Groups v2: The Final Countdown 🕺

The rollout of Groups v2 is 🔒locked in🔒 and the update will be available in the next week or two. This upgrade isn’t just a step forward; it’s a complete overhaul designed to improve stability and set the stage for a whole new suite of features in the future.

To ensure a seamless transition, the rollout will happen in three stages. If you have group chats on Session, you’ll want to follow the following steps 👇

Stage One: The first step is the release of a new cross-platform Session update which includes the Groups v2 code. While the feature won’t be live immediately, it’s important to update as soon as you can (and encourage everyone in your group chats to do the same) in order to prepare for stage two. The more users who update early, the smoother the switch will be.

Stage Two: Ten days after the release, the upgrade will be activated. From that point forward, every newly created group will use the new Groups v2 architecture, and admins will need to recreate their existing groups to take advantage of the upgrade. This process is simple, but essential—old groups won’t carry over message history, so admins should be ready to make the switch.

It’s as simple as navigating to the group you administrate, and pressing ‘Recreate Group’. This will create a new group and invite all members of the existing group—make sure all members have updated, or they won’t receive an invite.

Stage Three: Two weeks after the activation of the upgrade, old groups will become read-only. You’ll still be able to access past messages, but new messages and changes won’t be possible. To stay ahead of the curve, make sure your app is updated, coordinate with your group members, and be ready to move when the time comes.

Groups v2 is just the beginning—this upgrade lays the groundwork for more powerful group chat features in the future, such as:

🏷️ Custom group descriptions and display pictures for better personalization.

👥 Support for multiple admins with an improved moderation UI.

🔗 Add members via ONS or Account ID, even if they’re not in your contacts.

🚫 Group invites from non-contacts will appear in message requests to limit spam.

🚪 The ability for admins to leave a group without deleting it.

📜 Choose to share or hide message history for newly invited group members.

🎨 Improved UI for group creation for a smoother setup experience.

Heaps of QoL Upgrades Coming to Session for Android 🤖

As usual, there are also minor releases in the pipeline for Android and iOS, offering a wide variety of quality of life improvements, with a focus on improving the voice/video calling experience and various UI/UX upgrades—especially on Android 🤖

Here’s an overview of what’s coming in the latest batch of Android QoL upgrades:

✨ New icon set for a fresh look.

📸 Updated photo picker for smoother media selection.

📞 Improved call functionality for a more reliable experience.

📝 Fixed an issue when tapping on a quote to ensure proper navigation.

🔠 Fixed long names overflowing in the UI.

🎙️ Fixed voice message duration display for better clarity.

📌 Fixed "Note to Self" disappearing on restore so your notes stay safe.

🎨 UI tweaks for a cleaner, more polished interface.

Reserve Stakes: The Last Piece of The Puzzle 🧩

After a period of testing on the canary site and some great contributions from our dedicated Testnet Node Operators and Contributors, a highly-requested new feature has been added to the Staking Portal. Testnet operators setting up multi-contributor nodes now have the ability to reserve stakes for specific wallet addresses, giving them greater control over who can participate. This ensures that only approved contributors can stake to a shared node, reducing coordination challenges and improving security for operators managing their multicontributor nodes. With this feature, node operators can more effectively structure their staking arrangements and simplify coordinating with contributors.

This release is the final major testnet feature, and the Staking Portal is now complete, representing an important milestone on the journey that the SESH community and Session’s contributors have undertaken together since the testnet was launched eight months ago. Here’s to you guys, and to the upcoming mainnet launch 🍾

Vesting Contract Frontend In Development 📜

The final user-facing feature in development for the Staking Portal is a frontend for vesting contracts. This feature will allow SESH holders with locked allocations to register and stake to Session Nodes, and easily track key details about their vesting schedule, including how much time remains until their tokens unlock. Instead of relying on manual calculations or blockchain explorers.

This addition enhances transparency and convenience for anyone subject to a vesting period, making it easier to plan around upcoming unlocks.

Preparing for the Anchor Hardfork ⚓

A point release was rolled out recently to Oxen Service Node operators which includes all the planned functionality of the Anchor Hardfork, but will not trigger the hardfork itself. The decision to release 11.1.0 separately was a precautionary measure, ensuring that Service Node registrations remain open until Session Token's mainnet launch. Since the Anchor Hardfork will disable new node registrations, this approach provides operators with more flexibility while allowing the community to verify new features in a live environment.

Oxen 11.1.0 is a non-mandatory upgrade and will not hardcode any values for the eventual hardfork. This phased rollout allows for broader testing without the risk of service disruptions. Additionally, in response to concerns from multi-node operators about the volume of requests made to Arbitrum RPC providers, Oxen Contributors have been working on optimising L2 request caching. This will ensure a more efficient and scalable system when the L2 tracker becomes mandatory.

A new release (Oxen 11.1.1) was also made available to resolve issues identified with Oxen 11.1.0. This release resolved a bug that prevented pulse blocks from being produced when no L2 provider was configured, which could lead to node decommissioning after 1-2 days. Additionally, a logging issue was fixed to ensure log levels and file settings are properly respected. Lastly, a startup bug where slow servers, particularly those restarting for the first time after upgrading from Oxen 10, could be repeatedly killed before completing the early rescan process, has been addressed. These fixes enhance node reliability and prevent unnecessary downtime.

Lokinet: Faster, Smoother, More Reliable ⚡

Lokinet development is progressing steadily, with significant improvements to client connection handling. The internal mechanics for client-to-client sessions are now locked down, while client-to-Service Node sessions are nearing completion. These steps forward are particularly relevant for Session, as they will be used for fetching messages from the storage server and other key functionalities, ensuring a smoother and more efficient messaging experience for the 1,000,000+ people using the app.

A major focus is on Liblokinet, which will integrate these mechanics directly into Session. This deployment will enhance how Session communicates over Lokinet, strengthening its security and decentralisation. With these foundational pieces coming together, Lokinet is on track to provide even more seamless support for secure, onion-routed messaging.

Session (Still) in the Spotlight 📰

Session truly has the wind in its sails at the moment, with no end in sight to the app being spotlighted in major tech publications. February saw Session recommended in The Intercept and PC Mag, and technical co-founder Kee Jeffreys also made appearances on several podcasts. These and other pieces of third party media, alongside Session’s first party media, have also been paying major dividends for Session Token’s SEO ahead of launch.

Here’s a quick rundown if you want to check it out 👇

Articles 📰

Session’s advanced security was highlighted by The Intercept, and the app was recommended as a powerful tool for whistleblowing.

Session also received another recommendation in PC Mag as they published a list of their favourite private messaging apps for 2025.

Podcasts 🎤

Kee joined the host of The Lockdown to discuss the philosophy behind Session, its technical architecture, and the broader implications of privacy in a world increasingly hostile to anonymous communication.

He also appeared on Hackaday’s FLOSS Weekly podcast to provide some insight into the broader Session ecosystem and how SESH powers this new model for messaging.