Session Blog
getsession.org · Company blog · on HN since 2020
The team behind Session, an open-source encrypted messenger, writes about its protocol, privacy, surveillance tech, and its shutdown notice.
What HN saysHN commenters recommend Session as a Signal alternative needing no phone number and routing through Tor, though some question its trustworthiness and Australian base.
106HN people shared it
75linked it in comments
43stories submitted
360story points
5 months agolast shared
2020people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Session Encrypted Messenger71 people · 123 points · first shared 2020 · 90 comments on HN
- 2Surveillance tech: How it stalked its way into our lives11 people · 47 points · first shared 2022 · 1 comments on HN
- 3Session Protocol: Technical implementation details5 people · 76 points · first shared 2021 · 24 comments on HN
- 4Faq5 people · first shared 2021
- 5Session is shutting down in 90 days3 people · 10 points · first shared 2026 · discussion on HN
- 6A response to recent claims about sessions security architecture3 people · first shared 2025
- 7What happens if Twitter gets encrypted DMs?2 people · 84 points · first shared 2022 · 79 comments on HN
- 8Android trackers and permissions: Did I say you could do that?2 people · 4 points · first shared 2020 · discussion on HN
- 9Session: A Model for End-to-End Encrypted Conversations with Minimal Metadata L [pdf]2 people · 3 points · first shared 2020 · discussion on HN
- 10Communication Cooperative: A messaging app that can't sell out2 people · 2 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 11Why are phone numbers a privacy problem?1 people · 4 points · first shared 2021 · 1 comments on HN
- 12Session Lightpaper – Will give you a great understanding of Session [pdf]1 people · 3 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 13The Future of Session1 people · 2 points · first shared 2026 · discussion on HN
- 14The Session Protocol: A new standard for decentralised private messaging1 people · 2 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 15Session protocol technical information1 people · first shared 2022
What HN people wrote when they linked it
GlumWoodpecker · 2023-10-19
Session [0] is an up and coming, open source E2EE messenger that doesn't rely on phone numbers (and doesn't require them). It also routes messages through Tor. It's fast and reliable, and I always get notifications on time.
It has some disadvantages though, depending on how you use it. Your ID is a 66 character long hexadecimal hash instead of a classic username. Another disadvantage I've found is the paltry 10 MB attachment limit - trying to share a short video clip I made on my phone required several re-encodes to dip below the limit. Even some still photos will hit that limit, depending on complexity. So not very good for sharing media, but great for texting, in my experience.
[0]: https://getsession.org/
searchableguy · 2022-07-07
I recommend session now.
https://getsession.org/
It doesn't require creating an account and giving up your phone number.
They use the same signal protocol with different trade off in terms of security and privacy[0]
My only concern is they are based in Australia.
0] https://getsession.org/session-protocol-technical-information
daypay · 2022-01-29
Session (https://getsession.org/) is also worth looking into. Recently our group moved from Signal to here. Anyone have experience to share here?
l3db3tt3r · 2021-04-12
I'm currently following the progress of https://getsession.org/
From what I have gathered, it is a fork of Signal, that tries to solve some of the issues with it
- tied to phone#
- meta-data from the network you use it on.
I don't know that it is prime time ready, but the entirety of the project (w/ oden, lokinet) is an interesting project.
adeptus · 2021-04-07
What are your (you guys) opinions on Session (https://getsession.org/), the Signal clone that uses Tor, and no phone numbers? Any significant downsides? Anybody know the team there and can speak on their trustworthiness, longer term intentions etc? What about the code they've added? Anybody review that? At a quick glance it looks like a decent but less user friendly alternative (no phone numbers - good for privacy, bad for grandma's to be able to adopt it easily). Thanks.
phillc73 · 2021-01-22
I do wonder why I almost never see Session[1] mentioned in these conversations. Free, open source, encrypted by default, distributed, no metadata sharing, phone number not required..... I'd love to see more technical discussion about this tool as an option.
[1] https://getsession.org
olah_1 · 2020-10-19
These are all worth keeping tabs on.
Ethereum: https://status.im/
Loki: https://getsession.org/
Gun: https://iris.to/
IPFS: https://berty.tech/
dunefox · 2020-08-02
I've been looking for secure messengers during the last few weeks. I use WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram. Telegram isn't very secure, WhatsApp is owned by Facebook and even Signal - while very secure - requires a cell phone number... Briar seems great in this regard but isn't available on iPhone and has no support for images, calls, voice messages, etc. Apparently they're going to support images and a desktop client, though.
In short, I just don't know what to use.
Edit: Session looks great but is not fully released yet: https://getsession.org/ This might be what I'm looking for in the future.
andrewkdinh · 2020-07-12
Unfortunately, I’ve encountered many of the same issues, so I would recommend trying either Session (fork of Signal) [1] or Telegram (less secure but supports bots) [2]
[1] https://getsession.org/
[2] https://telegram.org/
Jigsy · 2025-11-13
I find https://getsession.org/ and it's Tor-like routing of messages quite interesting.
vindarel · 2025-03-14
Anyone tried https://getsession.org/ seriously?
