Name: Session - Private Messenger
Rating: 4 (271 reviews)

Updating

Session - Private Messenger

The Loki Project

Released: 2020-02-06

Free 0%

Version 2.1.1

17+

Free 0%

Version 2.1.1

17+

Released: 2020-02-06

+14

#81 in Top Free iPad Apps > Social Networking

iPhone Screenshots

iPad Screenshots

Description

Session is a new breed of private messenger, built on a unique network of user-operated servers spread all over the world. With no central servers, Session can’t leak or sell your data. And with Session’s private routing protocols, your messages are completely anonymous. No one ever knows who you’re talking to, what you’re saying, or even your IP address.

• Fully anonymous account creation: No phone number or email needed to create a Session ID

• Decentralised server network: No data breaches, no central point of failure

• No metadata logging: Session doesn't store, track, or log your messaging metadata

• IP address protection: Device IP addresses are never exposed to the person you're talking to or the servers holding your data

• Closed groups: Private, end-to-end encrypted group chats for up to 100 people

• Secure attachments: Share voice snippets, photos, and files with Session's secure encryption and privacy protections

• Free and open-source: Don’t take our word for it — check Session's code yourself

Session is free as in free speech, free as in free beer, and free of ads and trackers. Session is built and maintained by the OPTF, Australia’s first privacy tech not-for-profit organisation. Take back your online privacy today — download Session.

Want to build from source, report a bug, or just take a look at our code? Check out Session on GitHub: https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios

What's New in Version 2.1.1

Improvements:

• Added "documents" section in the all media screen for a conversation

• Added the ability to either block or delete message requests

• Updated the UI for media messages

Fixes:

• Fixed a number of bugs with calls

• Fixed some issues with how disappearing messages were behaving

• Fixed the 'None' notification sound setting

• Fixed a few minor Emoji Reacts bugs

• Fixed an issue where users could appear twice in the open group mention list

• Fixed some issues when the app was in the background

Seller

Name

Rangeproof PTY LTD

URL

https://getsession.org/

Information

Developer

The Loki Project

Version

2.1.1

Size

70 MB

Game Center

VPP Device Licensing

Yes

Rating

Rated 17+ for the following:

Unrestricted Web Access

Compatibility

iOS 13.0 or later

Devices

iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone SE (3rd generation), iPad (5th Generation) Wi-Fi, iPad (5th Generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad (6th generation) Wi-Fi, iPad (6th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro, iPad Pro (Cellular), iPad Pro (9.7-inch), iPad Pro (9.7-inch) (Cellular), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro (10.5-inch), iPad Pro (10.5-inch) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro (11-inch), iPad Pro (11-inch) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Air, iPad Air (Cellular), iPad Air 2, iPad Air 2 (Cellular), iPad Air (3rd generation), iPad Air (3rd generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad mini Retina, iPad mini Retina (Cellular), iPad mini 3, iPad mini 3 (Cellular), iPad mini 4, iPad mini 4 (Cellular), iPad mini (5th Generation), iPad mini (5th Generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad (7th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation), iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Air (4th Generation) (Wi-Fi), iPad Air (4th Generation) (Wi-Fi + Cellular), iPad (8th generation) Wi-Fi, iPad (8th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation), iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th Generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th Generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad (9th Generation), iPad (9th Generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad mini (6th Generation), iPad mini (6th Generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Air (5th generation), iPad Air (5th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPod touch (6th Generation), iPod touch (7th generation)

Languages

English, Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Sinhala, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Vietnamese

App Store: Customer Ratings

Ratings & Reviews

4.0 of 5 (271 Ratings)

App Store: Customer Reviews

2022-09-09

Love the idea but.

Hello there. I set disappearing messages for different time and they just don’t work.

App is not deleting messages. That’s is so frustrating.

Also notifications aren’t working correctly when I call to someone. They are not notified about the call.

The most frustrating is disappearing messages. Could you please advice what should I do with that?

2022-09-04

Excellent app! But still some bugs.

I have known this app for many years and keep being fascinated by its cool UI and reliable encryption. I also invited my sister to download the app.

However, this app has some flickers when my sister uses it. The app does not push any notifications when it is opened in background while notifications can be received normally when the phone is locked. Also, the “ delete old open group messages “ function can not be off. Once I tried to shut it down, the app crashed and closed automatically.

2022-08-29

App crashes everyday

Can’t get in due to optimizing database. This app has been not so wonderful.

