---
title: "Session Replay"
description: "Learn how to enable Session Replay in your mobile app."
url: https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay/
---

# Set Up Session Replay | Sentry for Android

[Session Replay](https://docs.sentry.io/product/explore/session-replay.md) helps you get to the root cause of an error or latency issue faster by providing you with a reproduction of what was happening in the user's device before, during, and after the issue. You can rewind and replay your application's state and see key user interactions, like taps, swipes, network requests, and console entries, in a single UI.

By default, our Session Replay SDK masks all text content, images, and user input, giving you heightened confidence that no sensitive data will leave the device. To learn more, see [product docs](https://docs.sentry.io/product/explore/session-replay.md).

## [Pre-requisites](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay.md#pre-requisites)

Make sure your Sentry Android SDK version is at least 7.12.0.

## [Install](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay.md#install)

The easiest way to update through the Sentry Android Gradle plugin to your app module's `build.gradle` file.

`app/build.gradle`

```groovy
plugins {
  id "com.android.application"
  id "io.sentry.android.gradle" version "6.4.0"
}
```

If you have the SDK installed without the Sentry Gradle Plugin, you can update the version directly in the `build.gradle` through:

`app/build.gradle`

```groovy
dependencies {
  implementation 'io.sentry:sentry-android:8.38.0'
}
```

If you're not using the `sentry-android` dependency, you'd need to specify the Session Replay module directly in the `build.gradle` through:

`app/build.gradle`

```groovy
dependencies {
  implementation 'io.sentry:sentry-android-core:8.38.0'
  implementation 'io.sentry:sentry-android-replay:8.38.0'
}
```

## [Set Up](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay.md#set-up)

To set up the integration, add the following to your Sentry initialization.

```kotlin
SentryAndroid.init(context) { options ->
  options.dsn = "___PUBLIC_DSN___"
  options.isDebug = true

  options.sessionReplay.onErrorSampleRate = 1.0
  options.sessionReplay.sessionSampleRate = 0.1
  
  // if your application has strict PII requirements we recommend using the Canvas screenshot strategy
  // Note: this strategy is experimental and does **not** support any masking options, it always masks text and images
  // Available in the Android SDK version 8.24.0 or above
  // options.sessionReplay.screenshotStrategy = ScreenshotStrategyType.CANVAS
}
```

## [Verify](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay.md#verify)

While you're testing, we recommend that you set `sessionSampleRate` to `1.0`. This ensures that every user session will be sent to Sentry.

Once testing is complete, **we recommend lowering this value in production**. We still recommend keeping `onErrorSampleRate` set to `1.0`.

## [User Session](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay.md#user-session)

A user session starts when the Sentry SDK is initialized or when the application enters the foreground. The session will capture screen transitions, navigations, touches and other events until the application is sent to the background. If the application is brought back to the foreground within 30 seconds (default), the same `replay_id` will be used and the session will continue.

The session will be terminated if the application has spent in the background more than 30 seconds or when the maximum duration of 60 minutes is reached. You can adjust the [session tracking interval](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/configuration/releases.md#sessions) to extend or shorten the duration of a single replay, depending on your needs. Note that if the application exits abnormally while running in the background, the session will also be terminated.

### [Replay Captures on Errors Only](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay.md#replay-captures-on-errors-only)

If you prefer not to record an entire session, you can elect to capture a replay only if an error occurs. In this case, the integration will buffer up to one minute worth of events prior to the error being thrown. It will continue to record the session, following the rules above regarding session life and activity. Read the [sampling](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay.md#sampling) section for configuration options.

## [Sampling](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay.md#sampling)

Sampling allows you to control how much of your website's traffic will result in a Session Replay. There are two sample rates you can adjust to get the replays relevant to you:

1. `sessionSampleRate` - The sample rate for replays that begin recording immediately and last the entirety of the user's session.
2. `onErrorSampleRate` - The sample rate for replays that are recorded when an error happens. This type of replay will record up to a minute of events prior to the error and continue recording until the session ends.

