For the past few months, I’ve used Avast Secure Browser without issue, including regular use of the ChatGPT website — which always remembered my login session.
In the last few days, the browser now forces me to log in with email and password every time. I’ve tried everything:
Cookies and third-party cookies are enabled
“Always keep this site active” is turned on
The site is whitelisted in cookie settings
Privacy Cleaner is off
I’m signed into my Avast profile
No extensions, no VPN, and no recent system changes
Even after all that, when I inspect cookies in Developer Tools, nothing is stored at all for the ChatGPT domain — not even a session token.
This used to work perfectly, so something has clearly changed. Either Avast has silently updated its behaviour, or it’s now blocking secure cookie storage for this site — despite all settings being correct.
Is there a way to restore normal login persistence for this site?
Thank you for the detailed post. I’m sorry for the trouble.
I’ve tried to reproduce the issue using Avast Secure Browser’s new (clean) installation, but everything is working fine on my end. Login persistence with ChatGPT is functioning as expected.
To help narrow this down, could you please check or confirm the following:
Are you using a normal window or private/incognito mode when accessing ChatGPT?
In the browser, please paste secure://settings/content/siteData into the address bar and press Enter.
→ Check if “Allow sites to save data on your device” is selected.
→ Alternatively, please clarify what is selected and how the exception for ChatGPT is set.
Operating system you’re using.
Avast Secure Browser version — you can find this in Settings > About Avast Secure Browser.
If possible, could you try installing Avast Secure Browser on another device with clean settings and test if the issue persists?
This info should help us better understand whether the issue is browser-specific, device-related, or something else.
I’m not using incognito or private browsing mode — this is all happening in a normal window.
At secure://settings/content/siteData, I’ve confirmed that “Allow sites to save data on your device” is selected.
I’ve also now added [*.]openai.com to the “Allowed to save data on your device” list, in addition to already having it in the “Sites that can always use cookies” section (with the “including third-party cookies” box ticked).
Operating system: Windows 11
Avast Secure Browser version: 139.0.31477.68 ( Official Build )
I’m signed into the browser, and Privacy Cleaner and other privacy modules are disabled. Despite all this, no cookies at all are being stored for chat.openai.com, even directly after logging in. I’ve checked repeatedly via DevTools → Application → Storage → Cookies.
I haven’t yet tested on another device with a clean install, but I’ll try that next if needed — just wanted to share all current details first.
I’ve also just manually updated Avast Secure Browser to the latest version via secure://settings/help, restarted, and re-tested — unfortunately, the issue still persists exactly as before.
Hi again — just checking in.
Any update on this issue? I’ve confirmed everything on my end, including updating to the latest browser version, and the problem with ChatGPT login persistence still persists. Happy to test anything further if needed.
Thank you for verifying the settings and providing all details. I’m sorry for the delay!
I’ve passed all the information to our developers to check what can cause this and what else can be tried. I’ll let you know once I have more info from them.
Could you please meanwhile add also chatgpt.com to the “Allowed to save data on your device” list and “Sites that can always use cookies” section and try if it helps?
Well, well, Logged on to ChatGPT just now and .. straight in, no email or password needed for the first time in ages. Rebooted just to make sure and straight in again.
I’ve made no changes my end so I presume your guys have fixed something up already - horay.
I’ll continue to monitor it in case anything changes, but for now: thank you, and please pass on my thanks to the dev team too.
I’m really glad to hear it’s working smoothly again — thanks for confirming! Sorry for the earlier troubles, and thank you for your patience. I’ll make sure to pass your appreciation on to the dev team.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if anything changes or if you run into any other issues.