diff --git a/src/index.tsx b/src/index.tsx
index fcb1712..17c09dc 100644
--- a/src/index.tsx
+++ b/src/index.tsx
@@ -26,6 +26,23 @@ import { getBasePath } from "./util/basePath";
 // will set loggedIn to false if necessary
 api.loggedIn = document.cookie.includes("user_id=");
 
+// Verify the loggedIn status with the server. If we thought we were logged out
+// but the API does not require authentication, refresh the page so we start
+// in logged-in mode.
+//
+// An alternative to refreshing the page is to provide the loggedIn status via
+// React context or some other mechanism. With the current infrastructure of
+// the web interface, it is very messy to use React context for this as
+// `api.loggedIn` is used in a few hard to reach spots. We should look into
+// Redux for a cleaner approach.
+api.checkAuthStatus().then(() => {
+  if (!api.loggedIn) {
+    // No authentication is required for this API. Refresh the page so we start
+    // in logged-in mode
+    window.location.reload();
+  }
+});
+
 setupI18n();
 
 ReactDOM.render(
diff --git a/src/util/__tests__/api.test.tsx b/src/util/__tests__/api.test.tsx
index cff6bd3..8c60ec8 100644
--- a/src/util/__tests__/api.test.tsx
+++ b/src/util/__tests__/api.test.tsx
@@ -65,6 +65,11 @@ describe("ApiClient", () => {
       });
     });
 
+    it("should call auth endpoint with no headers", async () => {
+      await expect(api.checkAuthStatus()).resolves.toEqual(getData);
+      expect(httpClient.get).toHaveBeenCalledWith("auth");
+    });
+
     it("should call logout endpoint", async () => {
       await expect(api.logout()).resolves.toEqual(deleteData);
       expect(httpClient.delete).toHaveBeenCalledWith("auth");
diff --git a/src/util/api.tsx b/src/util/api.tsx
index 0a20452..992f73c 100644
--- a/src/util/api.tsx
+++ b/src/util/api.tsx
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ export class ApiClient {
     });
   };
 
+  checkAuthStatus = (): Promise<ApiSuccessResponse> => {
+    return this.http.get("auth");
+  };
+
   logout = (): Promise<ApiSuccessResponse> => {
     return this.http.delete("auth");
   };