Sampling begins as soon as a session starts. `sessionSampleRate` is evaluated first. If it's sampled, the replay recording will begin. Otherwise, `onErrorSampleRate` is evaluated and if it's sampled, the integration will begin buffering the replay and will only upload it to Sentry if an error occurs. The remainder of the replay will behave similarly to a whole-session replay.

### [Ignore Certain Errors from Error Sampling](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay.md#ignore-certain-errors-from-error-sampling)

Once you've enabled `onErrorSampleRate`, you can further customize which errors should trigger a replay capture by using the `beforeErrorSampling` callback. This is useful if you want to capture replays only for unhandled errors, or exclude certain error types from replay capture.

The `beforeErrorSampling` callback is called when an error occurs and receives the event and hint as arguments. Returning `false` will prevent the replay from being captured for that specific error. If the callback throws an exception, replay capture proceeds normally (fail-open).

```kotlin
SentryAndroid.init(context) { options ->
  options.dsn = "___PUBLIC_DSN___"
  options.sessionReplay.onErrorSampleRate = 1.0

  options.sessionReplay.beforeErrorSampling =
    SentryReplayOptions.BeforeErrorSamplingCallback { event, hint ->
      // Only capture replays for unhandled/crashed events
      event.isCrashed
    }
}
```

## [Privacy](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay.md#privacy)

The SDK is recording and aggressively masking all text, images, and webviews by default. If your app has any sensitive data, you should only turn the default masking off after explicitly masking out the sensitive data, using the APIs described below. However, if you're working on a mobile app that's free of PII or other types of private data, you can opt out of the default text and image masking settings. To learn more about Session Replay privacy, [read our docs](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay/privacy.md).

If you find that any other data isn't being masked with the default settings, please let us know by creating a [GitHub issue](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/issues/new?assignees=\&labels=Platform%3A+Android%2CType%3A+Bug\&projects=\&template=bug_report_android.yml).

To disable masking altogether (not to be used on applications with sensitive data):

```kotlin
options.sessionReplay.maskAllText = false
options.sessionReplay.maskAllImages = false
```

### [Screenshot Strategy](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay.md#screenshot-strategy)

The SDK offers two strategies for recording replays: `PixelCopy` and `Canvas`.

`PixelCopy` uses Android's [PixelCopy](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/PixelCopy) API to capture screenshots of the current screen and takes a snapshot of the view hierarchy within the same frame. The view hierarchy is then used to find the position of controls such as text boxes, images, labels, and buttons and mask them with a block that's drawn over these controls. This strategy has slightly lower performance overhead but may result in masking misalignments due to the asynchronous nature of the PixelCopy API. We recommend using this strategy for apps that do not have strict PII requirements or do not require masking functionality.

`Canvas` uses Android's custom [Canvas](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/graphics/Canvas) API to redraw the screen contents onto a bitmap, masking all `drawText` and `drawBitmap` operations in the process to produce a masked screenshot. This strategy has a slightly higher performance overhead but provides more reliable masking. We recommend using this strategy for apps with strict PII requirements.

The `Canvas` screenshot strategy is currently experimental and does **not** support any masking options. When the screenshot strategy is set to `Canvas`, it will **always** mask all texts, input fields and images, disregarding any masking options set. If you need more flexibility with masking, switch back to `PixelCopy`.

You can change the strategy as follows:

```kotlin
import io.sentry.ScreenshotStrategyType

options.sessionReplay.screenshotStrategy = ScreenshotStrategyType.CANVAS // or ScreenshotStrategyType.PIXEL_COPY (default)
```

## [Error Linking](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay.md#error-linking)

Errors that happen while a replay is running will be linked to the replay, making it possible to jump between related issues and replays. However, it's **possible** that in some cases the error count reported on the **Replays Details** page won't match the actual errors that have been captured. That's because errors can be lost, and while this is uncommon, there are a few reasons why it could happen:

* The replay was rate-limited and couldn't be accepted.
* The replay was deleted by a member of your org.
* There were network errors and the replay wasn't saved.

## Pages in this section

- [Configuration](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay/configuration.md)
- [Privacy](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay/privacy.md)
- [Performance Overhead](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay/performance-overhead.md)
- [Troubleshooting](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/session-replay/troubleshooting.md)