Maintenance, Lockdowns & Suspended Accounts
Sometimes the whole workspace is paused: a maintenance page instead of the app, a banner saying changes are blocked, or a notice that the account is suspended. Here is what each one means, when it ends, and who ends it.
| What you see | What it is | Who ends it |
|---|---|---|
| “We’ll be back soon”, or your company’s own maintenance message | A maintenance window | A super admin, or it lifts itself |
| Banner: “Read-only freeze is active” | A maintenance window that blocks changes only | A super admin, or it lifts itself |
| “We’re performing platform maintenance” | Maintenance across MangoApps | MangoApps |
| “Temporarily unavailable” | A security lockdown or a suspended account (the page doesn’t say which) | Ask your administrator |
| Banner: “Your workspace is read-only — the trial ended…” | A trial that ended without continuing | An admin, in Billing & Payments |
| Banner: “Some apps are switched off for your organization right now” | Apps switched off for an unpaid invoice (members are not told the cause) | An admin, by paying |
| “Your MangoApps account is suspended” or “You’re signed in” | MangoApps suspended the account | MangoApps only |
For everyone
Why can’t I save? The banner says the site is read-only
A super admin has started a read-only freeze: “Read-only freeze is active — viewing works, changes are blocked for everyone.” You can read everything, but you can’t create, edit or delete anything until it lifts. Clocking in and out is a change too, so it is paused as well; where your organization uses Time & Attendance the banner says so. It is not about your role or permissions. Scheduled work keeps running during a freeze — automatic clock-outs, for example — so a record can still change while you can’t edit it.
When you press Save, a note appears above the form: “Changes are paused right now (read-only freeze). This change was not saved, and nothing you saved before was undone.” What you typed is still there, so save again once the freeze lifts. Some forms show a Changes are paused page instead; go back to keep working.
If the banner says “Your workspace is read-only — the trial ended…”, the cause is billing, not maintenance (see below).
When will the site be back?
- The maintenance page shows Expected back by a time (the Changes are paused page and the read-only banner say “until” it), in your organization’s time zone: the lift time the super admin set, or four hours after the window started if none was set, when it ends by itself. It can be lifted sooner.
- With no time shown, it is a security lockdown or a window MangoApps set, which ends only when a person lifts it.
- An open maintenance page checks again every five minutes and opens the app by itself when access returns.
- Maintenance emails go to super admins only. Ask your administrator for more detail.
Do I need to sign in again afterwards?
Usually not. Maintenance windows and lockdowns block access; they don’t sign anyone out. You are asked to sign in again only if your sign-in expired while the site was down (for example, you were away longer than your organization’s sign-in timeout), or a super admin used Sign everyone out during a security lockdown, which also ends phone-app and Office add-in sign-ins. The same applies after a suspended account is reactivated. Nobody needs a new password.
I see a “Scheduled maintenance” banner
A window is booked. Until it starts, everyone sees a yellow banner with the start time, saying the site “will be unavailable” or, for a freeze, “will be read-only”. Read the message shows what your admin wrote. Save your work before then.
The page says “Temporarily unavailable”
There is a security lockdown or the account is suspended. Contact your workplace administrator. If the sign-in page says “[Company] is currently unavailable”, the account is suspended: signing in won’t open the app, but it shows what this means for you. Members see You’re signed in: nothing in your schedule was changed or deleted, and you check your shifts with your manager directly until access returns.
For super admins: Maintenance & Lockdown
Where: Admin → Security → Maintenance & Lockdown (Super Admin only). The page stays open while a window or lockdown is on.
Start or schedule a maintenance window
- Choose what to block: a preset, or Advanced to pick surfaces.
- What people will see: headline, message, optional contact email and status page link. Starts at (blank = now) and Lifts at (optional), in your time zone. Preview page shows the result.
- Who keeps access (below).
- Confirm and start. A full shutdown asks you to type your subdomain; blocking the API asks you to confirm integrations will be interrupted.
One window at a time: lift the active one or cancel the scheduled one first. A scheduled window starts within about five minutes of its start time.
| Preset | Blocks | Stays open |
|---|---|---|
| Full shutdown | Web, API, mobile apps, integrations | Only the people under “Who keeps access” |
| API & mobile off | API, integrations, mobile apps | Web |
| Staff access off | Web and mobile apps | API and integrations (payroll, HRIS) |
| Read-only freeze | Every change people and integrations make, everywhere, clocking in and out included (scheduled work such as automatic clock-outs keeps running) | Viewing on web, mobile, API and integrations |
A maintenance window does not stop email or notifications.
Who can still get in during maintenance?
- Super admins keep access (on by default): super admins keep working, with a break-glass banner, and can still make changes during a read-only freeze. Other admins are blocked like everyone else.
- IP ranges that stay allowed: anyone connecting from a range you tick, chosen from your organization’s IP ranges.
