Session messenger
Shares rank 24 of 48 messaging apps by recommenders
Decentralized encrypted messenger that creates an account without a phone number, recommended as a Signal alternative. Critics say it lacks forward secrecy and has flawed cryptography.
Decentralized encrypted messenger that creates an account without a phone number, recommended as a Signal alternative. Critics say it lacks forward secrecy and has flawed cryptography.
33 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 20
- approval share
- 39%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Easy onboarding without phone number
“Session is a decentralized Signal fork that creates the account on the device without associating it with a phone number.”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Molly (Signal fork) has not been updated since 3 months and is vulnerable” “I wish more apps had this easy onboarding process.”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Session is shutting down in 90 days” Alternative to Signal
“I'd recommend downloading software like Signal, Session, VeraCrypt, etc.”
Comment from 22 Dec 2025 in “The Going Dark initiative or ProtectEU is a Chat Control 3.0 attempt” “some options i can recommend are matrix,simplex,session etc.”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “I have to give Fortnite my passport to use Bluesky” “it seems to be the leading alternative to Signal”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Molly: An Improved Signal App” Decentralized and encrypted messaging
“Both Session and Briar are decentralized technologies where you would never be able to approach a company”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Kash Patel says FBI is investigating Signal chats of Minnesotans tracking ICE” “Briar and Session are the better encrypted messengers.”
Comment from 27 Jan 2026 in “Kash Patel says FBI is investigating Signal chats of Minnesotans tracking ICE”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Lacks forward secrecy
“Session lacks forward secrecy. This is very serious- it's silly to compare Session to Signal when Session is flawed in its cryptography.”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Kash Patel says FBI is investigating Signal chats of Minnesotans tracking ICE” “the developers have implemented many features insecurely and have also removed forward secrecy”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Molly (Signal fork) has not been updated since 3 months and is vulnerable” “too bad Session removed forward secrecy and became useless”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in ““Super secure” messaging app leaks everyone's phone number” - Comment from 27 Jan 2026 in “Kash Patel says FBI is investigating Signal chats of Minnesotans tracking ICE”
Insecure or flawed cryptography
“Session lacks forward secrecy. This is very serious- it's silly to compare Session to Signal when Session is flawed in its cryptography.”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Kash Patel says FBI is investigating Signal chats of Minnesotans tracking ICE” “the developers have implemented many features insecurely and have also removed forward secrecy”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Molly (Signal fork) has not been updated since 3 months and is vulnerable” “Both Session and SimpleX are trivially vulnerable to storage DoS as well.”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Kash Patel says FBI is investigating Signal chats of Minnesotans tracking ICE” - Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Teen hackers who live streamed cyber-attack on TfL jailed”
Doubtful funding and crypto-linked origins
“A collection of strongly opinionated crypto experts running on hopes more than money is no way to run”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Session is shutting down in 90 days” “they pivoted after being crypto bros with a failed token. It's just more grift.”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Session is shutting down in 90 days” “Our product makes no money, has no use case and we need $1M to survive.”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Session is shutting down in 90 days” - Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Session is shutting down in 90 days”
Hard to set up or use
“I have built bare minimum hello world bots in simplex and session and I think both had a lot of troubles to go through”
Comment from 22 Dec 2025 on Hacker News “I could never get it to work and I've tried several times.”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Session is shutting down in 90 days”
Other messaging apps people recommend
The four most recommended other messaging apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 48 messaging apps, rankedWhat people said
35 of the 41 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the developers have implemented many features insecurely and have also removed forward secrecy”
“Session is a decentralized Signal fork that creates the account on the device without associating it with a phone number.”
“they watered down several of Signals' security/privacy choices”
“If you actually want Session or SimpleX, which sacrifice usability for even more privacy, then you know where to find those services.”
“Telegram and Session are never secure by any means.”
“over a walled garden like Signal or Session”
“especially promoting cryptocurrency”
“Spending $22k a month in infra as a pre-money startup is insane.”
“I wish more apps had this easy onboarding process.”
“Send messages, not metadata”
“they're selling "better privacy" and "decentralization" - these are vitamins for the vast majority of people”
“when there are about six hundred other decentralized private messaging apps out there that nobody but people who care passionately about decentralization are using”
“I would never trust it in the first place”
“They're big on dark web drug markets.”
“I could never get it to work and I've tried several times.”
“Session was Australian based which means they would have to do all sorts of horrible things when asked by the government”
“my passphrase caused Session to crash”
“Our product makes no money, has no use case and we need $1M to survive.”
“they pivoted after being crypto bros with a failed token. It's just more grift.”
“A collection of strongly opinionated crypto experts running on hopes more than money is no way to run”
“Truly private messaging is a luxury these days. Session is very close to launching their Pro subscription”
“Session is a low-privacy fork of Signal.”
“Session lacks forward secrecy. This is very serious- it's silly to compare Session to Signal when Session is flawed in its cryptography.”
“Both Session and Briar are decentralized technologies where you would never be able to approach a company”
“Both Session and SimpleX are trivially vulnerable to storage DoS as well.”
“Session lacks forward secrecy, which isn't ideal.”
“Yes, but they have their own weaknesses.”
“Briar and Session are the better encrypted messengers.”
“session was the more ergonomic one to build on”
“I have built bare minimum hello world bots in simplex and session and I think both had a lot of troubles to go through”
“I'd recommend downloading software like Signal, Session, VeraCrypt, etc.”
“some options i can recommend are matrix,simplex,session etc.”
“too bad Session removed forward secrecy and became useless”
“it seems to be the leading alternative to Signal”
“The fact that I can't ctrl-F license immediately makes me skeptical.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.