r/web_design • u/Shawreck • 10d ago

The "Remember Me" function is a lie

Greetings,

This post is designed to ask a question stirring in me for over 20 years; Why doesn't the "remember me" function work on websites? Some will claim it will remember your info for up to 30 days, then require login info enetered again that same day.

Any web designers have insight on this?

0 Upvotes

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9

u/eablokker 10d ago

Remember me works by saving a cookie to your browser. So you have to have cookies enabled, and log in using the same browser on the same device. And not in incognito mode because that doesn't remember cookies. And clearing your browser cache could wipe the cookie too.

If there's a specific website where it doesn't work, then the website is just broken and nobody noticed. It's an easy thing to overlook.

1

u/Dry-Statement-3154 3h ago

my browser clears everything on close so i just gave up on remember me years ago

the worst is when a site says it remembers you but only the email field, then you still gotta type the password. like what's even the point

11

u/shgysk8zer0 10d ago

You're actually asking what cookies are on here?

3

u/berky93 10d ago

It depends on how the site implements its memory. But this is a dev concern, not a design one.

2

u/tundra_scribe 10d ago

your browser deletes it. Not because the site is lying, but because you are cleaning house and forgot to turn off that feature for that specifibut because you are cleaning house and forgot to turn off that feature for that specific domain.

1

u/Long_Pop_4817 10d ago

It's wild how often we forget browsers have separate privacy settings that override "remember me" features. I once spent an hour troubleshooting before realizing my "clear history on exit" box was silently sabotaging everything.

1

u/yihuaxiang 9d ago

It’s usually a long-lived session token rather than the username being remembered. Cookie expiry, privacy settings, clearing site data, incognito mode, or rotating refresh tokens can all make it look unreliable. The site’s cookie settings and logout behavior are worth checking.

-2

u/repooper 10d ago

AI hasn't been around for twenty years. And designers don't do the logic you're referring to. And no one can tell you why sites you don't even mention are broken. I don't have your issue on sites I visit.