05-13-2026, 01:17 PM
Privacy Messenger Session Is Staring Down a 90-Day Countdown to Obscurity
With paid developers gone and only volunteers remaining, the app has until July 8 to secure funding or fade into irrelevance.
If you care about privacy and don't take too well to governments and Big Tech companies snooping on your messages, then Session has probably come up at some point. It's a free, open source, end-to-end encrypted messaging app that doesn't ask for your phone number or email to sign up.
Messages are routed through an onion network rather than a central server, and the combination of no-metadata messaging, anonymous sign-up, and decentralized architecture has earned it a loyal following among privacy-conscious users.
Unfortunately, the project has sent out a mayday call as it risks closure.
The Session Technology Foundation (STF) sent out what can only be described as a distress signal, announcing that the app's survival is now in serious peril. The day it was posted on was also the last working day for all paid staff and developers at the STF.
From that point on, Session is being kept running entirely by volunteers.
The donations that they received earlier are enough to keep critical infrastructure online until July 8, but not nearly enough to retain a development team. With nobody left on payroll, development has been paused.
Due to that, introducing new features is off the table, existing bugs will most likely go unaddressed, and the STF says new releases are unlikely during this period.
Session co-founder Chris McCabe had already flagged the trouble coming. In a personal appeal published earlier in March, he wrote that the organizations safeguarding Session had faced many challenges over the years and that the project's very survival was now at risk.
https://itsfoss.com/news/session-call-for-donations/
***Whats everyone going to use moving forward ?***
With paid developers gone and only volunteers remaining, the app has until July 8 to secure funding or fade into irrelevance.
If you care about privacy and don't take too well to governments and Big Tech companies snooping on your messages, then Session has probably come up at some point. It's a free, open source, end-to-end encrypted messaging app that doesn't ask for your phone number or email to sign up.
Messages are routed through an onion network rather than a central server, and the combination of no-metadata messaging, anonymous sign-up, and decentralized architecture has earned it a loyal following among privacy-conscious users.
Unfortunately, the project has sent out a mayday call as it risks closure.
The Session Technology Foundation (STF) sent out what can only be described as a distress signal, announcing that the app's survival is now in serious peril. The day it was posted on was also the last working day for all paid staff and developers at the STF.
From that point on, Session is being kept running entirely by volunteers.
The donations that they received earlier are enough to keep critical infrastructure online until July 8, but not nearly enough to retain a development team. With nobody left on payroll, development has been paused.
Due to that, introducing new features is off the table, existing bugs will most likely go unaddressed, and the STF says new releases are unlikely during this period.
Session co-founder Chris McCabe had already flagged the trouble coming. In a personal appeal published earlier in March, he wrote that the organizations safeguarding Session had faced many challenges over the years and that the project's very survival was now at risk.
https://itsfoss.com/news/session-call-for-donations/
***Whats everyone going to use moving forward ?***