Keep Session Alive in Chrome: How to Stop Websites From Logging You Out

Most websites log you out after a period of inactivity. The OWASP session management guidelines say common idle timeouts are 2–5 minutes for high-value applications and 15–30 minutes for low-risk ones. Step away for a coffee and you come back to a sign-in page and lost work.

To keep a session alive in Chrome, reload the page a little before the timeout runs out. Each reload sends a fresh request to the site, which resets its inactivity timer. Auto Refresh Page can do this for you. Set an interval shorter than the site's timeout and choose Restart, so the page reloads only after you have actually been idle.

Auto Refresh

English 

Running 

Time Interval

Refresh List

Detect Keyword

Advance Options

 Refresh only on current tab

 Show visual timer on the webpage

 Refresh Behavior on User Interaction 

Stop Pause ✓ Restart

Each click or keystroke restarts the countdown, so the page reloads only after you have been idle for the full interval.

 Hard Refresh

Save

Why do websites keep logging me out?

There are five common reasons. Only the first one can be fixed by refreshing the page.

• Idle timeout (the most common). The site ends your session after a set time without any activity. Webmail, CRMs, admin panels, learning portals and banks all do this. Some show a warning first, such as "Your session is about to expire".
• Absolute timeout. Some sites sign you out after a fixed time, for example every 8 or 12 hours, however active you are. Nothing in the browser can extend this.
• Cookies deleted when Chrome closes. If you are signed out every time you restart Chrome, Chrome or a cleaning app is probably deleting your cookies. Type site data into the search box in Chrome Settings and check whether Chrome deletes site data when you close all windows.
• Signing in somewhere else. Some services allow only one active session, so signing in on your phone or in another browser ends the first one.
• A network change. Some security-focused sites end your session when your IP address changes, for example when you switch Wi-Fi networks or turn a VPN on or off.

How does auto refresh keep a session alive?

When you sign in, the site stores a session cookie in your browser and notes when you were last active. Every page load sends that cookie back, and the site resets your inactivity clock. Some sites also count idle time inside the page and show a countdown pop-up. A reload loads the page fresh, so that countdown starts over too.

As long as a reload arrives before the timeout, the session stays open. You do not need a special trick, just a reliable timer that is a bit shorter than the site's limit.

Will a hard refresh log me out? No. In Auto Refresh Page, Hard Refresh only skips the browser cache. It keeps your cookies, so your session survives. A normal refresh is enough to keep a session alive, though, and it is lighter on the site.

How to keep a session alive with Auto Refresh Page

1. Install Auto Refresh Page from the Chrome Web Store. It is free and also available for Edge and Firefox.
2. Sign in to the website and open a page that is safe to reload, such as a dashboard, an inbox or a list view. Avoid a page with a half-finished form.
3. Find out the site's timeout. Check its help pages, or note how long it takes to sign you out or show the "session expiring" warning. If you cannot find out, start with 10 minutes.
4. Click the Auto Refresh Page icon. On the Time Interval tab, click + Custom Time and set an interval of about two-thirds of the timeout (see the table below).
5. Under Advanced Options, tick Refresh Behavior on User Interaction and choose Restart. Every click or keystroke restarts the countdown, so the page reloads only after you have been idle for the full interval and never in the middle of a task.
6. Leave Hard Refresh unticked, because you do not need it for this. If you want to see the countdown, tick Show visual timer on the webpage.
7. Click Save. Keep the tab open. It can stay in the background while you work in other tabs.
8. Stop Chrome from putting the tab to sleep. Chrome's Memory Saver can deactivate tabs you are not using. Go to Settings → Performance, and next to Always keep these sites active, click Add and add the site (Google's instructions).

What refresh interval should I use?

Refresh at about two-thirds of the site's idle timeout. That leaves a safe margin if a reload is slow or your connection drops for a moment.

Do not go much shorter than you need. Refreshing every few seconds does not keep you signed in any better. It only adds load, and some sites respond to rapid reloads with a CAPTCHA.

Keep several sites signed in at once

Every page you save goes into the Refresh List with its own interval. A CRM with a 30-minute timeout can refresh every 20 minutes while a support portal with a 10-minute timeout refreshes every 7. The Running switch at the top of the popup pauses or resumes all of them at once. See how to manage multiple URLs.

To bring your rules back after a restart, tick Start auto refresh on browser start. If Chrome deletes cookies when it closes, you will still need to sign in again first.

Auto refresh or a "keep-alive" extension?

Some extensions keep sessions alive by sending small background requests without reloading the page. That is convenient when it works. Whether a site counts those requests as activity depends on how the site was built, though. A page reload is an ordinary visit, so it resets idle timers on almost any site. The usual downside of reloading, interrupting you while you work, is what Restart mode prevents: the page reloads only after you have been idle for the whole interval.

When you should not keep a session alive

Idle timeouts exist to protect your account. Keep them working in these situations:

• Shared or public computers. Anyone who sits down after you gets your account.
• Banking and payment sites. A short timeout is part of what keeps your money safe, and many of these sites also use absolute timeouts.
• Work systems. Check your company's IT policy before you work around a timeout on a work account.
• Sites whose terms forbid automated access. Read the terms if you are unsure.

Even on your own device, lock your screen when you step away: Windows key+L on Windows, Ctrl+Cmd+Q on Mac.

Still getting logged out?

• Logged out after the same number of hours every time: the site uses an absolute timeout. Refreshing cannot change it.
• Logged out every time you restart Chrome: your cookies are being deleted when Chrome closes. See the cookie point above.
• The page shows "Confirm Form Resubmission": you reached it by submitting a form. Open the page from a link or menu instead, or see how to prevent that prompt.
• Refreshing stops after you click the page: Refresh Behavior on User Interaction is set to Stop. Switch it to Restart. Here is how Stop, Pause and Restart differ.
• Logged out after your laptop went to sleep: nothing runs while the computer sleeps, so the session can expire. Change your power settings while you need the session.

Getting logged out mid-task is almost always an idle timeout. A refresh timed just under that limit keeps you signed in, and Restart mode makes sure it never gets in your way. Set it up once in Auto Refresh Page and stop typing your password ten times a day. Prefer not to install anything? See how to auto refresh Chrome without an extension.