2022-08-27

Great, but notifications need a fix

Notifications dont appear. My notifications are on and all but it still isnt sending me any notifications. other than that this app is pretty good

2022-08-21

Crashes when trying to open

The app when it was working was nice but I'd really appreciate the same features that signal has like interactive messages and themes. I'm trying to get my friends to switch over to private messages but this app is so bare bones with its interactivity and looks that it comes off as unimpressive. I really hope the crashing is fixed soon.

2022-08-14

Number one

This app is the most powerful thing which you could find on App Store if you care about your privacy and so on . Thanks to session’s team.

2022-08-10

Great!

Probably the best privacy oriented messenger I have used. Got a lot of friends and family using it now and people have been enjoying it. With larger file sizes in the pipeline it should be an ez go to. iPad support hopefully coming soon

2022-07-24

Love the app

This app is wonderful!!

2022-07-03

Screenshot

Nice app just that you guys are missing that people can take screenshots of your chat… so it’s not that private… please add that feature that when someone tries to record or take a screenshot it’s all blackout.

2022-05-25

Needs work

Please improve the voice call of the app, comparing to Whatsup and Signal it’s really really bad and needs work..

for text message 5 stars

For voice call 2 starts

2022-05-19

So far it’s pretty reliable.

Using session instead of signal and wire and so far it’s more reliable than both. Only downside is very low file transfer file size limit of 6mb! Read it will be unlimited p2p soon, so looking forward to it.

2022-05-17

The future is onion routed!!

Thanks for the onion routed calls. This is revolutionary. Now anyone with a hot spot can make onion routed international calls

2022-05-11

add landscape support.

iPad fullscreen support is a good thing, but landscape mode will be even better. Please add

2022-05-02

nothing earns my like over electronics,

session earns my like over electronics.

only thing, sending videos could use fix on iphone se

2022-04-26

Please add screen rotation on iPad

This is crucial for user experience on iPad, thanks.

2022-04-22

Pushing Notification unstable

My friends unable to receive any notification when I have sent some messages to them until they clicked into the App.

2022-04-20

Love it!

Got all my friends and family to switch over and it works aweome.

Even tried the beta with voice and video calls and was perfect.

Cant wait to see how the team progresses with Session, Oxen, and my favorite product of theirs LokiNet. Keep it up!

2022-04-09

Screenshot

excellent I would like it to notify when someone takes a screen of the chat

2022-03-31

Insecure app

Scammers use this app to get money because their I.P. can't be traced.

2022-03-21

Notifications not working

Ever since 1.11.22 update my notifications will not appear.

So I’m not aware of any new messages until I log into app

Very annoying

2022-03-15

iPad support please

I’m surprise this wasn’t done yet. It works great on desktop, so if they can just push that over to the iPad, it’ll be perfect. Especially for those of us that use iPad as our primary machine now!

The privacy features of this app is really good however, I will change my rating after iPad support comes.

2022-02-17

Nice

用着非常爽，谢了！

2022-02-10

Good but

It just has a weird bug that shows notification even though there’s no message. My messaging app of choice. I like the simplicity.

2022-01-27

Cool app!

Please update so this app can run on an Apple Watch.

Needs video call capabilities.

Sharing a link from safari needs improvement to actually share the link instead of as an attachment.

Please add easy ability for users to create relay nodes from raspberry pi.

2021-11-23

Private messaging as it should be

I applaud the level of security and I am very excited about Session, but it still has some rough edges. I have no doubt that this will become THE messaging app for the masses. Session has singlehandedly convinced me to get involved in Lokinet.

2021-11-09

Overall Good

Session overall does a great job at providing a secure messaging tool. The one item it is missing is the ability to revoke a device. If a computer or device is stolen it is possible for someone to gain access. If there were a way to revoke a device from another device with the session on it, this concern could be alleviated.

2021-10-14

Love it!

I’m trying my best to get all my friends on this! It’s hard but not impossible! Don’t give up on this app

2021-10-07

This app is super dope

But can it help me find the derivative of sine using calculus

2021-10-07

Works like you’d want!

Doesn’t have tons of a fancy features like stickers or calling (but those are coming in the future!!!), however, what it does have is incredible privacy without any effort on the user. It works like you’d expect SMS to, and doesn’t just go down for hours like some other messengers ;)

2021-09-29

Needs iPadOS support

Neat concept, but can’t be taken seriously yet with the lack of features and support for common devices.

2021-09-22

No ipad support?!

