diff --git a/zerver/lib/push_notifications.py b/zerver/lib/push_notifications.py
index 12c0cb44bd..073a9b9343 100644
--- a/zerver/lib/push_notifications.py
+++ b/zerver/lib/push_notifications.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from zerver.decorator import statsd_increment
 from zerver.lib.avatar import absolute_avatar_url
 from zerver.lib.exceptions import JsonableError
 from zerver.lib.message import access_message, bulk_access_messages_expect_usermessage, huddle_users
+from zerver.lib.outgoing_http import OutgoingSession
 from zerver.lib.remote_server import send_json_to_push_bouncer, send_to_push_bouncer
 from zerver.lib.timestamp import datetime_to_timestamp
 from zerver.models import (
@@ -216,6 +217,12 @@ def send_apple_push_notification(
 #
 
 
+class FCMSession(OutgoingSession):
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        # We don't set up retries, since the gcm package does that for us.
+        super().__init__(role="fcm", timeout=5)
+
+
 def make_gcm_client() -> gcm.GCM:  # nocoverage
     # From GCM upstream's doc for migrating to FCM:
     #
@@ -342,11 +349,17 @@ def send_android_push_notification(
         # See https://firebase.google.com/docs/cloud-messaging/http-server-ref .
         # Two kwargs `retries` and `session` get eaten by `json_request`;
         # the rest pass through to the GCM server.
+        #
+        # One initial request plus 2 retries, with 5-second timeouts,
+        # and expected 1 + 2 seconds (the gcm module jitters its
+        # backoff by ±50%, so worst case * 1.5) between them, totals
+        # 18s expected, up to 19.5s worst case.
         res = gcm_client.json_request(
             registration_ids=reg_ids,
             priority=priority,
             data=data,
             retries=2,
+            session=FCMSession(),
         )
     except OSError:
         logger.warning("Error while pushing to GCM", exc_info=True)