Every time you log in to gas, a full-screen window opens with the question Do you trust this browser?. It decides one thing only: how long you stay signed in before gas asks you again for your e-mail and password or for a login through a social network. This article explains what each answer means, which one to pick on which device and how to change your answer later.
When the question appears
You get the question every time you newly log in to gas, no matter how you log in:
- with e-mail and password,
- through a Google, Meta or Apple account.
The window covers the whole application and cannot be closed with a cross or by clicking next to it. gas waits until you pick one of the answers. On a phone the window stretches across the whole screen.
The question is not about your password or about the security of your account as such. It deals purely with how long you stay signed in in the browser you are working in right now.
Steps
- Read the text in the window. gas states there that the session expires after one day and that on a device you trust you can stay signed in for up to 30 days.
- If you are sitting at a computer, phone or tablet that only you use, click the Yes, I trust it button. The session will last up to 30 days.
- If you are on a shared, company, borrowed or public device, click the No thanks button. The session stays at one day.
- The window closes and you get into the application. No further confirmation appears and the choice is not saved anywhere separately in the settings.
Both buttons are safe and neither of them deletes anything. The only difference is how often you will have to log in.
Which option to pick
The decisive question is: can somebody else get to this device when you walk away from it?
| Situation | Recommended choice |
|---|---|
| Your own work laptop that nobody else can access | Yes, I trust it |
| Your own phone or tablet protected by a code, fingerprint or face | Yes, I trust it |
| A home computer that only you use | Yes, I trust it |
| A computer shared with colleagues, a common Windows account | No thanks |
| A computer at the reception, in a meeting room or in a training room | No thanks |
| A computer in a hotel, library, internet café or at a trade fair | No thanks |
| A device you borrow from somebody else just for a moment | No thanks |
On somebody else's computer or on a public one, do not rely on the No thanks choice alone. When you finish your work, always sign out actively through Settings → Profile → Sign out. The No thanks choice shortens the session to one day, but on its own it does not sign you out immediately.
Why the question asks about the browser and not about the computer
gas remembers that you are signed in with the help of a cookie. A cookie is a short note that the browser stores on its side and shows to gas every time you open the page again. Thanks to it, gas recognises that it is you and does not have to ask for your password again. The note has its own expiry date, and that date is exactly what the trusted device question sets: one day, or 30 days.
Every browser keeps such a note separately and does not share it with other programs. Several things follow from that, and they often surprise users:
- When you use both Chrome and Firefox on one computer, these are two separate sessions for gas. You get the question in each of them separately and you can answer differently in each.
- When you log in on a computer and then also on a phone, these are again two separate sessions and two separate questions.
- A private or incognito window throws its notes away when you close it. There, the session ends when you close the window, no matter what you picked in the question.
- If you have your browser set to clear browsing data on close, it clears this note too, and gas will greet you with the login screen even after you picked Yes, I trust it.
What happens next
After you answer, the window closes and gas lets you into the application. You do not have to set anything else.
Once the validity period runs out, gas signs you out, shows the message You have been logged out! with the explanation Your session has expired. Please log in again. and redirects you to the login screen. After you enter your credentials, you continue where you left off.
Nothing is lost when the session expires. Connected social network and advertising accounts, reports, goals, campaigns, saved table and graph settings and the whole data history are stored in gas, not in your browser. New data is downloaded from the platforms in the background even at times when you are not signed in, so when you come back you see up-to-date figures.
After you log in again, the trusted browser question appears once more. That is normal, the answer always applies to a single session only.
How to change your answer later
The choice is not permanent and you can reverse it at any time by ending that session.
- Open Settings → Profile → Active sessions.
- In the list you see all devices and browsers you are signed in to gas from. Each record shows the device and browser name, its IP address and three details: Last activity, Login and Location. The one you are working in right now is first in the list and is highlighted in colour.
- Next to the session you want to end, click Log out device and confirm in the window that opens.
- If you want to end all sessions at once, use the Log out from all devices button. It signs you out of the one you are sitting at as well, so you will then have to log in again.
When you log out a device, its thirty-day trust ends immediately. The next time you log in from the same browser, the question appears again and you can answer differently. This whole screen is described in detail in the article Active sessions and devices.
If you forgot to sign out of somebody else's computer, open Active sessions from anywhere else, for example from your phone, and log that device out remotely. You do not need physical access to it.
Common problems
The question keeps coming back at every login
That is how it is designed. The answer applies to a single session, not permanently. When you pick No thanks, you log in practically every day and the question comes with every login. When you pick Yes, I trust it, you see the question again only after 30 days or after signing out.
The question window cannot be closed
The window deliberately has no cross and it does not close by clicking next to it or by pressing Esc either. That is so the choice does not stay unanswered. Click No thanks or Yes, I trust it and the window disappears. If you are not sure, pick No thanks, gas will ask you about the choice again at your next login.
The window disappeared without an answer
If you refresh the page or close the browser before you answer the question, the session stays in the shorter, one-day variant. Refresh the page with F5 and the question appears again, so you can answer it. Or simply wait for your next login.
I want to change the No thanks answer to 30 days
The answer cannot be switched afterwards in the settings, it changes with a new login. Open Settings → Profile → Active sessions, click Log out device next to the highlighted card at the top of the list (that is your current session) and confirm. Then log in again and pick Yes, I trust it in the question.
The Yes, I trust it answer was picked on somebody else's computer
Open Settings → Profile → Active sessions and log that device out. If you are no longer sitting at it, you can do it from another computer or from your phone. If you are not sure which of the sessions in the list it is, use Log out from all devices, which ends all of them at once, and then log in only where you want to.
The application signed me out in the middle of my work
Most often the session expired. gas announces this with the message You have been logged out! and offers the login screen. Log in again, the page you were working on is restored and no data has been lost. If it happens repeatedly during one day, check whether your browser clears data on close and whether you are working in a private window.
The session does not last even one day, although it is set to 30 days
The login note is kept by the browser, so anything that clears browsing data deletes it: a private window, a "clear cookies on close" setting, a cleaning program or a strict privacy protection mode. Check these settings in your browser, or use a different browser or a regular (non-private) window.
The question appears again on another computer or in another browser
The answer is tied to a specific browser, not to your user account. That is why every new device and every additional browser on the same computer asks separately. Answer in each of them according to how well the device is protected.
I see a device in the list of active sessions that I do not recognise
gas derives device names from the browser and operating system, so your own device may be named in an unusual way. Compare the Location and Last activity details. If the record still does not match, click Log out from all devices, change your password in Settings → Profile → Password & access and write through the contact form.
After resetting a forgotten password, everything is signed out everywhere
That is a security measure. When you set your password again through the link from the forgotten password e-mail, gas ends all your sessions on all devices, so that nobody with a previously saved session can get to the account. Log in again and answer the trusted browser question as usual.
A colleague shares a computer with me and sees my data
As long as you are signed in, they see everything in gas that you see. So always handle a shared computer with the No thanks choice and sign out through Settings → Profile → Sign out when you finish your work. If your colleague also needs to work with the data, ask the customer account administrator to send them their own invitation, there is no need to share one login.
I do not know whether to consider a company laptop trusted
What matters is whether the computer is signed in under your name and protected by a password that only you know. Such a laptop is trusted, even if the employer owns it. If several people log in to it under the same account or if it is often freely accessible, pick No thanks.
I need advice and none of the above helped
Write through the contact form. In your message state which device and browser you use, whether you picked Yes, I trust it or No thanks in the question, and how often the application signs you out.