This app doesn’t have most basic features

2021-08-20

Questions

Can you make calls on this?

2021-07-28

great

Please get away from Giphy, that is the only problem with this app. I am baffled by this decision. Your app was standing on its own before putting on these kid gloves.

2021-06-23

New Messages Take long to show up

Session is stuck on a permanent unread message state. I get the notification of a new message but shows no message. Rebooting doesnt load new messages. It forever shows an unread message. No timestamps doesnt help either. great concept but extremely glitchy.

2021-06-17

Absolutely Sublime

Overall 5/5 stars on this app.

Pros:

(+)Privacy and security are baked into the interface

(+)Sending long voice messages

(+)Sending extended video messages

(+)No phone number

Cons:

(-) app does crash from time to time

(-) messages can be slow to load from other devices

(-) there’s no log out feature

Overall fantastic app, would def recommend

2021-05-13

Doesn’t even get the basics right.

Is this App a high school project? Certainly seems like it…

The App seemed promising and then something changed a few weeks ago, perhaps a super buggy update??? Not only for my use, but those I’m chatting with as well.

Some problems:

1) very difficult to start multi-user chat groups; some individuals do not get notifications or access to the chat even though they have been absolutely correctly added to the chat group;

2) when attempting to post links natively from websites and other Apps through Session, all that shows in the Session chat is a file icon, which has zero functionality. Performing the same action on WhatsApp, Skype or Signal works flawlessly.

3) When I send a message TO someone, a notification comes up that I RECEIVED a message?

This Session App definitely is not ready for prime time.

2021-05-08

Overall great!

Love the fact session doesn’t require a phone number. I also love the fact I don’t have to create a password, I just have to backup my seed phrase. Overall amazing messenger, only draw backs are some bugs.

1. I keep getting notifications from the app while I’m already in the app.

2. I get notifications from text messages I send.

2021-04-16

Love the concept but still buggy

This almost has everything I want. Still with this latest update I’m having a bug where the message doesn’t populate. Or the person I’m talking to isn’t getting my messages. I know there is a lot of tech going on here but if this can’t support a normal back and forth conversation I won’t be able to use this much longer. The frustration will be too much.

I’m still gonna give you a 5 star review because I’m confident you’ll figure it out. Just please make it soon.

Now things on my wishlist,

1. A loading or progress meter for downloading photos or audio messages.

2. In the “all media” section make a tab for Audio. So it’s easier to find.

3. Time stamps in the chat would be nice next to the message or when you swipe left to reply to a message.

2021-04-10

Can’t see group chat created by others

hi there! Just tried it today and appreciate the privacy policy. Just met one big bug: I can’t see the group chat which I was invited to, and several friends who use iphone and ipad also met this problem. However, interestingly, I can see the group chat which I created. Wish to see this bug solved. I use it in China. Thanks!

Btw, I will definitely give five stars once this bug solved.

2021-03-26

Call

When will it have (video call )?

2021-03-20

There is a problem in the group chat.

For some reason, when you create a group and start a group chat, only some people can read the group message. Some people can't read and send messages. It seems that it has not been added to the group, But in fact, they are already in the group.

2021-03-02

Works great

Update from the previous review, after some recent updates everyone now works fine. A bit difficult to get the phone from sending voice messages prematurely, but that’s an issue on other apps too.

2021-02-12

Messaging as it should be

Private, encrypted, simple. I love that it doesn’t use a phone number so work or light social contacts aren’t seeing your status at all. Too many apps gathering too much data. Truly hope that this takes the place of telegram and others that love to back door in less privacy. Amazing app, amazing concept and can’t wait to see more from the team.

2021-02-06

Great, easy to use messenger app....

Really appreciate the developers made a simple, secure messaging app that doesn’t exploit data mining. I have high hopes they won’t lose sight of this, and avoid becoming like Signal, with annoying FB / WhatsApp gimmicks. Will revise this app to a more deserved 5 star rating if the developers make it more landscape oriented instead of solely being portrait.

2021-02-04

Please implement local message editing

Users of Session should be able to trivially deny the legitimacy of any leaked DMs. Will change to 5 stars once implemented.

2021-01-20

Fastest blockchain app ive seen!!!

This is by far the fastest blockchain app ive ever used. Very stable and works well on both iOS and android. Cross platform works flawlessly too. Not to mention the level of security is far superior to all the others out there including signal and WhatsApp. File transfer is extremely fast as well.

10 thumbs up!

