diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index e6f3e37..ff55584 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
     },
     "require": {
         "php": ">=7.4",
+        "ext-apcu": "*",
         "ext-curl": "*",
         "ext-json": "*",
         "ext-openssl": "*",
diff --git a/src/App.php b/src/App.php
index 1a19de6..f34cdf0 100644
--- a/src/App.php
+++ b/src/App.php
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ class App
             return $faker;
         });
 
-        $container->set(CachePoolChain::class, function (\Redis $redis) {
+        $container->set(CachePoolChain::class, function (Redis $redis) {
             $caches = [];
 
             // If apc/apcu present, add it to the pool
@@ -265,7 +265,9 @@ class App
             }
 
             // If Redis is configured, add it to the pool.
-            $caches[] = new RedisCachePool($redis);
+            if($redis->isAvailable()) {
+                $caches[] = new RedisCachePool($redis);
+            }
             $caches[] = new ArrayCachePool();
 
             return new CachePoolChain($caches);
@@ -287,13 +289,15 @@ class App
             return $monolog;
         });
 
-        $container->set(\Redis::class, function (EnvironmentService $environmentService) {
-            $redis = new Redis();
-            $redis->connect(
+        $container->set(Redis::class, function (EnvironmentService $environmentService) {
+            return (new Redis(
                 $environmentService->get('REDIS_HOST', 'redis'),
-                $environmentService->get('REDIS_PORT', 6379)
-            );
+                $environmentService->get('REDIS_PORT', 6379),
+                $environmentService->get('REDIS_TIMEOUT', 0.0)
+            ));
+        });
 
+        $container->set(\Redis::class, function(Redis $redis){
             return $redis;
         });
 
diff --git a/src/Redis/Redis.php b/src/Redis/Redis.php
index f8efeaf..8a1f5e6 100644
--- a/src/Redis/Redis.php
+++ b/src/Redis/Redis.php
@@ -4,11 +4,34 @@ namespace Benzine\Redis;
 
 class Redis extends \Redis
 {
+    private string $host;
+    private int $port;
+    private int $timeout;
+
+    public function __construct($host, $port = 6379, $timeout = 0.0)
+    {
+        $this->host = $host;
+        $this->port = $port;
+        $this->timeout = $timeout;
+        parent::__construct();
+    }
+
+    public function isAvailable() : bool
+    {
+        try {
+            $this->ping('am I human?');
+            return true;
+        }catch(\RedisException $redisException){
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
     /** @var Lua\AbstractLuaExtension[] */
     private array $scripts;
 
     public function __call($name, $arguments)
     {
+        \Kint::dump($name, $arguments);exit;
         foreach ($this->scripts as $script) {
             foreach ($script->getFunctionNames() as $functionName) {
                 if (strtolower($name) == strtolower($functionName)) {
@@ -20,6 +43,15 @@ class Redis extends \Redis
         }
     }
 
+    public function get($key)
+    {
+        if(!$this->isConnected()){
+            parent::pconnect($this->host, $this->port, $this->timeout);
+            $this->initialiseExtensions();
+        }
+        parent::get($key); // TODO: Change the autogenerated stub
+    }
+
     public function initialiseExtensions(): void
     {
         $this->scripts[] = new Lua\SetIfHigher($this);
@@ -30,7 +62,6 @@ class Redis extends \Redis
 
     public function connect($host, $port = 6379, $timeout = 0.0, $reserved = null, $retryInterval = 0, $readTimeout = 0.0): void
     {
-        parent::connect($host, $port, $timeout, $reserved, $retryInterval, $readTimeout);
-        $this->initialiseExtensions();
+        throw new \RedisException("Do not directly call connect()");
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Services/SessionService.php b/src/Services/SessionService.php
index 9451036..d05ad8e 100644
--- a/src/Services/SessionService.php
+++ b/src/Services/SessionService.php
@@ -2,15 +2,18 @@
 
 namespace Benzine\Services;
 
+use Benzine\Redis\Redis;
+
 class SessionService implements \SessionHandlerInterface
 {
-    protected \Redis $redis;
+    protected Redis $redis;
+    private ?bool $redisIsAvailable = null;
     protected $oldID;
 
     private int $lifetime = 43200;
     private array $dirtyCheck = [];
 
-    public function __construct(\Redis $redis)
+    public function __construct(Redis $redis)
     {
         $this->redis = $redis;
     }
@@ -72,6 +75,13 @@ class SessionService implements \SessionHandlerInterface
         return true;
     }
 
+    public function useRedis() : bool {
+        if($this->redisIsAvailable === null){
+            $this->redisIsAvailable = $this->redis->isAvailable();
+        }
+        return $this->redisIsAvailable;
+    }
+
     public function read($session_id)
     {
         if ($this->useAPCU()) {
@@ -84,16 +94,17 @@ class SessionService implements \SessionHandlerInterface
             $session_id = $this->oldID ? $this->oldID : $session_id;
         }
 
-        $serialised = $this->redis->get("session:{$session_id}");
-        if (null != $serialised) {
-            if (!empty($this->oldID)) {
-                // clean up old session after regenerate
-                $this->redis->del("session:{$session_id}");
-                $this->oldID = null;
+        $result = '';
+        if($this->useRedis()) {
+            $serialised = $this->redis->get("session:{$session_id}");
+            if (null != $serialised) {
+                if (!empty($this->oldID)) {
+                    // clean up old session after regenerate
+                    $this->redis->del("session:{$session_id}");
+                    $this->oldID = null;
+                }
+                $result = unserialize($serialised);
             }
-            $result = unserialize($serialised);
-        } else {
-            $result = '';
         }
 
         if ($this->useAPCU()) {
@@ -105,19 +116,27 @@ class SessionService implements \SessionHandlerInterface
         return $result;
     }
 
-    public function write($session_id, $session_data)
+    /**
+     * @param string $session_id
+     * @param string $session_data
+     * @return bool Always returns true.
+     */
+    public function write($session_id, $session_data) : bool
     {
-        $dirty = false;
         if ($this->useAPCU()) {
             $dirty = crc32(apcu_fetch('read-'.$session_id)) != crc32($session_data);
         } else {
             $dirty = $this->dirtyCheck['read-'.$session_id] != crc32($session_data);
         }
-        if ($dirty) {
+
+        if ($this->useRedis() && $dirty) {
             $this->redis->set("session:{$session_id}", serialize($session_data));
             $this->redis->expire("session:{$session_id}", $this->getLifetime());
         }
-        apcu_store('read-'.$session_id, $session_data);
+
+        if($this->useAPCU()) {
+            apcu_store('read-' . $session_id, $session_data);
+        }
 
         return true;
     }
@@ -180,9 +199,6 @@ class SessionService implements \SessionHandlerInterface
 
     private function useAPCU(): bool
     {
-        // @todo fix apcu damnit
-        return false;
-
         return function_exists('apcu_store');
     }
 }