Install
Download & install Session: desktop and mobile
Official sources, platform-by-platform install, and your first encrypted conversation.
Open Source · Decentralized · End-to-End Encrypted
Session. Privacy that speaks.
No phone number, no contact upload, no tracking. Every message routes through a distributed network — only you and your friends can read it, and no one can see who talks to whom.
Encrypted · No Sign-Up · Decentralized
Privacy is an architecture, not a policy - Session's three pillars
01
End-to-End Encryption
Messages are encrypted on your device and decrypted on theirs — the server only relays ciphertext. Open protocol, publicly audited.
02
No Sign-Up
No phone number, email or contact upload. Your identity is a locally generated Session ID; there is no account database to leak or trace.
03
Decentralized
Messages route through a distributed node network instead of a central server, so there is no account suspension or single point of failure.
Privacy First
The messenger that asks for nothing
Session asks for no phone number, no email, no contacts. Your identity is a locally generated ID; messages route through a distributed network that can neither read content nor link who talks to whom.
Privacy, engineered in
Four pillars that turn "trust us" into "verifiable by math"
Encryption
End-to-end encryption, always on
- Conversations, media and attachments are always end-to-end encrypted — no optional mode, no weakened builds.
- Keys derive from your locally generated Session ID and device keys; servers never see them.
Privacy
No sign-up means nothing to leak
- No phone numbers, emails, contacts or locations are collected; "registration" is just generating an ID, eliminating identity-tracked "password recovery" entirely.
- And no server-side archives: messages dissipate from the network after delivery, history lives on your devices only.
Architecture
Distributed routing, no single point
- Messages travel through a node network rather than a central server, with no account system that could be suspended or seized.
- Offline messages wait in node queues, so nothing is lost while you are away.
Openness
Auditable, self-hostable
- All clients and nodes are open source: rebuild, audit or contribute.
- The community keeps development funded through donations and grants, continuously strengthening security.
Three things to understand first
Session ID & multiple devices
A long unique Session ID is generated at install: share it to start encrypted conversations. Log the same ID on several devices to sync; use the backup recovery chain to migrate — no support ticket needed.
Broadcast & end-to-end encryption
Messages are end-to-end encrypted and routed via a decentralized network of nodes. Neither servers nor eavesdroppers can read content or link senders to receivers.
Open source & auditable
Every client and infrastructure component is publicly hosted: anyone can audit it, build it or self-host. Continuous community review is the only lasting guarantee.
Session Guides
Installation, ID management and privacy walkthroughs
Tips
Session ID & backup recovery chain guide
Your ID is your identity: how to back up, migrate devices and avoid the common pitfalls.
Features
How Session routes messages without a central server
A plain-language walkthrough of distributed routing, metadata protection and what it means for you.
Session, free forever
Desktop & mobile builds, encrypted by default, no account needed