---
title: Emergency Free Access
slug: editorial/emergency-free-access
docTags: 
createdAt: 2026-09-10T09:13:05.969Z
---

## What it is

Emergency Free Access is a "break glass" switch for a project. When it's turned on, **all paid content in that project becomes free and publicly accessible immediately** — subscriptions, single purchases, coupon codes, and other entitlement checks are bypassed entirely while it's active.

Use it only when your entitlement / paid-access system is down and you can no longer verify which readers have paid. Turning it on keeps your content available to readers during an outage instead of locking everyone out.

## Who can use it

- Global Admins
- Super Users
- Team Admins of the project's team

Anyone with access to the project can see whether Emergency Free Access is currently on. Only the roles above can turn it on or off.

## Where to find it

1. Open the project in the Purple Control Center.
2. On the project's detail page, find the **Entitlement** card.
3. Click it to open the **Entitlement** page.

The Entitlement page also links to Purple DS Manager, where your entitlement provider and login flow are configured — Emergency Free Access is a separate, standalone switch on the same page.

:::BlockQuote
**Note:** the Emergency Free Access toggle is only available for projects that are provided through the content cloud. If a project hasn't been published yet, the Entitlement card and page are still there, but the toggle is hidden.
:::

## Turning it on

1. On the Entitlement page, switch **Emergency Free Access** on.
2. A confirmation dialog appears, explaining that this makes all content in the project free and public immediately, and that paid content, subscriptions, and coupons stop being checked until you turn it off.
3. Confirm.

Once confirmed:

- The switch shows **active**.
- A **Free access on** badge appears on the project's Entitlement card.
- A warning banner appears at the top of the project's detail page — visible to everyone with access to the project — with a **Turn off** shortcut button.

Changes may take a short moment to apply everywhere.

## Turning it off

Use either:

- The switch on the Entitlement page, or
- The **Turn off** button in the warning banner on the project detail page (visible only to Global Admins, Super Users, and Team Admins of the project's team).

Confirm in the dialog. Normal paid-access checks resume immediately, as configured for the project.

## Important notes

- This affects **all content in the project** — there's no way to make only part of it free.
- Turn it off as soon as your entitlement system is working again. The longer it stays on, the longer all paid content stays free to everyone.
- Only Global Admins, Super Users, and Team Admins of the project's team can turn it on or off; other users can only see whether it's currently active.