Session warns funding shortfall threatens encrypted messenger’s future

Session has issued a public appeal for donations, warning that the privacy-focused messaging platform may not be able to continue active development for much longer without additional funding.

In a message published by Session co-founder Chris McCabe, the project said its current caretaker, the Session Technology Foundation, lacks the resources needed to keep development going at the level required to secure the app’s future. McCabe said the funding gap is now serious enough to threaten Session’s survival, despite the project’s long-term goal of becoming self-sustaining.

Founded eight years ago, Session positions itself as a privacy-first messenger built to avoid centralized control and reduce user exposure to metadata. The service has attracted users looking for an alternative to mainstream encrypted messaging apps that still rely on phone numbers, centralized infrastructure, or extensive account-linked data. In his appeal, McCabe said Session now serves more than 1.5 million monthly users.

Session’s future at risk

The announcement is framed as an urgent request rather than a routine fundraising update. McCabe said Session was created to give users “digital freedom” and described the app as a community-owned platform not backed by large technology firms, private equity, or other corporate interests. That independence, however, also means the project depends heavily on outside support to continue building and maintaining the service.

McCabe said several important security improvements are still in progress, specifically naming perfect forward secrecy and post-quantum cryptography. Perfect forward secrecy is designed to limit the damage from key compromise by preventing attackers from decrypting older messages with a stolen long-term key. Post-quantum cryptography aims to harden systems against future threats from quantum-capable attackers, an area that has become a growing priority across the security industry.

Session is making the case that the funding problem is not only about maintaining the platform, but also about completing the cryptographic work needed to keep the messenger competitive and resilient. For privacy tools, that kind of development can be expensive and difficult to sustain without either a large commercial backer or a dependable donor base. The long-term plan of launching a Pro tier for paying subscribers would solve this, but Session said more time is needed to reach that point.

McCabe argued that Session is on a path toward sustainability, but said the project may not have enough time left to reach that goal without help from its users. He called on the community to donate, adding that even a small contribution from a portion of Session’s user base could materially improve the project’s chances of continuing development.

Financial self-sufficiency is a common challenge for independent privacy platforms, which often market themselves on decentralization and freedom from corporate control but still need steady funding to maintain infrastructure, ship security updates, and invest in major protocol improvements. In Session’s case, the company is now making clear that user growth alone has not solved that problem.