You were signed out
A session has a fixed lifetime set when it was created. Using Connect all day does not extend it, and nothing warns you before it ends — the next request is simply no longer authenticated. On a screen that is already open that reads as frozen or suddenly empty rather than as a sign-in prompt, which is why it is so often reported as a bug.
What it looks like#
A screen you have been using stops updating. A list refuses to load, a save does nothing visible, or a panel goes blank while the rest of the page looks normal. Reloading takes you to the sign-in screen, and signing in again puts everything back exactly as it was.
That sequence — works, stops, reload, sign in, fine — is the signature. If signing in again does not fix it, this is not what you are looking at.
Why it happens with no warning#
- It is a clock, not an idle timer
- The lifetime is fixed at sign-in. Working continuously does not push it back, so an expiry can land in the middle of a busy afternoon rather than after a quiet hour.
- The expiry is server-side
- The browser holds a cookie; the decision is made against a stored session record. A cookie that still exists proves nothing once the record behind it has gone.
- Somebody signed in as another person on this browser
- That ends the session it replaced — on this browser only. Other devices are deliberately untouched, because ending every session everywhere over a shared laptop is the worse outcome.
- The session was ended on purpose
- Ending other sessions is an explicit action on the account screen. Whoever ran it wanted exactly this effect.
- An open tab from a previous session
- It was never going to work. The tab is showing a snapshot; the session behind it went some time ago.
What Connect completed, and what it did not#
Authentication is checked before a request reaches anything that acts. A request refused for a missing session therefore did nothing: it did not reach the send boundary, it did not reserve any allowance, and it wrote nothing to the workspace. That is the useful guarantee here, and it is worth trusting rather than testing.
- Completed: everything that returned successfully before the expiry. Those are committed and are not rolled back by the session ending.
- Not completed: the request that failed, and anything typed into a form that had not been saved. Text in an unsaved editor is in the browser, not in Connect.
- Ambiguous only in appearance: an approval you pressed at the moment of expiry either committed and shows as handled, or was refused and is still in the queue. The queue is the answer — do not press it twice to find out.
What to do#
- Copy anything you have typed and not saved out of the page, before reloading.
- Reload. If it is a session expiry you will land on the sign-in screen.
- Sign in with the same Google account. Everything reappears; nothing was lost on the Connect side.
- Check the queue or the thread for the action you were mid-way through, rather than repeating it blind.
If reloading does not produce a sign-in screen and the app is simply empty, you are looking at a different problem — most likely membership or the account you used. You cannot sign in separates the three cases.
What an administrator can do, and when to escalate#
- Confirm nobody has ended sessions deliberately — that action exists and does exactly this.
- Ask whether a shared browser is in use. Two people alternating on one machine will end each other's sessions all day, and it will read as random expiry.
- Confirm the browser is keeping cookies. A configuration that discards them produces the same symptom on a much shorter cycle.
Escalate when a single person on a single browser is signed out repeatedly within a short period with no shared machine, no deliberate revocation and cookies retained. Say how often, and what they were doing — the pattern is the evidence, not any one occurrence.
Questions#
Does staying active keep me signed in?
No. The lifetime is fixed when the session is created; activity does not extend it. That is a deliberate choice — a session that renews itself indefinitely never expires for whoever is holding it, including on a machine somebody walked away from.
Did my last click go through?
If it was refused for authentication, no — the check happens before anything acts, so nothing was sent, reserved or written. Look at the queue or the conversation to see which side of the line it fell on, rather than repeating the action.
Am I signed out on my phone too?
Not by an expiry on your laptop; each session has its own lifetime. You are signed out everywhere only when somebody explicitly ends other sessions, which is a separate action on the account screen.