What Do You Do if Your Facebook Says Session Expired?

Sessions are used to keep you logged into your favorite websites and services and were initially developed to time out to prevent someone else from accessing any of your sensitive data. Facebook uses sessions in much the same way but generally reserves these sessions for apps and other third-party services to keep your account safe and preserve the battery life on your mobile device.

Facebook uses sessions to authenticate your account within its service, whether that’s the Facebook app itself or some of the games you play. These sessions rely on bits of information that are cached on your PC or smartphone and when this cache is cleared, your session ends. Cache can be cleared by you logging out of Facebook, closing some apps, or by apps being open for a certain amount of time. Once it closes, a session can be reinitialized, so you have to log back in.

Most people run into session time outs when using third-party services like Candy Crush. The best tactic to resolve these issues is to try logging back into Facebook. If this doesn’t resolve your issue, make sure you have the most up-to-date version of the app you’re trying to use. If these don’t work, the service you’re using may be having trouble with its servers and, unfortunately, you may just have to wait it out. Always check the website of a service you’re using to see if it provides any tips to prevent Facebook sessions from expiring.