Is Session safe to use?

Session integrates 12 third-party SDKs spanning media, infrastructure, and storage. According to its App Store privacy label, Session does not collect any user data.

What permissions does Session need?

Session requests 7 iOS permissions: Camera, Microphone, Photo Library, Face ID, Save to Photo Library, Local Network, and Apple Music.

What data does Session collect?

According to its App Store privacy label, Session does not collect any user data.

How many SDKs does Session have?

Session integrates 12 third-party SDKs. 3 for infrastructure and 5 for other. None are for advertising, attribution, or analytics.

Does Session access your camera or microphone?

Session requests access to both your camera and microphone. The developer says camera access is for "Session needs camera access to take pictures and scan QR codes". Microphone access is for "Session needs access to your microphone for calls and to send to audio messages". These permissions are only active when you grant them in iOS Settings.

Does Session run in the background?

Yes. Session registers 4 background modes, which means it can perform certain tasks when you're not actively using it.

What are some alternatives to Session?

Other social networking apps include Yik Yak , 3F , AM , Backbone , BeReal. , and BiP . Each app takes a different approach to social networking and varies in its data collection and SDK usage.

Social Networking · Privacy report

Session - Private Messenger

Free · ★4.2 · The Loki Project

Is Session safe?

Yes. It is one of the clean messengers.

Our take. We found no third-party advertising or analytics SDKs in Session, and its own privacy label declares little or no data linked to you. For an app for private conversations, that is what you want to see.

Privacy footprint · vs 97 social networkingMinimal

Trackers from other companies0 · none

typical social networking: 4

Data the app links to you0 types · little

typical social networking: 5 · from its own privacy label

What it collects about you

It links almost nothing to you.

Session's own App Store privacy label declares it links no data to your identity. That is rare, and it is a good sign.

Who else is inside

Few or no outside trackers.

We found no advertising, analytics, or attribution SDKs from other companies in Session.

How it compares

Where it sits among social networking.

Every one of these apps we have scanned, on the two measures above: third-party trackers it carries (across) and data it links to you on its own label (up). Toward the top right is more invasive.

Each dot is one social networking app. Session sits to the lower left, lighter than most.

The evidence

What it's built from.

All 12 SDKs in the app, grouped by what they are for. None are third-party trackers.

12standard libraries

0 of the 12 are third-party trackers. The rest are the app's own code and standard open-source building blocks.

Show the full SDK list

Standard libraries12 · on-device

The app's own code plus open-source interface, storage and networking libraries.

How we know this

Counterspy downloads the app from the App Store and statically analyzes its compiled binary. Embedded SDKs are matched against a signature database and resolved to the company that operates each. We also read the developer's App Store privacy label, which lists the data the app says it collects and links to you. We do not run the app or intercept its traffic, so we report capabilities present in the code and the developer's own disclosures, not proven transmission. We assess privacy and data collection, not malware, security flaws, or developer intent. Reports are automated and never edited for payment. Scan v2.15.1, 2026-04-03.

Third-party trackers are advertising, analytics and attribution SDKs detected by static signature matching. Presence shows a capability is compiled in, not that it ran or transmitted data.
"Data the app links to you" is the count of data categories the developer declares as Data Linked To You in its App Store privacy label. Labels are self-reported and not verified by Apple.
Comparison across the 97 social networking in our corpus. Trackers: median 4. Data linked to you: median 5.