diff --git a/app.py b/app.py
index 7a4b9f5..d51f4a4 100644
--- a/app.py
+++ b/app.py
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ from EagleEyev3 import *
 from settings import config
 
 
+SECRET_KEY = "this needs to be changed to something unique and not checked into git"
+
 
 # check if it could pull in a config object from settings.py
 if config:
@@ -34,6 +36,9 @@ if config:
     if 'log_level' in config:
         logger.setLevel(config['log_level'])
 
+    if 'client_secret' in config:
+        SECRET_KEY = config['client_secret']
+
 else:
     logging.setLevel(config['INFO'])
 
@@ -45,7 +50,10 @@ logging.info(f"Using EagleEyev3 version {EagleEyev3.__version__}")
 
 app = Flask(__name__)
 
+app.secret_key = SECRET_KEY
 SESSION_TYPE = 'filesystem'
+SESSION_PERMANENT = False
+PERMANENT_SESSION_LIFETIME = 60 * 60 * 24 * 7 # one week in seconds
 app.config.from_object(__name__)
 Session(app)