Why Does Chrome Keep Logging Me Out? 8 Causes and the Fix for Each

Why does Chrome keep logging me out? Google's search suggestions show dozens of versions of the question: of everything, of Google, of one website, every time I close it. The answer is nearly always the same thing: something is deleting your cookies.

Cookies are how a site remembers that you signed in. When they disappear, so do your logins. Your saved passwords are still there, which is why Chrome can fill them in again, but you have to sign in all over.

This guide walks through eight causes, starting with the ones that hit every site and ending with the ones that hit one site only.

The short answer#

• Signed out every time you close Chrome? Allow sites to save on-device data in Site settings.
• A cleanup app or extension may be deleting cookies. Pause it and test.
• Signed out of Google only? Check that Chrome sign-in is allowed and sync is not paused.
• Signed out of one site only? The site may time out sessions, or one of its cookies may be broken.

Why Chrome keeps logging you out: every site, or one site?#

This one question cuts the list in half.

• Every site, usually when Chrome closes: something in Chrome or on your computer is clearing cookies. Start with causes 1 to 4.
• One site, at random times: the problem is that site, or its cookie. Jump to causes 6 to 8.
• Only Google services: start with cause 5.

1. Chrome is set to delete site data when you close it#

This is the cause most of the time, and it is a single setting. Chrome can delete all site data, cookies included, whenever you close every window. It is easy to turn on by accident while tidying privacy settings.

1. Open Settings, then Privacy and security, then Site settings.
2. Open Additional content settings, then On-device site data. You can paste chrome://settings/content/siteData into the address bar to jump there.
3. Under default behavior, choose the option that allows sites to save data on your device.
4. Check the exceptions below it. A site listed under "delete data when you close all windows" will still sign you out.

Google's help page notes that the delete-on-close option means sites are less likely to remember you between visits. That is exactly the symptom.

If you want the privacy of this setting without daily sign-ins, our guide to clearing cache and cookies on close shows how to set exceptions. If the setting is greyed out, your profile is managed by a work or school policy. Ask your IT team.

2. A cleanup app wipes Chrome's cookies#

System cleaners on Windows and Mac often include "browser cookies" in their default clean. Some run on a schedule or every time the computer starts. You never see it happen, you just get signed out.

Open the cleaner's settings, find the browser section and untick Chrome's cookies. Most cleaners also let you keep cookies for chosen sites.

3. An extension deletes cookies#

Privacy extensions can delete cookies when a tab closes, when Chrome starts, or on a timer. That is useful when you set it up on purpose, and confusing when you forgot.

1. Open chrome://extensions.
2. Turn every extension off.
3. Close and reopen Chrome, sign in to a site, close and reopen again.
4. If you stayed signed in, turn extensions back on one at a time to find the culprit.

If you want automatic cleaning without losing logins you care about, use a tool with an allow list. Our extension, Cleaner, auto-cleans only the sites you pick when their last tab closes, and has protected sites it never touches, even when you clean all sites at once.

4. Your Chrome profile is damaged#

If nothing above applies and cookies still vanish, Chrome may be failing to save them. This is rare but real after a crash, a full disk or a sync conflict.

Create a new Chrome profile from the profile menu, sign in to a couple of sites, close and reopen Chrome. If logins stick in the new profile, move to it. Your passwords and bookmarks come with you if you sign in to sync.

5. Chrome sign-in or sync is paused#

When Chrome shows Paused next to your profile picture, it has lost your Google sign-in. Gmail, YouTube and Drive then ask you to sign in again.

• Click your profile picture and choose to sign in again.
• At chrome://settings/syncSetup, make sure Allow Chrome sign-in is on if you want Chrome to stay signed in to Google.
• Do not add google.com or accounts.google.com to a list of sites that delete data on close.

6. The site ends sessions on purpose#

Banks, health portals and many work tools sign you out after a set time, or when you sign in on another device. That is a security choice, not a Chrome bug. If the site has a Remember me or Keep me signed in box, tick it. If not, there is nothing to fix on your side.

7. Third-party cookies are blocked and the site needs them#

Some sites sign you in through a separate domain, such as a company login page or a payment provider. Blocking third-party cookies can break that hand-off. Chrome's help page shows how to allow third-party cookies for a single site under Sites allowed to use third-party cookies, or temporarily from the Third-party cookies blocked icon in the address bar.

Allow it for that one site, not for all sites.

8. One broken cookie on that site#

Sometimes the site's cookie itself goes bad: an old session, a half-finished sign-in, or two accounts fighting. The symptom is a site that signs you out, or loops you back to its sign-in page, while every other site is fine.

Clear that one site's cookies and sign in fresh. In Chrome, click the View site information icon left of the address, then Cookies and site data, then Manage on-device site data, and delete it. Cleaner does the same with its Sign out & reset button and reloads the page. Our website login loop fix covers the loop version of this problem.

What not to do#

• Do not clear all browsing data to fix one site. You will be signed out of everything, which is the problem you started with. See how to clear cache without losing passwords.
• Do not allow all third-party cookies globally to fix one sign-in. Allow the site that needs it.
• Do not reinstall Chrome first. The setting in cause 1 is far more likely, and a reinstall keeps your profile settings anyway.

Still logged out every day?#

Work through the list in order and test after each change by closing and reopening Chrome. In our experience it is usually cause 1, 2 or 3: something clearing cookies on close. Once logins stick, keep the cleaning you actually want, for the sites you choose, and leave the rest signed in.