Session limits
How long a Live session runs, how to extend it, what ends it early, and how minutes are counted against your plan.
A Live session runs on a clock. Here is how long you get, how to get more, and what ends a session early.
How long a session runs
Every session starts with 30 minutes, whether you are driving a phone, a tablet, or a desktop browser. On the free allowance you get whatever minutes you have left, if that is fewer than 30.
When the clock runs out you get a 30-second prompt with an Extend session button. Extend and you carry on. Ignore it and the session ends.
Extending
Each extend adds 15 minutes, and you can keep extending up to 4 hours on any paid plan.
The 15 minutes are added to the session's scheduled end, not to the current time, so taking the offer as soon as you see it costs you nothing.
Free sessions cannot be extended — their length is the free minutes set aside when they start. Move to a paid Live plan for longer sessions.
What ends a session early
- Refreshing the page. A refresh is treated as leaving, and the device is released straight away. Capture what you need before you reload anything.
- Closing the tab, or navigating away. The device and your session slot are released within seconds.
- Sitting idle in a desktop browser session. After 15 minutes with no click, keystroke, or scroll, an "Are you still there?" prompt appears and the session ends 30 seconds later. Moving the mouse does not count.
Switching to another tab or window is safe: the session keeps running, keeps streaming, and keeps counting minutes.
End a mobile session yourself when you are finished. A phone or tablet runs until its clock expires, so an abandoned session holds a real device and keeps spending your minutes.
When a device is not free
Live runs on a shared pool of real machines and real handsets, so a start can be refused. These are the messages you will actually see:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| "All servers for this configuration are busy right now. Please try again shortly." | Every machine that can serve that browser, OS, and resolution is in a session. Where there are alternatives, the message lists them: "Try: ...". |
| "That device is busy — another session just took it. Try again shortly, or pick another device." | Someone claimed that exact phone between the picker last refreshing and you pressing Start. |
| "That device isn't available right now. Try again shortly, or pick another device." | The phone left the pool after the picker last refreshed. |
| "Servers temporarily unreachable. Try again in a few minutes." | Nothing to fix on your side. Try again shortly. |
| "You're at your plan's parallel session limit (3). Close another session, then try again. Need more? Add threads from the Subscriptions page." | You already have that many sessions running. The number shown is your own limit. |
A device can also be out of the pool while it is being cleaned or serviced. It stays in the list and reads busy, like any other occupied device.
FAQ
▶How long can a Live session run?
A session starts with a 30-minute clock. You can extend it in 15-minute steps, repeatedly, up to 4 hours on any paid plan. Free sessions cannot be extended.
▶Why did my session end when I refreshed the page?
That is by design. A refresh is treated as leaving the session, so the device goes straight back to the fleet rather than being held for a tab that may never come back. Start a new session to continue.
▶Does my session keep running if I switch tabs?
Yes. Hiding the tab changes nothing — the session stays alive, keeps streaming, and keeps counting minutes. What ends it is closing the tab, navigating away, or refreshing.
Separately, a desktop browser session with 15 minutes of no click, keystroke, or scroll shows the "Are you still there?" prompt and ends 30 seconds later. Moving the mouse does not reset that timer.
▶How is a short session billed?
Minutes round up, with a one-minute floor. A 20-second session bills 1 minute; 10 minutes 5 seconds bills 11.