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The two types of replay
Feedback Session Replay is a recording of roughly the last three to seven minutes a user spent on your site before they opened the feedback widget. It's attached to their feedback, so every bug report arrives with a view of what led up to it.
Full Session Replay records a user's entire visit, whether or not they give feedback. Recordings are stored in Replays, and are useful for understanding user journeys and finding problems nobody reported. Older articles call these "user sessions".
How they compare:
What's recorded: Feedback Session Replay covers about three minutes before the widget opens. Full Session Replay covers the whole visit.
When it starts: Feedback Session Replay is captured when someone submits feedback. Full Session Replay starts when someone visits a page on a domain you've turned on.
Where you watch it: Feedback Session Replay is on the feedback item, or the survey response. Full Session Replay is in Replays and on each user's profile.
Length: a full session ends after 30 minutes of inactivity, or after 6 hours. A new recording starts after that.
What you can see in a replay
A replay isn't a screen video. Userback rebuilds the page and replays what the user did, including every click, scroll, and page change. Alongside it you get:
Console logs: errors and warnings from the browser as they happened.
Network requests: the HTTP requests the page made.
Events: a timeline of clicks, form inputs, page navigation, and feedback submissions. See Read the Events Panel in a Session Replay.
Rage clicks: repeated, rapid clicks on one spot, a common sign of frustration. See Rage Clicks.
Turn on Session Replay for feedback
Userback's code needs to be installed on your site first. See Install the Userback Widget on Your Website.
Go to Feedback > Settings > Widget > Design > More.
Under Tracking, turn on session replay.
Save your changes.
Feedback that includes a replay shows a play icon. Open the item and click Replay to watch it.
Turn on Full Session Replay
Go to Replays, click Settings, and turn on each domain you want recorded. See Set Up Full Session Replay.
Privacy
Both types of replay support rules that block, ignore, or mask parts of the page so sensitive information is never recorded.
For Session Replay on feedback, set rules in Feedback > Settings > Privacy.
For Full Session Replay, set rules in Replays > Settings > Privacy Rules.
See Set Up Full Session Replay for how each rule type works.
Frequently asked questions
Which page elements can't be recorded?
Replays support most HTML, including forms, buttons, links, and images. They don't record iframes, video, audio, or canvas elements.
Can I download a replay as a video?
No. A replay is a rebuilt version of the page played back in the browser, not a video file.
Is Session Replay GDPR compliant?
Yes. Use privacy rules to mask personal data, such as passwords and email addresses, before it's recorded.
Why didn't a page record?
Replays only record pages where the page's DOM is smaller than 5 MB. See Troubleshoot: Session Replays Are Broken or Missing.
Why does a replay look different from what the user saw?
If your site's CSS changed after the session was recorded, the replay uses the new CSS. Clicks and mouse movement can then look out of line with the page. A CSS storage option that keeps replays accurate is available on custom plans.
What does LIVE or ONLINE mean on a session?
The session is still in progress. You can watch it once the user logs out, leaves the site, closes the browser, or has been inactive for 30 minutes.
Can collaborators watch replays?
Replays are off for collaborators by default. An administrator can turn them on for each collaborator from the Members page. Once they're on, a collaborator can watch the sessions of identified users on sites they have access to, including those users' sessions on other sites.
What are common uses for Session Replay?
Reproducing bug reports.
Understanding why an NPS detractor gave a low score.
Finding rage clicks and matching them to bug reports or survey answers.
Reviewing how users move through a key flow.
Spotting where to ask users for more feedback.