Does HackerRank Record Your Screen? What Each Mode Captures (2026)

TL;DR: A standard HackerRank test does not record your screen or your webcam. It logs events — paste actions, time away from the test tab, the code replay — and a recruiter reads those later. If the employer enabled Proctor Mode, HackerRank asks for screen sharing permission and captures periodic screenshots of your system plus webcam images. If they enabled Desktop App Mode, the whole session is recorded and stored as a Session Replay, other applications are closed, and screenshots are blocked. Which one you are in is printed on the test instructions page before you start.

You are ten minutes from a HackerRank link, the webcam light is on, and the question is whether someone is about to watch your screen. It is a fair question with an unhelpful answer on most pages: "HackerRank uses proctoring." That sentence covers four different products with four different levels of visibility, and only two of them capture anything.

This page separates them using HackerRank's own documentation, current as of 31 October 2026, so you can tell what your specific invite does before you click start.

The four modes, and what each one captures

HackerRank's integrity controls stack. The employer picks a level per test, and the level decides everything else.

Mode	Screen captured	Webcam captured	What else is logged
Standard test (nothing enabled)	No	No	Paste events, tab and window switches with timestamps, and the code replay
Secure Mode	No	No	Full-screen enforcement, tab-switch warnings, copy-paste disabled, multiple-monitor check
Proctor Mode (AI Add-on)	Yes — periodic system screenshots	Yes — continuous monitoring, images kept in the report	Everything in Secure Mode, plus object detection in the webcam feed, gaze detection, conversation-pattern detection in the editor
Desktop App Mode (AI Add-on)	Yes — full session recording	Yes — an image every 15 seconds	Everything in Proctor Mode, plus other apps force-closed, screenshots blocked, screen sharing and remote access blocked, virtual machines refused

The step that surprises people is the second row. Secure Mode sounds like the strictest thing HackerRank sells and it records nothing. It closes the browser down — full-screen, tab warnings, no pasting, one monitor — and reports only the rule violations it caught. HackerRank's Secure Mode documentation lists exactly four controls, and screen capture is not among them.

Standard test: a log file, not a recording

With no integrity mode enabled, a HackerRank test behaves like a normal web application. It knows what happens inside its own tab and nothing else.

What that produces is a timeline. When you pasted a block of code. When the tab lost focus and for how long. How the solution was built up in the editor, edit by edit. HackerRank's candidate-facing pages describe this as session data; recruiters see it as a report they can read alongside the submission.

None of it is a picture of your screen. A second device propped next to the laptop, a printed sheet under the desk, a colleague in the room — a standard test has no sensor pointed at any of that. That is the honest ceiling of browser-based proctoring, and it is why HackerRank built the two modes above.

Proctor Mode: the one that asks for screen sharing

Proctor Mode is part of HackerRank's AI Add-on, and it has to be switched on twice — once at the company level, once on the specific test. When it is on, the onboarding flow before your first question asks for three things: webcam access, confirmation that only one monitor is connected, and screen sharing access.

That last permission is the one to read carefully. HackerRank's Proctor Mode documentation states that screen sharing access "allows the system to monitor the candidate's screen activity during the test and verify that no unauthorized applications or resources are being used," and that session screenshots of the candidate's system are captured periodically. So yes: in Proctor Mode, images of your screen are collected during the test and land in the recruiter's report.

Alongside the screen capture, Proctor Mode adds:

• Webcam monitoring with object detection. If your face leaves the frame, or a second face appears, or a phone or tablet shows up in the video — even partially — the event is recorded with the image attached.
• Multiple-monitor detection that runs continuously. Connecting a display mid-test flags it, and you have to disconnect to continue.
• Conversation detection in the code editor. Typing and deleting in patterns that suggest you are relaying a question to someone else gets flagged for review.
• Gaze detection. HackerRank analyses eye and head movement for repeated look-away-and-return patterns. As of late 2026 this is limited availability — the company has to request access — so most Proctor Mode tests do not have it.

HackerRank's candidate help page for proctored tests puts it plainly: the webcam "captures and records periodic snapshots of your activities till the test ends," and that the recruiter can view them.

Desktop App Mode: the one that records everything

Desktop App Mode is the newest and the strictest, and it is the only mode where "does HackerRank record my screen" is unambiguously yes.

It is not a browser test. You download a native application for Windows or macOS, and the test runs inside it. Before the first question you agree to the prohibited-actions list and grant system permissions, then the app closes every other running program — or closes them for you if you click Force Close All Apps.

While the test runs, per HackerRank's Desktop App Mode documentation:

• Full-screen is enforced and leaving it is blocked rather than warned about.
• Other applications cannot be opened. The documentation names the category it is defending against and names two tools explicitly: Cluely and Ultracode.
• Screen sharing out and screenshots are both blocked. If you manage to take a screenshot, it comes out blank.
• Remote access to your machine is blocked, and the test refuses to run inside a virtual machine. How AnyDesk and UltraViewer fare in the other modes, and on HackerEarth and Mettl, is in can HackerRank detect remote access.
• Webcam images are captured every 15 seconds and stored.
• Copy and paste are disabled.

