# What is a scan session?

A scan session is the window opened when staff scan a customer. Every action afterwards carries the session rather than re-presenting the customer's code. The window is absolute, not idle: acting inside it does not extend it, and when it expires staff must scan again.

Source: https://fidella.app/glossary/scan-session
Last reviewed: 2026-08-30

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The scan session is what stops a single scan becoming unlimited access to a
customer's account.

## Absolute, not idle

The deadline does not move when staff act. An idle timeout would let anyone
acting every couple of minutes keep a session alive indefinitely, which is the
exact behaviour the bound exists to prevent.

## Bound to a person and a place

A session belongs to the staff member who opened it, at the venue they opened it
from. Somebody else's session is refused, and is refused in a way that looks
identical to an expired one.

## Expiry does not cancel a pending approval

If a customer has already been asked to approve something, that request keeps
its own clock. They were asked a question and they get to answer it.