Keeps logging out of my accounts

[The-Toblin]

Captchas

• [x] I have read the instructions.
• [x] I have searched existing issues and avoided creating duplicates.
• [x] I am not filing an enhancement request.
• [x] I have checked that this issue cannot be reproduced on Mozilla Firefox.
• [x] I have checked that this issue can be reproduced once I removed all my Mods and Custom CSS.

What happened?

This is an issue that only appears on Zen for me. I've ran Opera, Firefox, Lynx and Vivaldi on these two machines and none of them display this issue.

Before I go on, I KNOW there's a setting to "Delete cookies when Zen is closed". That option is turned OFF. No data is deleted when I close the browser.

However, over the course of a work day, whenever I go back to my productivity workspace, I find that Zen has logged me out of all accounts on "non-viewed" tabs. I am forced to re-login upon returning to the tab after some time.

I have not been able to consistently determine the exact time it takes before it logs me out, but it's in excess of 30 minutes. I can easily switch between tabs and workspaces without being logged out, but if I leave it idle for "a while", it will log me out.

I suspect it might be related to the tab being unloaded? But should my session cookie not be retained? I have also attempted to turn the tab unloader off, but it appears to still log me out over time.

Version

1.10.3b (Firefox 136.0.4) (64-bit)

What platform are you seeing the problem on?

Linux (Tarball)

What component is this issue related to?

Tab unloading

Relevant log output if applicable

[The-Toblin]

Updated/Edited title and issue with the fact that it is all accounts. It was actually not just google. Google was just the one that I kept going back to the most, and was the most obvious. Other accounts didn't show me as logged out until I tried to interact with the site, upon which it required me to relogin.

~~Turning off the Tab Unloader did not alleviate the issue on my work machine, but I will do the same testing on my home rig.~~ Incorrect. See below.

[The-Toblin]

Further testing: After turning off the Tab Unloader, rebooting fully and now running it that way over half my work day, the logout behaviour has stopped. It would appear that if the Tab Unloader is active, it somehow breaks accounts that are logged in (AKA the session cookie is either deleted or become invalidated for some reason).

With the Tab Unloader turned entirely off, I have yet, in 6 hours, to encounter the strange "log out" behaviour. While the Tab Unloader is great for saving memory, I don't think it should invalidate session cookies, unless that is being done on server side for some reason.

Considering I'm not a web developer with server-side experience (I only do client side stuff), I don't know if something server-side breaks when the tab is unloaded. Intuitively, it feels like it shouldn't, since you can fully close a browser for days and then open it back up and still be logged in (provided the website allows session cookie lifetimes that long), so that leads me to believe it is something specific to Zen's Tab Unloader that causes this problem.

[The-Toblin]

A few days/weeks later, and I've now ran without the tab unloader this entire time, and while my desktop has largely stopped with the "logout" behaviour (it still happens occasionally), my laptop continues to log me out, almost consistently, every time I go to certain sites.

Most affected appear to be Gmail and Google Calendar, which is weird, seeing as Todoist (using Google Login) remains logged in, as does Youtube. So I have two Google apps signing me out, and two using google login (and one just straight up being a google service) leaves me logged in.

In addition, The Indie Stone forums (gaming forum for Project Zomboid) also consistently logs me out, both on desktop and laptop.

This does not occur using Firefox, Vivaldi or Opera. This is a Zen specific behaviour.

[The-Toblin]

Another few days and now the behaviour is back to consistently logging me out almost on every revisit, as long as it's more than a few minutes. This now also affects many more sites than just Google. The only ones that seem to remain logged in are Youtube and kanka.io. Every single other site is logging me out.

This is with the tab unloader TURNED OFF.

Also just for clarity: The browser is not being closed between me logging in and then being logged out. Neither is the computer turned off or hibernated. I can be in another workspace, working on stuff, switch back to, for instance, my email / planning workspace, and it will have logged me out of every tab there.

This does not occur on any other browsers and is extremely disruptive to productivity. I am curious if it's because of a permissions issue, that cookies aren't being written properly. Where does Zen store cookies?

[Propheticus]

That sounds very annoying!

From about:profiles you can find a profile's root directory. In there should be a cookies.sqlite file where the cookies are stored. You can view and manage cookies with a Firefox extension called cookie quick manager. File write / update permission issues is one possible cause. Another could be cookie expiry/invalidation issues.

