What Is Honorlock? What It Records and How It Detects Cheating

Comparing tools? See our full guide to online cheating detection.

Honorlock is one of the proctoring platforms US schools use most, alongside Proctorio and ProctorU. This guide covers what it is, whether it records you, what the Chrome extension can and cannot touch, how it detects cheating, and what happens if it flags you.

How this page is sourced. Every capability below comes from Honorlock’s own published material: its student page, product overview, message to first-time test takers and help-center article on extension permissions, plus UW–Madison’s explainer for its students. Where a widely repeated claim did not match what Honorlock documents, we left it out.

What is Honorlock?

Honorlock is a remote proctoring service for online exams. In its own words it “creates a fair testing environment for all students by protecting exams and academic integrity.” Colleges use it for course exams, and it is also sold for certification, licensing and hiring assessments.

Its defining feature is the mix of software and people. Honorlock’s student page explains that its software “monitors your exam session and alerts a live test proctor if it detects any problems,” which “means that you won’t be watched during the entire exam.” That puts it between fully automated tools, which only record and flag, and fully live proctoring, where a person watches every minute.

A few practical facts shape what taking a Honorlock exam is like:

• It lives inside your LMS. Honorlock integrates with learning management systems including Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle and D2L Brightspace, so you launch the exam from your course page as usual.
• There is no appointment to book. You take the exam whenever you like inside the window your instructor set, and Honorlock’s support chat runs 24/7.
• Your school pays for it. Honorlock prices per test or per test taker for the institution. UW–Madison, for example, tells its students that Honorlock “does not cost anything” for them.
• You usually cannot opt out. UW–Madison’s explainer is direct about it: when an instructor uses Honorlock, proctoring “is a condition of enrollment in the course,” just as an in-person proctored exam would be.

What does Honorlock do during an exam?

Before the test starts, Honorlock has you take a photo of yourself and your photo ID with your webcam, and, if your instructor requires it, scan the room. During the test, the Chrome extension records your webcam and screen and restricts the browser to the exam. The AI monitors those feeds and alerts a live proctor only when something looks off. Afterward, your instructor gets time-stamped reports and recordings in the LMS and decides whether anything flagged actually broke the exam rules.

Those limits are about your privacy, not the rules. A phone, a second person or an outside resource breaks a no-materials exam whether or not Honorlock ever flags it.

Does Honorlock record you?

Yes. Honorlock’s message to new test takers says it plainly: “While you are taking your proctored exam, Honorlock will record your screen and webcam via Chrome.” It also uses your microphone, though not to flag every noise. Honorlock describes “smart voice detection” that “listens for specific words that may indicate cheating, like ‘Hey Siri,’ instead of flagging unimportant noises, like coughing.”

Three details decide what that recording actually covers:

• Your school chooses the settings. Honorlock’s help center says the extension only records your screen if the institution has turned on the “Screen Record” setting, and even then only after you give permission during the pre-exam steps. It states that Honorlock “cannot record the desktop without explicit consent from the user each time exam recording is initialized.”
• Recording stops with the exam. “Once your proctored exam has ended, our access to your screen and webcam ends,” Honorlock says. While you are in an exam, a flashing red indicator on the extension shows it is active.
• Few people see it. The AI reviews the session, a live proctor looks only at moments the AI raises, and afterward your instructor can review the time-stamped recordings in the LMS. UW–Madison adds that only university staff “with legitimate educational interest” can access the data, which is protected under FERPA.

On what happens to the recordings, Honorlock says it “does not sell your personal data,” that it collects only what your school requires, and that stored data is encrypted with AES-256.

How Honorlock works, step by step

1. Before exam day

You need Google Chrome (version 120 or later), a working webcam and microphone, and an internet connection of at least 1.0 Mbps down and 2.5 Mbps up, according to Honorlock’s minimum system requirements. It runs on Windows 10 and 11, macOS 13 or later, and Chromebooks. iPads, tablets and phones cannot run the exam itself. Install the Honorlock Chrome extension; some exams also require the Honorlock desktop application, and Honorlock prompts you to download it at the start of the authentication steps if yours does.