2021-01-19

1 start till you fix this app

I keep getting messages but they never actually come through and mine are never sent....

2021-01-08

Awesome App

I have used a few messaging apps to increase privacy and this one is hands down the best.

2020-11-25

The only secure messenger

As far as true anonymity and secure end to end encryption goes this really is “IT” unfortunate that the app is buggy and randomly crashes from time to time I really hope that in the future they will allow password protection and Touch ID functionality to open the app.

2020-11-20

Doesn’t work between Apple and android?

I’ve been trying to talk to my friend through this app, they have an android and I have an iPhone. They can see my messages but I can’t see theirs, and no matter how many times I re-enter their session ID or reinstall the app, nothing works. It isn’t even showing my friends name or profile picture. I don’t know what to do. I’d really love to use this app but if it’s not cross-platform then that’s rather poor.

2020-09-25

Multiple identity support?

I love the privacy features Session offers, but part of the point of privacy is being able to not have a single “identity” that is used for everything.

Since this doesn’t support creating and using multiple identities for different people or groups, it fails in that aspect.

Other missing features:

- Ability to enable media/pictures auto-save to the camera roll on a per-conversation basis.

- Ability to set the name and photo that I choose to identify that conversation by, rather than forcing you to use whatever the other person has set. (Duplicate names, practical jokes, etc)

- Ability to save a transcript of a chat, with or without including media.

- Ability to clear the history of a particular chat.

- Ability to secure individual chats with a passcode. The whole app too.

2020-08-20

session reset

for the last 2 1/2 hours I keep getting notifications that the app is resetting. I haven’t gotten any messages from my friend and it is going insane on his end as well. this isn’t the first time this app has done this... it has happened at least 3 times and this is AFTER the updates including the one a couple weeks ago. it is annoying to have it go crazy. please fix it

2020-06-23

Can we really trust it?

This app sounds great on the surface. A more private version of Signal that doesn’t require your phone number or the phone numbers of your contacts. But who is the Loki Foundation? Who’s funding this app? How can they afford to offer their service for free with no advertisements? What’s in it for them? Based in Australia. Australia has an anti encryption law. Not the best choice for privacy. I guess we’ll have to wait until this app and its service are fully audited by an independent and reputable auditing firm and that firm releases the full and complete audit report online before we can somewhat trust it.

2020-06-11

Mediocre

This app worked for the first two days that I had it. Today, the third day, it started bugging out. It spammed my sister and my phones with notifications, only to find out that we didn’t even have any text messages. The app won’t even let my sister talk to me as it continues to say this recipients key isn’t valid. This makes no sense at all, and every time I go onto the app to text her, my text never go through. This app has many issues and glitches at times and it takes forever to send messages.

It does have a very interesting layout and it was a cool concept when getting it at first, but dealing with these issues is just not worth the unique design. I do have hope for this app changing in the future, especially with reviews like this one, but like I said it is only a hope and not a guarantee.

2020-06-01

can’t get it to work at all

i really want this to work as i think good encrypted apps are hard to find. especially ones that don’t take any personal information and relay over tor network. however, i do not see any messages i’ve received in the app, regardless of having gotten a notification for receiving it. i sent to test messages to friends and they’ve approved and sent back but it still says that they have to approve the messages. when i get a notification for a message and then open the app, there is nothing there. please help me or fix this.

2020-04-19

Awesome messenger

Knowing the vulnerabilities of conventional messengers, I’m very happy to see session come from Loki. I’ve been on boarding friends, it’s pretty easy to set up, and very intuitive to use thereafter. Great to see that privacy doesn’t have to be insanely complicated! Thanks for all the hard work!

Update: I’ve been having trouble getting notifications to work. Messages won’t appear until I open the app. Not sure if this is a bug, or stupidity on my part. Turned on notifications in settings for phone, and in app.

Update on update: issue seems resolved, and very well explained as to why push notifications weren’t used. The option to use them is now available. Really amazing work to session, and Loki. Keep it up!

2020-04-18

Still nothing with new update, stay with Signal And Wickr for now! :(

Please make sure to label all of your buttons with alternative text as well as any images. I am unable to use and navigate your app using voiceover with iPhone. Please update this and resolve this major issue and I am sure that this will be a five star review in the future. For now I will have to use Signal.

I heard about this app and was really excited, until figuring out it is inaccessible. There is no way to create messages, no easy way to copy your session and I can’t even navigate to any sort of menus if they exist, which I am sure that they do at the very least for some basic settings.

