Updated Oct 2026

Why every post starts pending

You wrote a post. You like it. And still the app makes you approve it before it can go anywhere. If that feels like a pointless extra click, this page is for you. The click is the product.

Making a post and publishing it are two different acts

Every post lands in Needs approval the moment it’s made. Some places in the app call this pending. It doesn’t matter if AI wrote it or you typed every word. There’s no fast lane, and no exception for posts you clearly meant. That’s on purpose. An audit trail with exceptions isn’t an audit trail.

Here’s what that means in practice. When a post publishes, PostSignOff keeps a record of who approved it and when. The published copy is locked exactly as it went out. That record only means something if there’s no way around it. Once some posts could skip review, “every published post was approved” turns into “most of them were, probably.” Then the record stops proving anything.

So the rule has no exceptions. A post waiting for approval never publishes on its own, no matter how long it sits. Even approving isn’t publishing. Approving says the words are right. Publishing comes later, at a scheduled time or when you choose to publish now. Two questions, two decisions.

Why a missed time expires a post

If nothing publishes without a yes, drafts can wait. And they do. A post doesn’t expire from age. It can sit for a day or a year, and it’ll still be there when you come back. What keeps it from going out is your decision, not a timer.

There’s one case where a post expires anyway. Say you gave it a scheduled time, and that time came while it still wasn’t approved. It missed its slot. So it moves to Expired instead of going out late.

Here’s why. An approval is a judgment about a moment. Picture a post written for Tuesday morning that quietly went out on Friday. It would speak to a world that has moved on. The deadline it mentions has passed. The offer changed. The news is old. Expiring the miss makes you take a fresh look. A stale post doesn’t get to slip out the door late.

Campaign posts have one more case. A plan change can leave a campaign slot further out than your plan can schedule. That post expires too, even if you approved it, because it has no slot it’s allowed to keep.

An expired post isn’t gone. You can bring it back. Reactivating returns it to Needs approval, where it waits for your decision like any other draft. The steps are on the pages linked below.

Why editing an approved post reopens the decision

Your approval was for certain words. If you change the text, the hashtags or the sign-off after you approve, those aren’t the words you said yes to. So the post goes back to Needs approval, and you approve it again.

That can feel fussy for a small fix. But it’s what makes the record honest. Every published post matches something someone approved. If your brand uses compliance review, it also means the version that goes out is the version that was checked.

Why disconnecting an account reopens approvals

This one surprises people. Say you disconnect or remove a social account, and it has approved posts waiting. The app offers to move them back to Needs approval. That choice is picked for you. If you keep them approved instead, they’ll fail at their time unless you reconnect first. The same move happens on its own when a trial or subscription ends.

The logic matches expiry. You gave your approval under certain conditions: these words, going to that account. When the account goes away, so do the conditions your approval rested on. So the app doesn’t let an old yes carry into a new situation. It asks you to decide again once things are reconnected. Drafts that were never approved aren’t touched. There was no decision to undo.

What this assumes about how you work

Right now you’re probably both the writer and the approver. That’s fine, and it’s how most people start. The gate still earns its keep. The pause between writing something and approving it is the review, even when you wear both hats.