Being signed out after 30 minutes away

If you leave Velo Prime open and don't touch it for 30 minutes, I sign you out. You'll see a page explaining what happened, and signing in again puts you straight back on the page you were on.

Why I do it

Shared laptops, borrowed phones, a machine left unlocked at a coworking desk. Your business account has your customers, your money settings and your website in it, so leaving it open indefinitely on a screen you've walked away from isn't safe. Thirty minutes is long enough that you won't trip over it during a normal working session, and short enough to matter if you forget.

The warning first

Two minutes before it happens, a small notice appears at the bottom of the screen: "Still there?" with a countdown and a Keep me signed in button.

Click it and nothing else happens — you carry on where you were, no password, no re-typing. Anything else you do works just as well. Click somewhere, type, scroll, tap. The notice is there to tell you the clock is running, not to make you press a particular button.

What counts as "not touching it"

Only you count. Clicking, typing, scrolling and tapping all tell me you're here. Velo Prime quietly refreshing things in the background does not — so a tab left open on your desk overnight will time out even though the screen keeps updating. That's deliberate. If the app checking on itself counted as you being present, the 30 minutes would never run out and this wouldn't protect anything.

If it does sign you out

You'll see a page that says "I signed you out" and explains it was because you were away. Nothing is lost — your business, our conversations, your website and anything I was working on all live on my side, not in that browser tab. Sign in again and you land back on the page you left.

The one thing that doesn't survive is a message you'd typed into the chat box but hadn't sent. If you've written something long and you're about to step away, send it first.

A few things people ask

Does it sign me out on my phone too, or only the laptop? Each device is on its own clock. Being active on your phone doesn't keep a laptop tab alive, and vice versa.

I have two tabs open — does the idle one sign me out of the one I'm using? No. Working in one tab keeps the whole session alive, and the idle tab notices.

I was reading a preview of my website in another tab. Opening the preview counts. Once you're in there, though, I can't promise the clock keeps resetting as you click around — so if you've been reading for a while, come back and click something in the portal.

Does closing the browser sign me out? Yes, after 30 minutes. Reopening it sooner than that will usually find you still signed in.

Can I turn it off or make it longer? Not today. It's the same for everyone.

Signing out on purpose

Choosing Sign out from the menu is a different thing and takes effect immediately. See "Managing your account".