diff --git a/client/components/forceProtocol.jsx b/client/components/forceProtocol.jsx
index 5a583bc4..dda5451c 100644
--- a/client/components/forceProtocol.jsx
+++ b/client/components/forceProtocol.jsx
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import React, { PropTypes } from 'react';
+import { format, parse } from 'url';
 
 /**
  * A Higher Order Component that forces the protocol to change on mount
@@ -8,28 +9,33 @@ import React, { PropTypes } from 'react';
  * disable: if true, the redirection will not happen but what should
  *          have happened will be logged to the console
  */
-const forceProtocol = ({ targetProtocol = 'https:', sourceProtocol, disable = false }) => WrappedComponent => (
+const forceProtocol = ({ targetProtocol = 'https', sourceProtocol, disable = false }) => WrappedComponent => (
   class ForceProtocol extends React.Component {
     static propTypes = {}
 
     componentDidMount() {
-      this.redirectToProtocol(targetProtocol);
+      this.redirectToProtocol(targetProtocol, { appendSource: true });
     }
 
     componentWillUnmount() {
       if (sourceProtocol != null) {
-        this.redirectToProtocol(sourceProtocol);
+        this.redirectToProtocol(sourceProtocol, { appendSource: false });
       }
     }
 
-    redirectToProtocol(protocol) {
-      const currentProtocol = window.location.protocol;
+    redirectToProtocol(protocol, { appendSource }) {
+      const currentProtocol = parse(window.location.href).protocol;
 
       if (protocol !== currentProtocol) {
         if (disable === true) {
           console.info(`forceProtocol: would have redirected from "${currentProtocol}" to "${protocol}"`);
         } else {
-          window.location = window.location.href.replace(currentProtocol, protocol);
+          const url = parse(window.location.href, true /* parse query string */);
+          url.protocol = protocol;
+          if (appendSource === true) {
+            url.query.source = currentProtocol;
+          }
+          window.location = format(url);
         }
       }
     }
@@ -40,5 +46,25 @@ const forceProtocol = ({ targetProtocol = 'https:', sourceProtocol, disable = fa
   }
 );
 
+const protocols = {
+  http: 'http:',
+  https: 'https:',
+};
+
+const findSourceProtocol = (state, location) => {
+  if (/source=https/.test(window.location.search)) {
+    return protocols.https;
+  } else if (/source=http/.test(window.location.search)) {
+    return protocols.http;
+  } else if (state.project.serveSecure === true) {
+    return protocols.https;
+  }
+
+  return protocols.http;
+};
 
 export default forceProtocol;
+export {
+  findSourceProtocol,
+  protocols,
+};
diff --git a/client/constants.js b/client/constants.js
index 3cc8f104..e3060237 100644
--- a/client/constants.js
+++ b/client/constants.js
@@ -110,3 +110,6 @@ export const RESET_PROJECT_SAVED_TIME = 'RESET_PROJECT_SAVED_TIME';
 export const SET_PREVIOUS_PATH = 'SET_PREVIOUS_PATH';
 export const SHOW_ERROR_MODAL = 'SHOW_ERROR_MODAL';
 export const HIDE_ERROR_MODAL = 'HIDE_ERROR_MODAL';
+
+export const PERSIST_STATE = 'PERSIST_STATE';
+export const CLEAR_PERSISTED_STATE = 'CLEAR_PERSISTED_STATE';
diff --git a/client/modules/IDE/actions/project.js b/client/modules/IDE/actions/project.js
index ae6170a8..c5abc528 100644
--- a/client/modules/IDE/actions/project.js
+++ b/client/modules/IDE/actions/project.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { setUnsavedChanges,
   justOpenedProject,
   resetJustOpenedProject,
   showErrorModal } from './ide';
+import { clearState, saveState } from '../../../persistState';
 
 const ROOT_URL = process.env.API_URL;
 
@@ -42,6 +43,25 @@ export function getProject(id) {
   };
 }
 
+export function persistState() {
+  return (dispatch, getState) => {
+    dispatch({
+      type: ActionTypes.PERSIST_STATE,
+    });
+    const state = getState();
+    saveState(state);
+  };
+}
+
+export function clearPersistedState() {
+  return (dispatch) => {
+    dispatch({
+      type: ActionTypes.CLEAR_PERSISTED_STATE,
+    });
+    clearState();
+  };
+}
+
 export function saveProject(autosave = false) {
   return (dispatch, getState) => {
     const state = getState();
diff --git a/client/modules/IDE/pages/IDEView.jsx b/client/modules/IDE/pages/IDEView.jsx
index 31f0af47..b8b501f7 100644
--- a/client/modules/IDE/pages/IDEView.jsx
+++ b/client/modules/IDE/pages/IDEView.jsx
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ class IDEView extends React.Component {
   }
 
