"Active session already exists" error on Remote Control/Viewer blocks new session: refresh and re-login to recover

Android

Title: "Active session already exists" on Remote Control or Viewer — refresh and re-login to recover

When starting a Remote Control or Remote Viewer session, the Esper Console displays Active session already exists and blocks the new connection.

Why this happens

Each device allows only one active Remote Control or Remote Viewer session at a time. If a previous session closed unexpectedly — for example, due to a browser crash or network drop — the session record can remain open on the server side, preventing a new session from starting until it expires or is cleared.

Steps to resolve

1. Wait for the stale session to expire. Remote Control sessions automatically time out after 15 minutes of inactivity. If the previous session was a Remote Control session, wait up to 15 minutes before attempting to reconnect. Remote Viewer sessions follow the same timeout behaviour. This step is optional if you want to force resolution immediately — continue to Step 2.
2. Hard-refresh your browser tab. This forces the Esper Console to re-fetch the current session state from the server rather than serving a cached view.
   • Windows: Ctrl+Shift+R
   • Mac: Cmd+Shift+R
3. Sign out of the Esper Console. Click your user avatar in the top-right corner, then select Sign Out. Signing out clears any locally held session tokens that may be keeping the stale session alive.
4. Sign back in and confirm the device is online. After signing in, navigate to Devices & Groups → [Device Name] → Overview and confirm the device status shows as Online. An offline or unreachable device will cause the session handshake to stall regardless of the session state on the server.
5. Start a new session. Navigate to Devices & Groups → [Device Name] → Remote Control or Remote Viewer, depending on whether you need interactive control or view-only screen mirroring, and click the button to start the session.

Verify: The session should launch without the Active session already exists error, and the device screen should appear within 30 seconds. For Remote Control, confirm you can interact with the device. For Remote Viewer, confirm the screen is visible and updating.

If this doesn't resolve it

If the error persists after completing all steps, try opening the Esper Console in a different browser or an incognito window to rule out a browser extension or cached credential conflict.

If the issue continues or affects multiple devices or user accounts, contact Esper Support and provide the following:

• The Device ID of the affected device (found under Devices & Groups → [Device Name] → Overview)
• The exact date and time of the failed attempt
• Which session type you were using — Remote Control or Remote Viewer
• Whether the device showed as online in the Esper Console at the time
• Whether the issue occurs for a single user account or all users in your organisation

Still need help?

If refreshing and re-logging in doesn't resolve the "Active session already exists" error, please submit a support ticket and include the device name, the timestamp when the error occurred, and which user account(s) were affected.