diff --git a/src/App.jsx b/src/App.jsx
index 0de54da..f4a68e1 100644
--- a/src/App.jsx
+++ b/src/App.jsx
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ import RatingHistory from './components/RatingHistory/RatingHistory';
 import Comment from './components/Comment/Comment';
 import SearchPage from './components/SearchPage/SearchPage';
 import { doc, getDoc, onSnapshot } from 'firebase/firestore';
-import { db } from './utilities/firebase';
+import { auth, db } from './utilities/firebase';
+import { onAuthStateChanged } from 'firebase/auth';
+import { set } from 'firebase/database';
 
 // Toggle this to `true` in dev if you want to skip sign-in
 const DEV_MODE = false;
@@ -29,6 +31,19 @@ function App() {
   const [profilePic, setProfilePic] = useState(null);
   const [friends, setFriends] = useState([]);
   const [filteredPost, setFilteredPost] = useState([]);
+  const [authLoaded, setAuthLoaded] = useState(false);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const unsubscribe = onAuthStateChanged(auth, (curUser) => {
+      setUser(curUser);
+      // https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Optional_chaining
+      setUserEmail(curUser?.email);
+      setProfilePic(curUser?.photoURL);
+      setAuthLoaded(true);
+    })
+
+    return () => unsubscribe();
+  }, []);
 
   const isAuthenticated = DEV_MODE || user;
 
@@ -78,6 +93,7 @@ function App() {
   
 
   return (
+    !authLoaded ? <div>Loading...</div> :
     <Container className="app-background" maxWidth="sm" disableGutters>
       <Router>
         <Routes>
@@ -85,11 +101,7 @@ function App() {
             <Route
               path="/"
               element={
-                <SignIn
-                  setUser={setUser}
-                  setUserEmail={setUserEmail}
-                  setProfilePic={setProfilePic}
-                />
+                <SignIn />
               }
             />
           ) : (
diff --git a/src/components/SignIn/SignIn.jsx b/src/components/SignIn/SignIn.jsx
index 86dce7c..0f57e23 100644
--- a/src/components/SignIn/SignIn.jsx
+++ b/src/components/SignIn/SignIn.jsx
@@ -4,26 +4,22 @@ import logo from "../../images/CBLogo.png";
 import { Container } from '@mui/material';
 import { useNavigate } from "react-router-dom";
 
-import { signInWithGooglePopup } from "../../utilities/firebase";
+// import { signInWithGooglePopup } from "../../utilities/firebase";
+import { signInWithGoogle } from "../../utilities/firebase";
 
 import { createUserDocIfNotExists } from "../../utilities/createUserDocIfNotExists";
 
-const SignIn = ({ setUser, setUserEmail, setProfilePic }) => {
+const SignIn = () => {
   const navigate = useNavigate();
 
   const logGoogleUser = async () => {
     try {
-      const response = await signInWithGooglePopup();
+      const response = await signInWithGoogle();
 
-      // 1) store user in React state
-      setUser(response.user);
-      setUserEmail(response.user.email);
-      setProfilePic(response.user.photoURL);
-
-      // 2) ensure there's a doc in "users/{uid}"
+      // 1) ensure there's a doc in "users/{uid}"
       await createUserDocIfNotExists(response.user);
 
-      // 3) navigate to feed
+      // 2) navigate to feed
       navigate("/feed");
     } catch (error) {
       console.error("Error signing in with Google: ", error);
diff --git a/src/utilities/firebase.js b/src/utilities/firebase.js
index 616daf8..89eaabd 100644
--- a/src/utilities/firebase.js
+++ b/src/utilities/firebase.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { getFirestore } from "firebase/firestore";
 import { initializeApp } from "firebase/app";
 import { getAnalytics } from "firebase/analytics";
-import { getAuth, signInWithPopup, GoogleAuthProvider } from "firebase/auth";
+import { getAuth, signInWithPopup, GoogleAuthProvider, browserLocalPersistence, setPersistence } from "firebase/auth";
 import { collection, getDocs } from "firebase/firestore"; 
 import { get } from "firebase/database";
 
@@ -19,12 +19,10 @@ const firebaseConfig = {
 // Initialize Firebase
 const app = initializeApp(firebaseConfig);
 
-const provider = new GoogleAuthProvider();
-
 export const db = getFirestore(app);
 // export const analytics = getAnalytics(app);
 export const auth = getAuth(app);
-export const signInWithGooglePopup = () => signInWithPopup(auth, provider);
+export const provider = new GoogleAuthProvider();
 
 // Only initialize analytics if running in a browser -- this is for dataInsertion.js
 // We probably don't need this for the final project
@@ -33,8 +31,13 @@ if (typeof window !== "undefined") {
   analytics = getAnalytics(app);
 }
 
-// Example query code:
-// const querySnapshot = await getDocs(collection(db, "posts"));
-// querySnapshot.forEach((doc) => {
-//     console.log(doc.id, "=>", doc.data());
-// });
\ No newline at end of file
+export const signInWithGoogle = async () => {
+  try{
+    setPersistence(auth, browserLocalPersistence);
+    const result = await signInWithPopup(auth, provider);
+    const user = result.user;
+    return {user};
+  } catch (error) {
+    console.error("Error signing in with Google: ", error);
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file