- API tokens that stay live: for example a payroll export or SIEM feed.
With Super admins keep access off, everyone is blocked, you included, except allowed IP ranges. The Maintenance & Lockdown page still opens for super admins, so you can lift the window. MangoApps support can always reach the site.
Signing in still works during a window, with a password, single sign-on or the phone app; what a person can do afterwards is still up to the window. Forgot password? is not offered while a window blocks the web (or the phone app, on the phone) or freezes changes, and Sign in with code is not offered while a window holds outgoing messages, which a security lockdown always does. Single sign-on creates no new account while a window blocks the web or freezes changes. During a security lockdown single sign-on is turned off altogether: sign in with your password.
Does a maintenance window end on its own?
Yes. It ends at its Lifts at time, or four hours after it started if none was set. Super admins are emailed when it ends. A running window can’t be extended; start a new one if the work isn’t finished.
Two never end on their own: a security lockdown (super admins get a reminder email every day it lasts), and a window MangoApps set, which your admins can neither ride through nor lift. Contact MangoApps support (support@mangoapps.com) for that one.
Lift, cancel and review
Lift maintenance now restores access straight away, and existing sign-ins carry on. Cancel scheduled window calls off a booking. History lists the 20 most recent windows with outcome, what was blocked, who started it and how it ended. Every super admin with an email address is emailed when a window is scheduled, starts, is cancelled, ends or is lifted. Members are not emailed.
How do I lock everyone out after a suspected breach?
Use Security Lockdown, the red section at the bottom of the page. It is for a suspected breach, not planned work. Lift any maintenance window first. Enter the reason (internal only, never shown publicly), tick the confirmation, and click Start security lockdown. It starts at once and can’t be scheduled. While it is on:
- Web, mobile and API are blocked for everyone, admins included. Sessions and API tokens are blocked, not ended.
- Incoming integrations (webhooks, provisioning) are refused.
- Outgoing email and syncs are held and go out when it lifts, except reminders out of date by then.
- Texts, calls and WhatsApp messages due meanwhile are cancelled and not resent. Emergency alerts still go out.
- Single sign-on and Sign in with code are turned off; super admins sign in with their password.
- A snapshot of sessions active in the last 30 days, API tokens and integration connections is saved for you to download as a CSV.
- Members see a plain “Temporarily unavailable” page that never mentions a lockdown.
- Every super admin with an email address is emailed.
If the incident is confirmed, the super admin who started it has two steps. Neither can be undone, and neither is needed to lift.
- Sign everyone out ends every session and every phone-app and Office add-in sign-in, yours included. Sign back in with your password and you land on the Maintenance & Lockdown page (your site address followed by /admin/maintenance); the rest of the site stays blocked.
- Revoke API tokens stops every token. Integrations need new keys.
Lifting: only the super admin who started it, or MangoApps support after verifying identity. Other super admins see a read-only summary. If you lift without signing everyone out, everyone who was signed in and hasn’t timed out gets access back, including anyone who shouldn’t.
For one leaver, a lost device or a leaked key, use Sessions & Tokens instead; it doesn’t take the site down. See Security & Sign-On.
Billing and suspended accounts
Why are our apps switched off, or why is the workspace read-only?
The banner tells you which of three causes applies:
- A read-only freeze (“Read-only freeze is active”): a super admin set it. It ends when lifted or at its lift time.
- An unpaid invoice: on a self-serve plan, reminders go out at 7, 14, 30 and 45 days past due. A subscription invoice still unpaid after the last one switches the plan’s apps off, and the Plan tab reads Switched off — unpaid. Members see “Some apps are switched off for your organization right now”, with no cause named. Paying turns the apps back on, and data is kept. An unpaid invoice never suspends the account.
- A trial that ended: a self-serve trial that ends without continuing switches its apps off and makes the whole workspace read-only (“Your workspace is read-only — the trial ended…”). Data is kept for 90 days. An admin adds a payment method, or clicks Turn everything back on if a card is on file.
Details: Billing & Payments.
Our account is suspended — what do I do?
MangoApps suspends a whole account by its own decision. While it is suspended:
- The web app, mobile app and API are blocked for everyone. The sign-in page opens, but signing in doesn’t restore access.
- No data is deleted. The workspace’s own emails, notifications and integrations stop.
- Every administrator with an email address is emailed.
- A maintenance window can’t change it, and the billing pages can’t be reached, so paying doesn’t lift it.
Members: contact your workplace administrator. Administrators: contact MangoApps support at support@mangoapps.com or your account manager. There is no self-service reactivation; only MangoApps can reactivate.
When it is reactivated, access returns for everyone (allow up to a minute, then reload) and administrators are emailed. People may need to sign in again; nothing else about their accounts changes. Your own maintenance window or lockdown stays until lifted, and apps switched off for non-payment stay off until paid. If MangoApps is closing the account, the page administrators see says so; contact support straight away if that is unexpected.