Update: still nothing new with the new update. Could you please make some of these basic edits to your UI?

Update: still patiently waiting.

2020-03-31

Great app

Please continue to keep app on the App Store if it happens to ever get taken off App Store you should run from a website too maybe goto the sTORe and get some onions with it 👍

2020-03-11

Constant session updates

This is a half baked version of signal. The idea of no phone number is great, but please stop the session updates messages every few minutes. How many times would you like me to read the same articles. With the link from within the app, is this a way to expose the user’s ip address ? No voice or video chat. Being a fork of signal, why not include that functionality and add some ?

Thank you for the feedback. What I do like so far is the clean user interface. I will continue to use the app and as things improve I will keep updating my feedback. Hopefully it can get to 5 stars soon.

2020-02-22

The first multi platform decentralized messenger

Coming from wickr. Been waiting for a messenger like this. Perfect use case of blockchain nodes and you don’t even need to know anything about it. Go Loki!

2020-02-21

Excellent messaging app

I have had this app since the day it was released and have been very pleased, and impressed, with its performance. I ran into some minor issues with push notifications being delayed on the earliest versions, but these were quickly remedied with new updates.

This isn’t the most feature-rich messenger out there and the Session IDs may not be for everyone, but if you’re looking for a well-performing app that subverts the big tech companies harvesting your data, you won’t find better. I fully expect that with time it will only get better.

I’ve been a believer in the Loki project since it got started and am really impressed with this product running on the network. As others have said, this is surely the future of secure communication.

2020-02-15

Early accounts broken on update

Seems like there was a breaking change in app versions. An identity created on version 1.0.1 could connect with a identity created on 1.0.2 but then would be unable to reply as it still said pending requests. Reinstalling the app and creating a new identity fixed this

2020-02-12

Love this!!

Super easy to get set up and use!! I have so much peace of mind that I can have conversations without greedy dataminers stealing my info! I had a few issues at first, but after an update and tech support help-- it's working awesome! Thanks so much!!

2020-02-07

Finally a safe way to communicate

I am extremely impressed with the sleek way this app came out on version one . No problems so far, super excited!

2020-02-06

Quick Start

Hey Just downloaded this app and set it up in one minute, and started using it. Sending pictures and text. It has familiar keys for ease of use. It has some unique features to assure safeguarding your information. And who doesn’t want that now after all this data breach and selling of your data.

2020-02-06

Good App

Seems to work well, really enjoy using it. Can we get an Apple Watch version?

2020-02-06

App is slick, love the privacy!

It’s high time we can interact without some corporation or entity somehow learning everything about us, and Session delivers.

No phone number or email on signup, which took 0 seconds. Nobody in my business or my personal life. I’ll be migrating my small business team here and then chipping away at my friends as well, starting at the early adopters.

It’s a new app and I wouldn’t call it a finished product at this point. But if you value your privacy and data more than the bells & whistles that haven’t yet arrived, then it’s already there.

Session - Private Messenger

iPhone Screenshots

iPad Screenshots

Description

What's New in Version 2.1.1

Seller

Name

URL

Information

Developer

Categories

Version

Size

Game Center

VPP Device Licensing

Rating

Compatibility

Devices

Languages

App Store: Customer Ratings

Ratings & Reviews

Love the idea but.

Excellent app! But still some bugs.

App crashes everyday

Great, but notifications need a fix

Crashes when trying to open

Number one

Great!

Love the app

Screenshot

Needs work

So far it’s pretty reliable.

The future is onion routed!!

add landscape support.

nothing earns my like over electronics,

Please add screen rotation on iPad

Pushing Notification unstable

Love it!

Screenshot

Insecure app

Notifications not working

iPad support please

Nice

Good but

Cool app!

Private messaging as it should be

Overall Good

Love it!

This app is super dope

Works like you’d want!

Needs iPadOS support

No ipad support?!

Questions

great

New Messages Take long to show up

Absolutely Sublime

Doesn’t even get the basics right.

Overall great!

Love the concept but still buggy

Can’t see group chat created by others

Call

There is a problem in the group chat.

Works great

Messaging as it should be

Great, easy to use messenger app....

Please implement local message editing

Fastest blockchain app ive seen!!!

1 start till you fix this app

Awesome App

The only secure messenger

Doesn’t work between Apple and android?

Multiple identity support?

session reset

Can we really trust it?

Mediocre

can’t get it to work at all

Awesome messenger

Still nothing with new update, stay with Signal And Wickr for now! :(

Great app

Constant session updates