What Happened to the Stay Signed-In Check Box on FamilySearch.org? • FamilySearch
What Happened to the Stay Signed-In Check Box on FamilySearch.org? • FamilySearch
To provide a higher level of security, the Stay Signed In check box is now gone. Learn of other easy sign in options.
Comments
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Very disappointed with the change to the sign-in. As a power user of FamilySearch, staying signed in is essential to my research and for my mentoring work with others.
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I miss the option to stay signed in. I don't have or use any of the third party accounts mentioned above. While I'm doing research I have to sign multiple times a day. I have found that I am using Family Search less because of this.
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I have gone from being signed in (aside from a button press) for days at a time, to having to sign in several times a day. It is next to impossible for me to understand what signs me out.
There is no concrete information provided in the blog article above. No information on what the metrics are for how long I stay logged in, nor what breaks the login - just vague phrases in that blog such as "they will remain signed in for a time" (how long is "a time"? Is it measured in minutes or clicks or transactions?) "as long as they are actively using the site" (what counts as actively using? What stops the active use? Closing the browser?)
This is hugely inconvenient - please note that I have zero intention of linking my FS sign-on to Google, Facebook, etc., - so when I do sign in, I have to enter my full details. Since I use a password manager, that's multiple clicks each time - now compare that to what I did before.
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This morning when I had to sign in, again, I got this message:
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I don’t like the new sign in for Family Search and I am more likely to not use this system unless I have to. It is such a pain to have to sign in multiple times a day. I don’t want to use my Facebook or Google to log in either. Please go back to allowing us to be signed in for 2 weeks.
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As stated elsewhere, I (and others) have found there now appears to be less need to sign in regularly than in the past. My main gripe about the new sign-in procedure is the current inability to get back to individual FamilySearch pages after I have "crashed out" of my browser, leaving certain pages open. I used to be able to get directly back to those pages by using my browser's "Restore previous session" option (from "History"), but am now taken to the same, first Family Tree page I open (as part of the "Restore") instead of the multiple different URLs I had hoped to be returned to.
On the "signed in for 2 weeks" issue itself, some users (like me) maintain this never was literally the case (in spite of how cookies were handled), but others appear to have had no problem returning without signing in, even after they'd shut their browser. Checking the "2 weeks" option was only helpful for me in that it at least allowed me to stay logged in all day (well, at least until I shut down the browser).
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I never had any problem with the function of staying signed in, other than I wished I didn't have to keep doing it in whatever timescale was previously set. Many other websites I use allow longer or don't have a limit at all... and don't seem to have any security concerns around it.
This new set-up, I'm not sure how it works, but it is forcing sign in multiple times during a research session - most inconvenient and frustrating. Please at least set a minimum of 24 hrs, although preference would be to give the choice back to the user.
Let the user choose to stay signed in or not, therefore, any 'risk' is their own based on their choice. I only use record search, and do not share a device or even premises with another person. I would like to be able to choose the best option for me. And it's not sign in multiple times over a few hours.
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I'd rather keep the "keep me signed in for 2 weeks" option. I don't want to use a third party app to circumvent this.
Perhaps an option can be given in "settings" to stay signed in for various amounts of time. Currently I've had to log in several times per day and while not catastrophic it is annoying. From my point of view, it wasn't broken and didn't need to be fixed.
I've never had a problem with being kept signed in with the "keep me signed in for 2 weeks" option.
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Add my vote to "I'm annoyed at having to sign in all the time!" If I had my 'druthers, I'd choose to stay signed in ALWAYS (not just two weeks even)! - on my home computer.
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Our reported experiences appear to be completely different. For me (as already mentioned) I never could manage to stay logged in for 2 weeks - however my cookies settings were set. So now, great - at least I get to stay logged in all day!
Conversely, I used to mange to stay logged into Community all day - regardless of being logged out of the main website. Now, I find myself frequently having to sign back in to Community, regardless of being logged into Family Tree all day!
There must be a lot of unidentified factors that make our experiences so different with these sign-in changes.
