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Recordings

Gain contextual insights by recording your participants' face, screen and/or audio while they take your test

Shane Keran avatar
Written by Shane Keran
Updated over 2 months ago

Our Recordings feature allows you to easily capture your participants' face, screen and audio as they complete tasks during your test. These recordings are meant to help you identify potential usability issues by gauging your users' initial reactions and providing valuable insight into their thought processes as they navigate your design or information architecture. Recordings are only available on paid plans.

Enabling test recording

Recording is enabled per section and is supported for the following section types:

  • Card sort

  • First click

  • Navigation test

  • Prototype task flow

  • Tree Test

Only the task will be recorded, follow-up questions are not recorded.


To enable recording for a section, simply follow these steps:

  1. Add a new section or navigate to an existing section

  2. While hovering over the section, click on the Record button that appears

  3. Select the recording requirements for your test

When enabled, recording is mandatory for all participants. However, due to iOS and Android restrictions, screen recording is not possible on mobile devices.

If you select screen recording but do not target desktop devices, you may still receive responses from users on mobile devices. If that happens, you will only be able to hear their audio, you will not be able to see their screen.

Viewing test recordings

On the results page, each recorded section will have a “Recordings” tab where you can view and download the recordings. These are available when viewing an individual participant's response too.

Participant experience

When recording is enabled, participants will be guided through a setup process at the start of the test. If your test contains a screener, those questions will be asked first.


At the beginning of each test section with recording requirements, participants will be reminded that recording will begin:

Recording is mandatory for all participants. If permissions are not granted at the beginning of the test, the participant cannot proceed. If revoked partway through, their test session will be terminated. You will not receive results for sessions that are terminated before completing the test.

Coming soon

In addition to the features available now, we're also currently working on some further enhancements, such as:

  • Tagging

  • Transcription for audio recordings

Common questions

How can I preview the recording feature from a participant’s point of view?

Our test preview will only display the recording requirements on the welcome screen. If you would like to preview the full recording experience, we recommend using the Lyssna link for your test instead.

Can I record participants while they test my live website?

Recordings can only be used on supported section types. We don't currently offer a live website testing solution, but let us know if you'd be interested in this.

Can I record the entire test from beginning to end?

Only individual test sections are recorded. If you would prefer to record the entire test from beginning to end, please reach out and let us know!

Can I record participants from the Lyssna panel?

Yes! Orders from the Lyssna panel incur an extra charge when recordings are enabled, you can learn more from our Pricing article. At this time, recordings are not supported for orders from our partner panel.

How can I share feedback about this feature?

Our Support team is available to answer your questions or take feedback. Reach out to us at any time from the chat bubble in your account or by emailing support@lyssna.com.

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