Signed Out Suddenly

For a linked Alpha student, signing in on another iPad ends the previous account session. Family adults and report viewers can remain signed in on multiple devices; taking over a student’s learning session does not sign the adult out.

How to confirm

Ask:

• For a linked Alpha account, did the student sign in on another iPad recently?
• Did someone sign out on this iPad?
• Has support revoked the account’s sessions?

A linked Alpha account’s most recent sign-in ends its older sessions. If a Family iPad is lost, contact support@scribble.app for help revoking access; signing in elsewhere does not secure it.

How to recover

If you are already at the sign-in screen, connect to the internet and sign in on the iPad you want to use: Sign in with email for an email-code account, or Sign in with Timeback for a linked Alpha student.

Records already saved to Scribble's server remain available to the authorized account. Unsaved drawing buffers or pending writes are different: they may be lost when the session ends or the app closes. Signing in again cannot guarantee recovery of work that never reached the server.

If you are still in a lesson and see a connection or saving error instead of the sign-in screen, do not sign out or force-quit as your first recovery step. Keep the app open, restore connectivity, and follow that screen's recovery controls. Scribble cannot continue learning, complete content, or save offline.

For a linked Alpha student, this sign-in ends the account’s other sessions. A Family adult may instead need to confirm learning takeover for the selected student; their other account sessions remain signed in.

Other reasons this happens

A handful of less common reasons:

• Sign-in was revoked. The app checks account access on launch and when returning to the foreground.
• A long absence. Account sessions expire after 30 days and refresh during regular use.

Expired Family learning access or an unenrolled Alpha student blocks that student’s learning; it does not by itself sign a Family adult out. Likewise, unlinking an Alpha runtime account changes its student access but does not revoke the account's existing sessions. Ask support for session revocation when access needs to be secured.

Preventing accidental sign-outs in classrooms

If iPads are shared in a classroom, sign-outs between students are normal — that's the system working as designed. To minimize confusion:

• Finish saving the current student's work while online before signing out or passing the iPad on.
• Don't share email accounts between students.

RelatedOne active sessionWhy this rule exists and what it does.Read more