   componentDidMount() {
+    // If page doesn't reload after Sign In then we need
+    // to force cleared state to be cleared
+    this.props.clearPersistedState();
+
     this.props.stopSketch();
     if (this.props.params.project_id) {
       const id = this.props.params.project_id;
@@ -170,8 +174,12 @@ class IDEView extends React.Component {
   warnIfUnsavedChanges(route) { // eslint-disable-line
     if (route && (route.action === 'PUSH' && (route.pathname === '/login' || route.pathname === '/signup'))) {
       // don't warn
+      this.props.persistState();
+      window.onbeforeunload = null;
     } else if (route && (this.props.location.pathname === '/login' || this.props.location.pathname === '/signup')) {
       // don't warn
+      this.props.persistState();
+      window.onbeforeunload = null;
     } else if (this.props.ide.unsavedChanges) {
       if (!window.confirm('Are you sure you want to leave this page? You have unsaved changes.')) {
         return false;
@@ -590,7 +598,9 @@ IDEView.propTypes = {
   })).isRequired,
   clearConsole: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
   showErrorModal: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
-  hideErrorModal: PropTypes.func.isRequired
+  hideErrorModal: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
+  clearPersistedState: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
+  persistState: PropTypes.func.isRequired
 };
 
 function mapStateToProps(state) {
diff --git a/client/modules/IDE/reducers/project.js b/client/modules/IDE/reducers/project.js
index d633dd48..1b8faa52 100644
--- a/client/modules/IDE/reducers/project.js
+++ b/client/modules/IDE/reducers/project.js
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 import generate from 'project-name-generator';
 import * as ActionTypes from '../../../constants';
+import isSecurePage from '../../../utils/isSecurePage';
 
 const initialState = () => {
   const generatedString = generate({ words: 2 }).spaced;
   const generatedName = generatedString.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + generatedString.slice(1);
   return {
     name: generatedName,
-    serveSecure: false,
+    serveSecure: isSecurePage(),
   };
 };
 
diff --git a/client/persistState.js b/client/persistState.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..457dba01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/persistState.js
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/*
+  Saves and loads a snapshot of the Redux store
+  state to session storage
+*/
+const key = 'p5js-editor';
+const storage = sessionStorage;
+
+export const saveState = (state) => {
+  try {
+    storage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(state));
+  } catch (error) {
+    console.warn('Unable to persist state to storage:', error);
+  }
+};
+
+export const loadState = () => {
+  try {
+    return JSON.parse(storage.getItem(key));
+  } catch (error) {
+    console.warn('Failed to retrieve initialize state from storage:', error);
+    return null;
+  }
+};
+
+export const clearState = () => {
+  storage.removeItem(key);
+};
diff --git a/client/routes.jsx b/client/routes.jsx
index 33b3cf38..b4bdf6a8 100644
--- a/client/routes.jsx
+++ b/client/routes.jsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { Route, IndexRoute } from 'react-router';
 import React from 'react';
-import forceProtocol from './components/forceProtocol';
+import forceProtocol, { protocols, findSourceProtocol } from './components/forceProtocol';
 import App from './modules/App/App';
 import IDEView from './modules/IDE/pages/IDEView';
 import FullView from './modules/IDE/pages/FullView';
@@ -17,13 +17,11 @@ const checkAuth = (store) => {
 };
 
 const routes = (store) => {
-  const sourceProtocol = store.getState().project.serveSecure === true ?
-    'https:' :
-    'http:';
+  const sourceProtocol = findSourceProtocol(store.getState());
 
   // If the flag is false, we stay on HTTP
   const forceToHttps = forceProtocol({
-    targetProtocol: 'https:',
+    targetProtocol: protocols.https,
     sourceProtocol,
     // prints debugging but does not reload page
     disable: process.env.FORCE_TO_HTTPS === false,
diff --git a/client/store.js b/client/store.js
index 023197c9..1fe11cc3 100644
--- a/client/store.js
+++ b/client/store.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { createStore, applyMiddleware, compose } from 'redux';
 import thunk from 'redux-thunk';
 import DevTools from './modules/App/components/DevTools';
 import rootReducer from './reducers';
+import { clearState, loadState } from './persistState';
 
 export default function configureStore(initialState) {
   const enhancers = [
@@ -13,9 +14,12 @@ export default function configureStore(initialState) {
     enhancers.push(window.devToolsExtension ? window.devToolsExtension() : DevTools.instrument());
   }
 
+  const savedState = loadState();
+  clearState();
+
   const store = createStore(
     rootReducer,
-    initialState,
+    savedState != null ? savedState : initialState,
     compose(...enhancers)
   );
 
diff --git a/client/utils/isSecurePage.js b/client/utils/isSecurePage.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2efb908a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/utils/isSecurePage.js
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+
+const isSecurePage = () => (
+  window.location.protocol === 'https:'
+);
+
+export default isSecurePage;
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 7e0e55f2..1653cac6 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@
     "s3-policy": "^0.2.0",
     "shortid": "^2.2.6",
     "srcdoc-polyfill": "^0.2.0",
+    "url": "^0.11.0",
     "webpack": "^1.14.0",
     "webpack-dev-middleware": "^1.6.1",
     "webpack-hot-middleware": "^2.10.0",