Does Lockdown Browser Record You? What It Actually Captures During Exams

If you've been asked to use Respondus Lockdown Browser for an online exam, you've probably wondered exactly what it's watching — and whether it's watching you. The short answer is: it depends on how your instructor has configured it. But that one-sentence answer skips over some important technical details worth understanding.

What Lockdown Browser Actually Does by Default

Respondus Lockdown Browser is primarily a restricted browser — not a surveillance tool on its own. At its core, it locks down your testing environment by:

• Preventing you from opening other tabs or applications
• Disabling copy/paste, printing, and screenshot functions
• Blocking access to other websites during the exam
• Preventing you from exiting the exam until you submit it

In this base mode, the browser is watching your computer behavior, not you personally. It doesn't record your face, your voice, or your screen activity by default. It's closer to a digital fence than a camera.

Where Recording Comes In: Respondus Monitor 🎥

The recording layer is a separate add-on called Respondus Monitor. This is where things get more significant. When an instructor enables Monitor alongside Lockdown Browser, the software uses your webcam and microphone to capture exam sessions.

Here's what Respondus Monitor can record:

Respondus Monitor also uses AI-based flagging to identify potentially suspicious behaviors — things like looking away frequently, another voice in the room, or someone else appearing on camera. These flags are reviewed by instructors, not acted on automatically by the software.

What Triggers Recording vs. What Doesn't

Not every use of Lockdown Browser includes Monitor. Whether you're being recorded depends entirely on how your institution and instructor have configured the exam.

Variables that determine your recording situation:

• Institution license — Does your school pay for Respondus Monitor, or just the base Lockdown Browser?
• Instructor settings — Even if Monitor is available, instructors choose whether to enable it per exam
• Exam type — High-stakes finals are far more likely to use Monitor than low-point quizzes
• LMS integration — Settings flow through your Learning Management System (Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, etc.), so the configuration lives there

If your exam only requires Lockdown Browser without any mention of Monitor or webcam requirements, you're almost certainly not being recorded on camera.

What Happens to the Recordings?

When Monitor is active, recordings are uploaded to Respondus cloud servers after your exam ends. Your instructor receives a review dashboard where flagged moments are highlighted for their attention. They don't necessarily watch the entire video — the AI surfaces the moments it considers suspicious.

Retention policies vary by institution. Some schools set data to expire after a semester; others keep it longer. Your institution's data privacy policy or FERPA disclosures should document this, though many students never think to check until after the fact.

Does Lockdown Browser Know If You Switch Devices or Use a Phone?

The browser itself only monitors the device it's installed on. It cannot detect a second device — like a phone propped up next to your laptop — unless that device is visible to the webcam when Monitor is running. This is a known limitation. Some institutions address it by requiring a room scan at the start of the exam, which would reveal obvious secondary devices in view of the camera.

Similarly, Lockdown Browser can't intercept network traffic or monitor other devices on your Wi-Fi. It operates entirely at the application layer on your exam device.

Technical Requirements Reveal What's Being Used 🔍

A practical way to understand what an exam will capture: look at the technical requirements your instructor lists. If they mention:

• Webcam required → Monitor is likely enabled
• Microphone required → Audio recording is active
• "Room scan" instructions → Full proctoring mode is on
• No webcam mentioned → You're likely using base Lockdown Browser only

Some LMS platforms also display a pre-exam screen that explicitly states what the session will record before you begin.

The Privacy Conversation Around Automated Proctoring

It's worth knowing that automated proctoring tools like Respondus Monitor have faced real scrutiny from privacy advocates, students, and some legislators. Concerns center on facial recognition accuracy across different skin tones, invasive home environment monitoring, and the reliability of AI-generated flags.

Several universities have scaled back or restricted proctoring tool use in response to these concerns. Whether your institution has policies around this — and what rights you have as a student regarding recorded data — varies significantly by school and jurisdiction.

The Missing Piece Is Your Specific Setup

The technology itself is consistent: Lockdown Browser restricts your environment; Monitor adds webcam, audio, and screen recording when enabled. But what you're actually subject to depends on your institution's license, your instructor's choices for that specific exam, and your school's data retention and privacy policies.

Those details live in your course syllabus, your LMS exam settings, and your institution's student privacy documentation — not in the software itself.