- desktop and mobile clients, cross-platform (with an AppImage that installs on old systems)
- end to end encryption
- onion routing, based on the Oxen Service Nodes [0], which also propels Lokinet that allows to anonymously browse the web
- no phone number or email required
- group chats, voice messages, voice and video calls (webRTC), attachments, emojis
https://docs.oxen.io/oxen-docs/about-the-oxen-blockchain/oxen-service-…
https://lokinet.org/
glaucon · 2024-12-31
I know nothing about this field so I went looking for those product names.
I believe the Session referred to is here ... https://getsession.org/
Tox is here ? https://tox.chat/
The Matrix i found seems to have been closed down earlier this month ... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_(app) ... that's assuming I found the correct "matrix".
If it matters to you don't take my word for those being the correct points of contact, that's just me searching for two minutes.
As a side rant, I wish people would choose less generic names for their projects, calling something "session" ? You might as well call it "thing".
RunSet · 2023-11-16
I did my part to help reduce costs by switching to the decentralized alternative, Session.[0]
Bonus: Session does not demand users' phone number. Also no bundled cryptocurrency.[1]
[0] https://getsession.org/
[1] https://www.stephendiehl.com/blog/signal.html
sacnoradhq · 2023-07-29
WhatsApp requires a phone number, implicitly deanonymizing you. It also lacked e2ee for a long time.
Signal requires a phone number. Use the fork Session that generates anonymous identifiers. https://getsession.org
Apple participated in PRISM and also requires an identifier such as an email address or phone number.
doodlesdev · 2023-05-11
supermatou · 2023-03-13
Session (https://getsession.org/) would be a good alternative for someone like the author. No captcha, no SIM/phone no. needed, decentralized protocol.
I'd been using Signal for a few years when I discovered Session. Yes, it doesn't have all the nice-to-have features that Signal seems to be adding recently, but it does secure messaging well.
tinglymintyfrsh · 2023-01-03
This article comes across as muddled, bullshit, editorial piece arguing against privacy and that we should trust corporations. They seem to be naive and not have much real life experience while pushing a position that's indefensible. They're a tech consultant and speaker, so that's the position they're pushing.
---
PS: Actually, I prefer the fork of Signal, Session, because it doesn't require the metadata binding to a phone number.
https://getsession.org
lachstar-x · 2022-11-20
SESSION, the chat program that runs over the Oxen network (a Tor alternative) is much better to my mind. Voice, text, chat, all e2e encrypted and not requiring a phone number like Signal.
https://getsession.org/
kbknapp · 2022-11-20
Last I looked Session[0] does not and was created for just that purpose but without sacrificing much in the way if UX.
0: https://getsession.org/
KoftaBob · 2022-10-25
Seems like a good time to plug Session: https://getsession.org/
Open source, doesn't require a phone number, and a big strength is that it's decentralized, which makes it much less vulnerable to outages like this.
"Session utilises the decentralised Oxen Service Node Network to store
and route messages. This means that unlike P2P messaging applications
you can message Session users when they are offline.
This network consists of community operated nodes which are stationed
all over the world. Service nodes are organised into collections of small
co-operative groups called swarms.
Swarms offer additional redundancy and message delivery guarantees even if some service nodes become unreachable. By using this network, Session doesn’t have a central point
of failure, and Session’s creators have no capacity to collect or store
personal information about people using the app"
darcys22 · 2022-09-29
Over at session we are getting a massive influx of users from Iran right now.
We have not been blocked yet, session is an e2ee decentralised messenger.
https://getsession.org/
devKnight · 2022-08-19
you might be able to make session[0] work for texting, you could also do chats over irc in an ubuntu server not sure how secure that would be.
If you're going to use WeChat treat it as its been completely compromised because it is
[0]: https://getsession.org/
dcow · 2022-08-18
Well you should try: https://getsession.org. It's a fork of Signal with pubkeys instead of phone numbers.
emptysongglass · 2022-06-08
I want to like Briar and Cwtch but neither of them have iOS clients which really breaks the whole friendly to people who use other platforms covenant. If a client doesn't have apps for both of the big mobile platforms I'd say it's very unfriendly because you by omission are creating exclusionary silos.
There's Session, which is iOS and Android friendly and doesn't burn down your battery as messages are privately routed through zero-knowledge nodes: https://getsession.org
tintedfireglass · 2022-06-06
If you want signal without using a phone number, you can use a fork of signal called Session(https://getsession.org/). That's the power of opensource :)
I feel that the average person would be inclined to use signal more if it required a phone number than otherwise.
Demcox · 2022-03-01
Try Session [0]. Decentralized, no phone numbers and adding contacts is done by either sharing your ID or an QR-code. It works well but, at this time, only texting. Does have pretty apps for iOS/Android and most desktops OS's
[0]https://getsession.org/
EDIT grammar
unraveller · 2022-02-04
https://getsession.org is a signal clone without the number requirement, just uses a session id.
E2EE voice & video conferencing is available in the beta coming in the next release
thekyle · 2022-01-28
There is an app called Session which I think uses the Signal protocol under the hood. It doesn't depend on phone numbers at all.
https://getsession.org/
qwertyuiop_ · 2021-09-27
Session.
https://getsession.org/ I doesn’t need phone numbers
elpy1 · 2021-09-27
Time for people to look into Session (https://getsession.org). You get automatic native onion routing via decentralised infrastructure - currently 1800~ community-run servers (service nodes).