And afterwards, the Session Replay: a "recording of the candidate's test session across the full browser screen", with flagged events pinned to timestamps on a timeline. That is a continuous video of the test session, not a handful of stills.

If your invite made you install something before you could start, you are in this mode, and the machine you are sitting at is the only one that can take the test.

What HackerRank still cannot see

The controls above are narrower than the anxiety around them, even at the top level.

• A second device. A phone on the desk, a tablet on a stand, another laptop — none of them are connected to the machine running the test. Proctor Mode's webcam object detection can catch one if it is visible in the frame, and gaze detection looks for the behaviour of reading one. Neither is the same as seeing it.
• What was on your clipboard. HackerRank logs that a paste happened, when, and how large it was. It does not read the clipboard.
• The contents of your other browser tabs. Browser modes see that you switched away and for how long. They see the switch, not the page you switched to.
• Anything off camera. Printed notes, a whiteboard behind the laptop, someone talking to you from the doorway. Proctor Mode's multiple-face and object detection covers some of this; nothing covers all of it.

The part worth internalising: the technical controls are not the main risk. A HackerRank test is frequently followed by a technical conversation in which someone asks you to walk through the solution you just submitted and change it for an edge case. Every mode above produces evidence that can be checked against what you can explain out loud, and that comparison is where borrowed code stops working.

How to tell which mode your test is running

Before you accept the invite:

1. Read the instructions page. HackerRank shows additional notes on that page when the test is proctored. No note and no permission prompts means no capture.
2. Watch the onboarding flow. A download prompt means Desktop App Mode. A webcam permission dialog plus a screen-sharing request means Proctor Mode. A full-screen launch with tab warnings and no camera prompt means Secure Mode.
3. Check the rules you are asked to acknowledge. Every mode shows the prohibited-actions list before the test. It is a plain description of what that mode enforces.
4. Check the question types. Desktop App Mode does not support every question type, and Proctor Mode only applies to tests created after the July 2025 release — if your test was cloned from an older one, the mode may not be active even when the company has it enabled.

If the mode is on, prepare for the interview after it

None of these modes can follow you into the conversation that comes next — but that conversation is where a HackerRank submission is actually defended. Which means the useful preparation is not a way around screen capture; it is being able to explain every line you are about to submit.

That is what AceRound AI is built for: a live overlay during technical conversations that suggests the approach and the edge cases while you talk, plus timed mock sessions you can rehearse in beforehand. 30 minutes free, no card. The HackerRank AI interview guide covers what the interviewer on the other side has in front of them, and the full cheating-detection breakdown covers the plagiarism side — similarity thresholds, code replay and the follow-up questions that follow a flag.

FAQ

Does HackerRank record your screen?

It depends on which integrity mode the employer switched on. A standard HackerRank test records no screen and no webcam — it logs session events such as paste actions, time away from the test tab and the code replay. Proctor Mode adds periodic screenshots of your system plus webcam monitoring. Desktop App Mode records the full session, including the screen, and stores it as a Session Replay.

Does HackerRank record my webcam?

Only when the test is proctored. HackerRank's candidate documentation says that in a proctored test the webcam captures and records periodic snapshots until the test ends, and the recruiter can view them. Desktop App Mode captures webcam images every 15 seconds. A standard test does not ask for camera access at all.

Can HackerRank see my second monitor?

HackerRank checks for extra monitors in Secure Mode, Proctor Mode and Desktop App Mode, and it will not let the test continue on a multi-monitor setup — you have to disconnect the second display first. It flags any monitor you reconnect during the test. What it cannot see is a second device: a phone, a tablet or another laptop that is not connected to the machine taking the test.

Can HackerRank see other tabs or apps on my computer?

In the browser modes it sees tab and window switches, not the contents of those tabs. Proctor Mode and Desktop App Mode go further: they capture screenshots of your system and, in Proctor Mode, run object detection on your webcam feed to catch phones and tablets. Desktop App Mode closes other applications outright and blocks screen sharing, remote access and virtual machines.

Is the sample test or practice question proctored?

No. The sample test you use to check your setup runs outside the proctored session, so webcam capture and screenshotting start only when the scored test begins. HackerRank shows explicit notes on the test instructions page when proctoring is enforced, and you must grant webcam access before the test will start.

What happens if I refuse screen sharing or camera permission?

The test will not start. Proctor Mode requires webcam access, a single-monitor check and screen sharing permission during onboarding, and Desktop App Mode requires installing a native app and granting system permissions. Refusing one of them stops the session before the first question rather than failing you silently.

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Author · Alex Chen. Career consultant and former tech recruiter. Spent 5 years on the hiring side before switching to help candidates instead. Writes about real interview dynamics, not textbook advice.