2. Authentication

When you launch the exam from your course, Honorlock walks you through a pre-exam checklist it describes as about a minute long: a photo of you, a photo of your ID and, if your instructor requires one, a room scan. For the scan you show your whole area, under your desk and behind your device, and the exam guidelines may ask you to show your phone being powered off and any scratch paper you are allowed. Some exams add a workspace photo taken with your phone via a QR code, or use the Honorlock mobile app to turn your phone into a side-angle camera.

3. During the exam

The extension records and monitors while BrowserGuard, Honorlock’s lockdown feature, keeps you inside the exam. It closes or blocks other tabs, blocks sites that are not on your instructor’s allowed list, and disables copy/paste; Honorlock says it also prevents and flags access to other browsers and applications. A toolbar at the bottom of the exam window holds anything your instructor allows, such as a basic or scientific calculator and the exam guidelines with any permitted links. Honorlock’s help center notes that the exam will pause if your face is not entirely visible, or while a proctor pops into the session.

4. After you submit

Recording stops, the extension goes idle, and your instructor receives the results. Anything the AI flagged and a proctor thought worth noting is attached as a time-stamped clip for your instructor to review.

The Honorlock Chrome extension: what it can access

The Chrome permission prompt is what alarms most students: it asks to “read and change all your data on all websites.” Honorlock’s help-center article on permissions explains what each permission is actually used for:

Two practical points follow. First, Honorlock’s help center says it “does not re-enable the extensions when the exam is completed,” so if you rely on other extensions, switch them back on yourself afterward. Second, you do not have to keep Honorlock installed: “Test takers are not obligated to keep the Honorlock extension installed after taking an exam.” Honorlock says it can be removed in seconds by right-clicking it in the Chrome toolbar and reinstalled in under 30 seconds for the next exam.

If you would rather keep proctoring software away from your everyday browsing entirely, UW–Madison suggests creating a separate Chrome profile just for exams. That keeps the extension out of the profile you use for everything else.

How Honorlock detects cheating

Honorlock layers several signals rather than relying on one:

• Behavior on camera. The AI watches for a face leaving the frame for long periods or a second person in the room.
• Spoken words. Voice detection listens for specific words, such as “Hey Siri,” that suggest someone is asking a voice assistant for help.
• The browser. BrowserGuard blocks and flags attempts to reach other sites, and Honorlock says it prevents and flags access to other browsers and applications.
• AI tools. Honorlock markets “multiple tools” to prevent unauthorized use of AI such as ChatGPT during assessments.
• Devices. The room scan, webcam and optional second camera look for phones, smartwatches and other handheld devices in the testing area.
• Leaked questions. A separate service, Search & Destroy, searches the internet for leaked exam content so institutions can request takedowns.

No signal is treated as proof. When the AI raises something, a live proctor reviews it first and intervenes only if necessary, and Honorlock says its proctors are trained “to support you during times of exam frustration and test anxiety.” The final judgment belongs to your instructor. As UW–Madison puts it, Honorlock “does not definitively prove that academic misconduct occurs.”

How does Honorlock detect phones and other devices?

Honorlock cannot see other devices on your network. It says so itself: it does not have access “to your mobile devices or other devices. Ever.” Honorlock detects devices in two other ways.

The first is the camera. The room scan, the webcam during the exam and, on stricter exams, a second camera all show what is in the testing area, and Honorlock says several of its proctoring tools detect cell phones, smartwatches and other handheld devices there.

The second is the search itself. Honorlock tells students that “information about your search activity comes from unauthorized websites you may visit.” The mechanism is described in a 2015 patent assigned to Honorlock: each exam question is converted into a “watermarked question comprising a unique string of characters,” paired with a web beacon, and placed on “seed site” domains. A student who searches the question can land on one of those pages, and the visit can be tied back to the exam.

None of this changes the rule. Looking up answers during a closed-book exam breaks the exam rules on any device and any site, whether or not one of these signals fires.

Does Honorlock track your eyes or use facial recognition?

These are two of the most-searched Honorlock fears, and the honest answer to both is no, with a nuance. Honorlock does not use retinal or pupil eye-tracking, and it uses facial detection, not facial recognition. The software checks that a clear human face is present in the webcam frame, and a person, not an algorithm, matches your face to your ID photo. The nuance is that the AI watches behavior. Looking away from the screen for long stretches can still be flagged for a proctor to review, because the pattern stood out on camera, not because your eyes were tracked.

