---
title: Understand Session Replay
description: Watch real user sessions to find the why behind your product metrics and conversion drops.
product: session-replay
lang: en
token_estimate: 1038
---
# Understand Session Replay

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Session Replay records real user sessions in your product and replays them alongside the events you track in Amplitude. Use it to understand why users hesitate, leave a funnel, or encounter problems in a product flow.

Use Session Replay to watch one user's experience. For an aggregate view of where users click, tap, and scroll across many sessions, use [Heatmaps](https://amplitude.com/docs/heatmaps).

## Plan availability

Session Replay for mobile and Session Replay for web are available on all plans. Go to [Amplitude pricing](https://amplitude.com/pricing) for plan details.

_Availability reflects the latest Amplitude plans. If your organization is on an older plan, your access may differ. Check your plan under [Plans & Billing in your organization settings](/docs/admin/account-management/account-settings#organizational-settings), or contact your Amplitude account representative._

## What a replay shows

When you [watch a replay](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/session-replay-viewer), you can follow the user's activity alongside an event timeline. Inspect clicks, navigation, and the context around an action to understand what an event count alone can't explain.

[Error analytics](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/inspect-replay-errors) exposes console logs and failed network requests. [Frustration analytics](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/analyze-frustration) highlights rage clicks and dead clicks. Each capability's guide states its SDK requirements.

[Session matching](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/session-matching) connects captured replays with your analytics sessions so you can investigate the behavior behind a chart. If you define sessions with an event property, [configure custom session matching](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/configure-custom-session-matching). If your analytics pipeline doesn't send session IDs, [configure time-based matching](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/configure-time-based-matching). Amplitude doesn't stitch one user's replays across multiple projects.

## When to use Session Replay

- **Improve conversions**: Pair quantitative trends with recordings to form and test hypotheses about a workflow.
- **Diagnose product issues**: Review the session behind a reported bug to understand the user's experience.
- **Identify behavior patterns**: [Create an analytics chart from replay events](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/analyze-events-from-replays) to check whether a session represents a broader trend.
- **Review a new feature**: Watch how customers use a newly launched flow without relying only on surveys.
- **Collaborate on an investigation**: [Share a replay](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/share-replays) and discuss specific moments with teammates.

For a ranked view of issues across sessions, use [Friction Monitor](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/friction-monitor). The [Session Replay Agent](https://amplitude.com/docs/amplitude-ai/session-replay-agent) analyzes recordings at scale to surface friction, navigation patterns, and engagement insights.

## Capture and privacy

Session Replay isn't enabled by default. [Install Session Replay](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/instrument-session-replay) with an SDK or integration before you analyze recordings.

[Privacy settings](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/manage-privacy-settings-for-session-replay) control which content Amplitude masks or excludes. [Data lifecycle rules](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/replay-data-lifecycle) describe retention, deletion, and privacy requests. SDK references state capture limitations for each platform.

## Open a replay

Find Session Replay in the left-hand sidebar in Amplitude Analytics. [Find session replays](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/find-replays) explains how to open recordings from search, User Look-Up, charts, and your homepage.