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I'm also not a fan. I never had issues previously. I use multiple computers so I went from signing in thrice every 1-2 weeks on my three computers to signing in 5-10x daily across those computers. So many more button clicks now.
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I have a pw manager, it still annoys me having to log in several times a day. I never had problems staying signed in for two weeks (I rarely close my browser or shut down my computer though). Can we please have it back? Any kind of "remember me" "stay signed in" option?
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What a pain! Do not like that I have to sign in every time I want to look at Family Search. I use to get on almost everyday now I find myself not looking at Family Search.
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I use a password manager, so remembering log-in info is not the issue. (I have zero interest in logging in to familysearch using google, facebook, apple, or anything else like that. No thanks.)
Here is the problem...
When I am researching, I always have multiple familysearch windows open. If I take a short break, I find that every familysearch page I had open reverted to the log-in page. Poof! Then I have to attempt to retrace my steps to figure out where I was at and which records I was looking at. Extremely inefficient and annoying, not to mention there is no predictable amount of time between forced log-ins. I am always working on my personal devices, and would prefer to have the option to stay logged in. Even 24 hours would be better than this. It is not worth the frustration the way it is now.
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Yes, something similar is my major problem, too. I used to be able to restore my previous session after shutting down my PC (regardless of whether I'd logged in to FamilySearch for two weeks or not), now find I am taken to just one of the pages I had open the previous day, thus disallowing any continuity in my work!
It has been suggested I use "Recents" to easily restore the profiles I was working on previously, but some of the pages I had been viewing when I "crashed out" of my previous session were tree views and it was great to be able to get back exactly to where I was during my previous session (via the browser's "Restore" function).
Unfortunately, the whole exercise has complicated things for so many of us - albeit in different ways!
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As others have mentioned, this process really disrupts using the site. I too often have myriad tabs or windows open, and if I finish working for the night and come back to things in the morning, all of my windows have been logged out and won't return to the person they were on. I don't understand how "take me back to the page I was on when logging me back in" got messed up so badly since so many other pages on the Internet can handle this correctly.
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This is super annoying!
Typically I find what I am looking for, then need to go do something else, and when I come back I have been logged out. I log back in again, which takes time, and half the time I am taken to a different page so I have to poke around to find what I was originally working on. By then maybe I need to go do something else, and I get logged out again and the cycle continues.
Using facebook or google or some other credentials to login in not a solution for me.
2 weeks was a good amount of time to stay logged in. Please bring the option back.
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Oh, the irony... I spent 10 minutes typing a response to how ill-advised this change is, only to be logged out when I tried to post, and lost my entire message.
Every major website has persistent logins, I've been in computer security for 3 decades, and whatever minimal "security" benefit comes from this change in specific circumstances is far outweighed by the loss in productivity and functionality. Just think of all the frustration and lost research this will cause.
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What you have experienced is really another issue to the one of primary concern in this thread. I find I still have to sign-in to Community, even when I am already signed into the main FamilySearch website. But I, too, am now experiencing difficulty in remaining signed in to Community. For me, I am finding that I can at least now remain signed into FamilySearch for the whole day (without the "2 week" option), but (quite the opposite of my past experience) now do have to sign back into Community throughout the day.
To a large extent, I believe there are two separate problems here: if so, both need urgent attention in order to avoid the continuing, serious frustration being caused to so many patrons.
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This was a TERRIBLE idea!!!!! If people were telling you that the "stay signed in for two weeks" button wasn't working, that meant that they wanted to use it, not for you to remove it!!! You have done the exact OPPOSITE of what the people wanted!!!
@KeithTurkowski wrote "Oh, the irony... I spent 10 minutes typing a response to how ill-advised this change is, only to be logged out when I tried to post, and lost my entire message." Well, as if to highlight the point, I just experienced the exact same thing! As I was saying before my previous message got lost in the ether, I keep certain tabs open at all times to easily go back and forth with what I'm most frequently working on. With this site signing me out constantly, sometimes I can use the back button and go back to what I was working on, sometimes it forgets and I lose my place in my research. Keeping me signed in was a fantastic feature. Now, your "improvement" has dramatically decreased the usability of your site. Congratulations.
