Stay signed in: the 5-minute sign-out and one device at a time
To keep your record safe, the portal signs you out after 5 minutes without activity, and your account can be open on only one device at a time.
What you will learn
- Answer the Are you still there? warning
- Know what the sign-in page says after you were signed out
- Sign in when your account is still open on another device
Your portal account holds your registration, your payments and your documents. Two simple rules protect it: an unattended screen signs itself out, and nobody can use your account on a second device while you are signed in.
Step by step
- If nothing happens on the screen for 4 minutes (no click, key, touch or scroll), a window opens: Are you still there?
- It counts down the seconds left before you are signed out.
- Press Stay signed in to carry on where you were. Nothing you saved is lost.
- Press Sign out now if you have finished.
- If you don’t answer within a minute, the portal signs you out and opens the sign-in page.
- The sign-in page shows a yellow note: You were signed out after 5 minutes without activity. Sign in again. Sign in as usual.
One device at a time
You can be signed in on one phone or computer at a time. If your account is still open somewhere else, the sign-in page refuses the new sign-in and says where it is open, for example: You’re already signed in on Chrome on Windows in Accra, signed in at 10:02 on 27 Oct. Sign out there first, or wait 5 minutes after it was last used.
What to do:
- Go back to the other device and press your name at the top right, then Sign out. You can then sign in here straight away.
- Or wait 5 minutes after the other device was last used. It is then signed out by itself.
- Signing in again in the same browser is fine: the new sign-in takes over and the old window says You signed in again in this browser. Use that window.
Other reasons you may be signed out
- Your password was changed. Sign in again.: you (or a reset) changed the password, so every other device is signed out.
- The Council signed you out. Sign in again.: Council staff ended your sign-in, for example after you reported a lost phone.
What you will see
- Working in two tabs of the same browser counts as one sign-in. Using one tab keeps the other signed in too.
- During an online exam the exam screen never signs you out for being idle. See the Online exams course.
- The Council records the device, place and time of every sign-in, so it can help you if someone else uses your account.
Check yourself
Pick an answer for each question, then press Check my answers. Nothing is saved or sent.