Session strips out the usual identifiers. There’s no phone number or email, just a random Session ID. Messages travel through a decentralized onion network so no central server ever logs who is talking to whom. It’s open source and runs on every major platform. The one design tradeoff worth knowing is that it dropped the Signal-style forward secrecy that limits the damage if a key is later exposed. It also came close to shutting down in 2026 when money ran short. Community donations kept it alive and it now runs with a smaller core team.
Session
Onion-routed messaging with no phone number and no central servers.
getsession.org
FreeOpen SourceE2E EncryptedWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOSSwitzerland
Pricing Free to use, funded by donations.
Strengths
- No phone number or email, just a random Session ID
- Decentralized onion routing hides who talks to whom
- Open source, on every major platform
Considerations
- Runs on a small, donation-funded team after a 2026 funding scare
- Does not use Signal-style forward secrecy
Listed in Messaging