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Ditto to every other comment here!! And I had a longer comment but lost it as I apparently wasn't signed in 😤 even when I was logged in. This change has only managed to irritate and alienate your long standing users and volunteers. Most have no need for a 3rd party login, we've been using the site for so long we have our logins memorized or use password managers. The much larger complaint is that it is unacceptable to take a break and literally lose my place as to the individuals I had pulled up trying to research. Yes, I can use "Recent People" but it's completely inefficient to 1. have to log back in multiple times a day or even daily and 2. retrace your steps with recent people in order to resume research. Bring back the 'keep me logged in'!
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I guess I'm relieved to find this comment thread because I honestly thought both my iPad and computer were broken — I'm having to log back in almost every 10 minutes. This is a major annoyance, and hardly a necessary "security feature" for a website that does not contain banking info, government secrets, etc.
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I do not understand how a number of users are saying they now have to sign in again regularly throughout the day. We have been advised the current design allows us to remain signed in all day (well, at least while the browser is kept open) and that has been my experience. So, how is the behaviour different for other FamilySearch users?
As I've commented previously, I never was able to stay signed in for two weeks, despite having different settings for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. Can anyone answer the question of why many of us have a totally different experience with this issue?
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My experience varies by browser. In Firefox, I generally stay signed in 24 hours - literally, to the minute. Using Chrome, if I've left my research for a while during the day (I haven't defined that "while" yet), I have to sign in again. That's with my PC on and Chrome browser tabs open.
Firefox is my primary browser. I often have FS open in Firefox on my primary monitor with FS open in Chrome on my secondary monitor. I may be comparing two profiles or two indexes of the same record.
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Thanks for sharing that. I hope other users - especially those who are complaining about having to sign in multiple times throughout the 24 hours - will provide details of their set ups, especially browser use.
I can't say I've noticed any difference between Firefox (which I usually use) or Chrome (used over the last few days).
So, given my past experience, I'm quite happy at being able to remain signed in all day. For me, the issue remains with when I sign in the next day and find I cannot restore the previous, different FamilySearch pages I'd left open when I'd closed down (in Chrome). I was okay with signing in three or four times - but not now that this leads me to to four copies of the same page! A most unfortunate side-effect of the new system.
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This change is horrible. Before we could keep the page where we were working checking microfilms between days. Now everything is lost so I have to take a note in word or a notebook of what page I was consulting before resuming work the next day. Please take into consideration returning to the previous model.
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I HATE HATE HATE this change. It's made even worse because your rocket scientists who decide what's secure don't appear to have the faintest idea about cursor management.
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How on earth is this an improvement? Why couldn't you fix the old stay logged in system?
FS remembering me is far safer than using the browser password manager. It used to be that when I set my computer to sleep, FS would at least remember me while I was half way through a complex analysis of sources and images. I keep several browser tabs open while researching. Now it requires a new sign-in IN EVERY SINGLE TAB and has lost where I was. It doesn't even recognise that if I have signed in on another tab, I am signed in in that browser. Ludicrous. Other sites do it happily. FS used to do so.
Logging in using one of the suggested options is far far far worse. If someone finds my google password, they can get into EVERYTHING that I've used that sign in to access. Currently no other sites, and it will remain so.
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The issue is your bracketed statement: "(well, at least while the browser is kept open)".
I split my sessions. It is best practice not to sit at your computer for too long at a time. You should also lock your computer when you leave it so no-one else can access your data. So if I go away and get a coffee, go for a walk or read a newspaper, FS has logged me out when I return.
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I agree with all of the users asking for a return to the check box to stay signed in for 2 weeks.
The options to login using facebook, google, etc are confusing to me. Reason being that (for example) I have never linked any google account to familysearch. How would logging in using google help? And I certainly don't want to link my familysearch/church account to google login and PW. That seems like a big security risk.
Logging in using the Church account also results in getting logged out every 30 min or so, so makes it painful to use.
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