Safari: Gmail, Facebook sessions expire

Dozens of users have reported an issue in which sessions with various interactive websites, including Gmail, Facebook and others, inexplicably expire under Safari in Mac OS X 10.5.6 despite the persistent presence of an active network connection. Users generally receive the message "Your session has expired," or may notice that, for instance, live chat sessions are no longer operable in the aforementioned and other web apps.

Apple Discussions poster Jonathan Hurshman writes:

"Since I installed 10.5.6, Safari can't maintain its login session with certain websites. Examples are Gmail and Facebook. I can log in, but within a short time (often a minute or less), I am informed (in different terminology depending on the website) that my session has expired. I have used the 'Reset Safari' menu item, but no improvement."

Fixes

Resintall Safari In some cases, reinstalling Safari can resolve this issue. You can download the standalone copy of Safari 3.2.1 here.

Gmail: use old version Using the older version of Gmail (which can be invoked by clicking the appropriate link in the upper-right portion of the page), may prevent this issue.

Use a new build of WebKit A potential workaround for this issue is to install the latest version of the nightly WebKit build, though doing so may eliminate Apple-created security enhancements and possibly introduce other conflicts.

If you are experiencing a similar issue, please let us know.

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