Session Replay

Go beyond events and actually see what your users did on their journey. Session Replay enables you to record and replay visitor sessions to understand user behavior and optimize your website experience. You can access replay sessions through recent events and event analytics to see all events from that session for a visitor along with their actual session replay.

Overview

Session Replay provides:

• Complete session recordings of visitor interactions on your website
• Event correlation linking recorded sessions to specific events and analytics
• HIPAA-compliant recording designed to support privacy and security for sensitive applications
• Automatic session management with recording and server flushing handled automatically
• Privacy controls with configurable masking and blocking options

Use Cases

• User behavior analysis to understand how visitors navigate your site
• Conversion optimization by identifying friction points in user journeys
• Support and troubleshooting by replaying specific user sessions

Configuration

Enable Session Replay

Session Replay must be enabled by your account team. Contact your account representative to activate this feature for your account.

Domain Whitelisting

After enabling Session Replay, you need to whitelist the domains where recording will occur:

• Add your website domain to the allowed domains list
• For optimal performance, use the same custom domain as your CDP or SDK installation
• Custom domains provide first-party trust and can help with compliance requirements

Note: If you have a custom domain configured for your Ours Privacy account, you can load Session Replay from your own first-party custom domain as well.

Installation

You can install Session Replay in two ways:

1. Through the Ours Privacy CDP Web SDK (recommended)
2. As a standalone SDK (for advanced use cases)

Option 1: Install with Ours Privacy CDP Web SDK

If you're already using the Ours Privacy Web SDK, you can add Session Replay by including your replay token in the initialization:

ours("init", "{cdp_token}", {
  session_replay: {
    token: "replay_token",
  },
});

Replace {cdp_token} with your CDP token and replay_token with the Session Replay token provided by your account team.

Option 2: Install with Google Tag Manager

You can also load Session Replay through Google Tag Manager by adding the Session Replay script to your GTM container.

Option 3: Standalone SDK

Note: You do NOT need to use the standalone SDK if you're using the Ours Web SDK or Google Tag Manager. This option is only for advanced use cases where you need direct control over the Session Replay functionality.

For advanced use cases, you can use the standalone Session Replay SDK:

// Initialize the SDK
window.ours_replay.init({
  session_id: "your_session_id",
  visitor_id: "your_visitor_id",
  maxRecordingMinutes: 30, // optional
});

// Start recording
window.ours_replay.start();

// Stop recording
window.ours_replay.stop();

// Flush data to server
await window.ours_replay.flush();

Standalone SDK Methods

Type Definitions

export type InitOptions = {
  maxRecordingMinutes?: number;
  session_id: string;
  visitor_id: string;
};

export type StopOptions = {
  discard?: boolean;
};

Privacy Settings

Session Replay includes comprehensive privacy controls to protect sensitive information:

Default Privacy Settings

Session Replay comes with these default privacy settings enabled:

• maskAllInputs: true - Automatically masks all input fields
• recordCanvas: false - Disables canvas recording by default
• collectFonts: true - Collects font information for accurate rendering

Privacy Control Classes

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Add these CSS classes to elements throughout your application to control what gets recorded and protect user privacy:

<!-- Block element completely from recording -->
<div class="op-session-replay-block">Sensitive content</div>

<!-- Ignore element during recording -->
<div class="op-session-replay-ignore">Non-essential content</div>

<!-- Mask text content -->
<div class="op-session-replay-mask">Sensitive text</div>

Important Privacy Controls to Implement:

• Add op-session-replay-block to any elements containing sensitive data (PII, PHI, payment info, passwords)
• Add op-session-replay-mask to text elements that may contain personal information
• Add op-session-replay-ignore to non-essential UI elements to reduce recording size
• Review all form inputs - they are automatically masked, but consider additional blocking for highly sensitive fields

Data Retention

• Recording retention: Session recordings are automatically removed after 90 days (default)
• Automatic cleanup: No manual intervention required for data lifecycle management
• Custom retention: Contact your account team to modify the retention period if needed

Accessing Session Replays

Once Session Replay is configured and recording:

1. Navigate to your Ours Privacy dashboard
2. View recent events in your event analytics
3. Click on any event to see associated session information
4. Access the session replay to view the complete visitor session
5. Review all events from that session along with the visual replay

Browser Support

Session Replay supports all modern browsers:

• Chrome (latest and previous major version)
• Firefox (latest and previous major version)
• Edge (latest and previous major version)
• Safari (latest and previous major version)
• Mobile browsers (iOS Safari, Chrome Mobile)

FAQs

How long are sessions recorded?

Sessions are recorded for the duration of the visitor's session, with a default maximum of 30 minutes per session. This can be configured during setup.

What data is captured in session replays?

Session replays capture user interactions, page navigation, form inputs (with privacy controls), and visual changes to the page. Sensitive data can be masked or blocked using privacy classes.

Is Session Replay HIPAA-compliant?

Session Replay is designed to support HIPAA compliance with configurable privacy controls and secure data handling. Ours Privacy offers a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) for healthcare organizations. Work with your team to determine what works for your situation, and make sure your consent management is properly configured. For more details, see the HHS guidance on HIPAA and online tracking.

Can I control what gets recorded?

Yes, you can use CSS classes to block, ignore, or mask specific elements and content during recording. You can also use the SDK to start and stop recording programmatically, which is useful for starting recording after consent is given or stopping when consent is withdrawn.

How do I access recorded sessions?

Recorded sessions are accessible through your Ours Privacy dashboard by clicking on events in your analytics to view associated session replays.

Are recordings stored securely?

Yes, all recordings are encrypted and stored securely with automatic cleanup after 90 days to help support compliance with privacy regulations.

Is Session Replay included in the CDP SLA?

No, Session Replay is not included in the CDP SLA and is provided as a separate service.