If a condition affects how you move or where you look during a test, such as a tic, ADHD or a need to look away to think, tell your instructor or disability services office before the exam. UW–Madison, for example, works with students’ access consultants to set accommodations in Honorlock, from longer testing periods to screen readers. Raising it in advance is far better than explaining a flag after the fact.

Does Honorlock work outside the US?

Honorlock itself runs anywhere its system requirements are met, but the exam depends on Google Chrome and a Chrome extension. In places where Google services are blocked, such as mainland China, installing or running it can fail. If you will be testing from outside the US, run Honorlock’s system check well before the exam window and tell your instructor early. Schools can usually arrange an alternative more easily before an exam than after a failed attempt.

What happens if Honorlock flags you?

A flag is not an accusation. When the AI marks a moment, such as a face leaving the frame, a voice in the room or a blocked-site attempt, a live proctor first checks whether it is worth noting. Anything that survives that review reaches your instructor as a time-stamped clip. Your instructor, working within your school’s academic-integrity process, decides what happens next, and Honorlock itself issues no penalties.

If something innocent happened, such as a roommate walking in, your internet dropping or you reading a question aloud, note the time and tell your instructor promptly. UW–Madison gives students exactly that advice, listing “people or pets entering their testing space, unexpected noises or needing to take a bathroom break” as things to share proactively. Giving that context up front is what the review process is designed to use.

Honorlock requirements checklist

Honorlock’s help center covers most setup errors, and its live chat runs around the clock if the extension misbehaves during authentication.

Frequently asked questions

What is Honorlock?

Honorlock is an online exam proctoring service that schools and certification programs plug into their learning management system. It runs mainly through a Google Chrome extension, uses AI to monitor your exam session and brings in a live human proctor only when the AI detects a possible problem.

Does Honorlock record you?

Yes. During a proctored exam Honorlock records your webcam and screen through Chrome, and uses your microphone to listen for spoken words. Screen recording only runs if your institution enables it and after you grant permission, and Honorlock’s access to your screen and webcam ends when the exam ends.

Is someone watching me the whole time on Honorlock?

No. Honorlock says you are not watched for the entire exam. Its AI monitors the session and alerts a live proctor only if it detects potentially problematic behavior; the proctor reviews that moment first and intervenes only if it is necessary.

Can Honorlock detect phones?

Honorlock says several of its tools detect cell phones, smartwatches and other handheld devices in the testing area, from the webcam and optional second camera to its seeded-question websites. A phone within reach during a no-phones exam breaks the rules whether or not it is flagged.

Can Honorlock detect phones on airplane mode or not on Wi-Fi?

Honorlock never looks for phones by their signal or network, so airplane mode, Wi-Fi and cellular data make no difference to how it works. Phones are picked up through the room scan, the webcam and second camera, and the seeded-question sites. If the exam rules say no phones, keep the phone out of the room.

Does Honorlock track your eyes?

No. Honorlock does not use retinal or pupil eye-tracking. It does watch behavior through the webcam, so going off-camera or turning away for long stretches can still be flagged for a proctor to review. The trigger is the movement, not your eyes.

Does Honorlock track sound?

It listens for speech rather than noise. Honorlock describes smart voice detection that listens for specific words that may indicate cheating, such as “Hey Siri,” instead of flagging unimportant sounds like coughing.

Can Honorlock see your files or other devices?

No. Honorlock says it does not access your computer, operating system or network, does not read or modify data on your computer, and never has access to your mobile devices or other devices.

Can you uninstall Honorlock after an exam?

Yes. Honorlock says the extension can be removed from Chrome in seconds by right-clicking it in the toolbar, and reinstalled for your next exam. If Honorlock disabled other extensions during the exam, re-enable them yourself; its help center says it does not switch them back on.

What does Honorlock flag?

The AI flags behavior outside the exam rules, such as leaving the camera view for long periods, a second person in the room, spoken phrases like “Hey Siri,” and attempts to reach blocked websites. A proctor reviews each flag, and your instructor decides what it means.