used for shared photo libraries

For users who want organized folders, sharing, and local access, the Photos feature is effectively useless.

What is needed is either:
- the ability to sync Photos into a normal Drive folder, or
- the ability to disable Photos entirely and sync the camera directly into “My files”.

Until then, Proton Drive cannot replace even basic photo workflows that other drive solutions handle trivially.

A critical feature. Please implement or give feedback why it is not possible to do so.

this is SOOO needed. Bad panda.

Automatically backed-up photos should just be available as files in the drive. I am not switching to proton drive until this is a thing, because I want my actual files.

Please, this is a very core functionality for sync and photo management.

Would be nice to access photos via Proton Drive app, i.e. directly & not only via browser interface.

This is a must. Please also inculde this in a new build for the linux platform and the windows app. Its a real hassle to download a photo from the web drive, when its already in my account on Drive and should be synced wtth the pc automaticly. Its not only for conveinience, but its also a good to be able to backup the phone gallery to my local pc this way.

It is crazy that I have to pay for a proton drive account that cannot do what free accounts at google CAN do.

Would definitely be super helpful. I'm currently manually importing the backup thing to have photos on my PC too.

Crazy this isn't implemented...

When I back up photos to ProtonDrive, they don't sync with the desktop app, so I can't use or view them locally on my PC or Mac.

I would like to be able to synchronize the photos I have backed up to Photo with my PC or Mac folders. It's a pain to have to move and copy them manually.

I have to view them online every time, and it takes a long time for thumbnails to display, which is very inconvenient. Thumbnails are cached to a certain extent, but even those cached thumbnails are slow to display.

When is Proton going to implement this critical feature? Please let us know. This issue has already 1.275 votes and loads of reactions. Please.... !

+1 for finding it unfathomable that this feature isn't already in place. I am very dissapointed and would urge proton to implement it asap!

We need to ahve theses Photos section be accessible in Desktop Proton Drive App. ( similar to an folder ready to eb synced) Also it shd have theses storage controls for albums & folders of diff kind ( keep only online, keep on lcoal always, on demand & auto keep only in online) theses features for theses Photos section woud really add vlaue

Just switched to proton. This feature is a must. If i had known this was not a available feature i wouldn't have switched.

I cannot understand how it is possible not to have this feature already available!!!
I migrating from Dropbox and I can't believe the lack of this feature is a thing

It's a must have for so many reasons. And don't forget Mac/Linux again.
The Drive keeps duplicating some photos on import, and this would allow us to at least manually deduplicate.