Mettl proctoring: what it records and detects

Mercer Mettl does not have one proctoring mode; it has three, and the employer picks. A non-proctored test asks for no webcam and still enforces two rules that catch people out: refreshing the page submits the test immediately, and copy-paste is blocked by default. A browser-proctored test asks for webcam, microphone, an entire-screen share, a face capture and an ID capture before the timer starts. Mettl Secure Browser goes one step further and installs a lockdown application that closes other programs and stops you leaving the test before it is over. The setup screen is the tell: whatever it asks permission for is what will be captured.

On top of the capture sits an AI layer. Mettl's support documentation names eight flags, among them face not visible, another person in frame, candidate away from the window, candidate looking away, and a mobile phone detected. Mettl's marketing quotes higher counts and accuracy figures in the high nineties; the eight named flags are what actually appears on the report. Those flags feed a Candidate Credibility Index that combines the visual flags, the navigation count and whether the test finished cleanly into a single score the candidate never sees.

Who reviews the footage depends on the arrangement the employer bought. Live proctoring puts a person on the other end who can chat with you, pause the test and end it. Record-and-review stores the full session for an administrator to watch later. Fully automated proctoring relies on the flags alone. Identity is checked separately by a human authorizer who can reject the live photo or ID and ask you to redo it, and the employer can require an emailed one-time code before the test opens.

Mettl's privacy notice lists facial scans, facial monitoring and photo, audio or video of your local area as proctoring data, and states that Mettl acts as a processor on the employer's instructions. Retention and deletion requests therefore go to the employer, not to Mettl.

The posts below answer the individual questions candidates search for: whether a given Mettl test is proctored, whether it records the screen, how the camera is used, what counts as cheating, how much tab switching is tolerated, what a test looks like step by step, and what the Secure Browser needs from your machine. Facts are current as of September 2026 and are quoted from Mettl's own documentation in each post.

If your Mettl invitation asks for camera, microphone and screen, assume all of it is stored, scored by a model, possibly watched live, and summarized into an index. Read the instructions page for the browsing rule and the allowed materials, and if AI or reference material is prohibited, prepare with it beforehand and sit the test without it.