Does HackerEarth Record Your Screen?

HackerEarth can, if the employer turns it on. As of September 9, 2026, HackerEarth documents a screen recording feature that "captures the candidate's screen activity during the test", plus entire-screen monitoring and multiple-monitor detection added in March 2025 for Chromium browsers only. In Smart Browser, HackerEarth's desktop app, the test window is recorded and the candidate is blocked from recording or sharing anything themselves. A test with neither setting captures no pixels; it logs events.

What HackerEarth documents about screen capture

The proctoring overview names three mechanisms: webcam monitoring, screen recording, and keystroke tracking. On screen recording it says the feature "captures the candidate's screen activity during the test" to identify "suspicious activity or unauthorized software usage". It does not publish a capture interval or say whether the output is video or periodic stills.

The March 7, 2025 release notes describe two additions: "Monitoring the entire candidate screen to prevent switching tabs and ensure focus during the assessment" and "Detection of candidates using multiple monitors". Both carry the same restriction: "These features are supported only on Chromium-based browsers such as Chrome and Edge." Firefox and Safari are supported for tests generally, but not for these two controls.

How you know it is on

A web page cannot capture your display without asking. If your HackerEarth test is monitoring the screen, Chrome or Edge shows a share dialog before the test starts, and HackerEarth's wording, "the entire candidate screen", indicates the share it expects is the whole display rather than a tab. If no share dialog appears, the browser test is not recording your screen, though it may still be counting tab switches, taking webcam snapshots, or recording audio.

What a whole-display share exposes, compared with a tab or window share, is laid out in what interviewers can see when you share your screen. The short version: every window on that display is in scope for as long as the share runs.

What Smart Browser does differently

Smart Browser replaces the browser with a locked application. HackerEarth's marketing page describes it as "recording the test window, and taking frequent snapshots via the webcam" (Smart Browser feature page). The recruiter-side advanced proctoring documentation, updated January 22, 2026, lists what the candidate cannot do: "Sharing or recording the test window", "Taking screenshots of the test", "Using multiple monitors", and "Running the test inside a virtual machine". It adds that "Screen recording and screen-sharing tools are disabled."

On macOS the app asks for Screen Recording permission during setup, and the troubleshooting page tells candidates to "Turn off screen mirroring, disconnect external monitors and wireless displays, and use only your primary laptop/desktop screen." The direction of capture is reversed: HackerEarth records the window, and you cannot.

Can HackerEarth detect a second monitor?

Since March 2025, yes on Chrome and Edge, and yes in Smart Browser, which refuses "extra or mirrored displays". On Firefox or Safari the release notes give no monitor detection. HackerEarth does not publish the mechanism; how a browser can learn about display topology, and where that ability ends, is covered in what a coding interview can learn about a second monitor.

What the recruiter sees

HackerEarth's report components documentation lists tab switches, the integrity index, plagiarism, audio recording, snapshot compliance, and ID verification as report fields. Screen recordings are not itemized on that page as of its current version. This suggests screen capture is reviewed elsewhere in the candidate record or feeds the integrity index rather than appearing as its own field, but HackerEarth does not say. Take the absence as a gap in documentation, not as evidence nothing is kept.

What this means for candidates

If a share dialog appears, assume the whole display is being watched for the length of the test. Close messaging, documents, and anything unrelated before you grant it. If the invitation contains a Smart Browser link, plan for one physical display, no virtual machine, and no other applications open. Tab-switch counting runs even when the screen is not recorded; that rule is in whether HackerEarth detects tab switching and copy-paste. The full inventory by setting is in what HackerEarth proctoring records and flags.