Without going into a rabbit hole of all possible causes (also reported on FF), perhaps it's easiest to try if it happen in a new profile (about:profiles). If logons keep working on that profile, you can migrate over your bookmarks, passwords etc. (maybe better not to copy prefs.js and cookies in this case): https://docs.zen-browser.app/guides/manage-profiles

[The-Toblin]

It seems write permissions are working properly, based on which user is launching the browser. But I kind of expected that, seeing as I could login and use sites. That wouldn't work at all if cookies couldn't be properly written. But then it's better to double check than assume.

I'll have a look at profiles and see if a fresh profile cause the same issue. Would it have something to do with sync, perhaps? Are cookies part of the sync?

[Propheticus]

Are cookies part of the sync?

No, cookies are not synced.

[Soumya3-z]

I've also facing the same problem. It logged me out from Google and from all other platforms i Signed-In. I tried ways to somehow prevent it, but nothing works. This is annoying.

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi, @The-Toblin. I'm Dosu, and I'm helping the desktop team manage their backlog. I'm marking this issue as stale.

Issue Summary:

• You reported being logged out of accounts on non-viewed tabs after inactivity, despite having "Delete cookies when Zen is closed" turned off.
• Initially, turning off the Tab Unloader seemed to resolve the issue, but the problem returned.
• The issue affects multiple sites, including Google services, even with the Tab Unloader off.
• Propheticus suggested checking the profile's root directory for cookie storage issues and trying a new profile.
• Soumya3-z also reported similar logout issues, indicating a broader problem with Zen.

Next Steps:

• Please confirm if this issue is still relevant to the latest version of the Zen browser. If it is, you can keep the discussion open by commenting on the issue.
• Otherwise, the issue will be automatically closed in 7 days.

Thank you for your understanding and contribution!

[Tisteos]

Still kicks out of accounts on the latest update. Linux.

[The-Toblin]

Can confirm. Still occurs for me as well.

[RockRida317]

Same with me. Sites like Netflix logout on every reload

[rubiin]

same . logged out of discord, and github time to time

[AdrienLF]

same here, on windows.

Here's one way the same issue is solved on Arc: https://old.reddit.com/r/ArcBrowser/comments/1d2vtse/why_do_i_have_to_relogin_so_often_with_arc/l64tvaw/

[tunglamforwork]

I'm facing this issue too

[Shell1010]

Same, mainly discord, sometimes github, some other sites too.

[FireFly7386]

happens for me on discord too

[KiqoCode]

Happens for me pretty much everywhere.. Super annoying..

[sushione]

Can you do like LibreFox, ability to choose for each web site if I store cookies/data (and opened session) or not ?

[kstefanini]

Hello, it happens for me too, but only after a Zen update (i.e. when the Release notes page appeared, I know that I need to login again in every account I use)

[DvzZDev]

The same thing happens to me, it's incredible that this hasn't been fixed and continues to happen.

[StalwartS0ul]

Just started using Zen browser today. I thought this was an intended effect.

[andersmmg]

My Discord gets signed out almost every time I go to use it, very occasionally it's other sites as well but not common

[Lordlorio]

Just started using Zen browser today. I thought this was an intended effect.

@StalwartS0ul Is there any way you could tell me if this is a stable or Twilight version, and does it happen on other sites besides Discord?

[Propheticus]

If this happens after updates that could be fully up to the services you're using. Because your fingerprint / browser user-agent changes, this could be a trigger for them to invalidate the session (server side). Since the source changed this could be someone else that somehow stole cookies/session tokens.

It's perfectly valid to downgrade the trust in such a case and retrigger (mFA) authentication. The same can happen when your IP changes or your locale, or.... etc.

[The-Toblin]

For me it does not happen after updates. It happens every time I restart Zen, the computer, or sometimes (unfortunately have not been able to nail down any time or action that triggers this) just when switching back to that tab after some time idling.

I have attempted both with and without the "tab sleep" feature. It will still, consistently, log me out of certain accounts. Google will always, without fail, log me out, for instance.

[kstefanini]

I observed in about:profiles that my profile was renamed (or copied and deleted, i dunno) after each update. I think that's the reason for my sessions to be reset.

[sushione]

Still having the issue with latest Zen 1.15.3b keep logging me off from many websites. For exemple my router local webadmin page need to be relogged each time. Same for Github.

LibreFox has an option "always store cookies/data for this web site" that works great and is exactly what we are looking for

[Propheticus]

@sushione That option to add site specific exceptions to allow does exist:

You should of course not have to add each site to this list though. Unless you have changed defaults / edited enhanced tracking protection to not allow any cookies (which warns it'll break sites):

[Propheticus]

To state more obvious things. You should also not enable this: