The live monitor

When you run a session (a workshop, a consultation, a set of interviews), people scan a QR code and record on their own phones, all at the same time. You cannot stand behind each of them. The live monitor is the room you watch instead: it shows every participant as they arrive, set up, and record, so you can see who is going well, who is stuck, and who needs a hand, without interrupting anyone.

There is really one person in this story: the host (a project admin or facilitator) watching a session happen. Everything below is what you, the host, see and can do on the Monitor page. The participants just record as usual on their phones; the monitor is your window onto that.

Where to find it#

Open your project and go to Monitor. The page also shows the project’s QR code, so you can put it on a screen for people to scan and join.

The page is live. It updates on its own as people scan, record, pause, and finish. You never refresh. If the live connection drops for a moment it keeps working on a slower update and shows a small Reconnecting note until it comes back.

The live participant flow#

At the top is the flow: people moving left to right through three stages.

• Scanned: they opened the portal from the QR code.
• Setting up: they are moving through consent, the mic check, and entering their details.
• Recording: they have started a conversation and audio is being captured.

Each dot is a person. It is a live picture of where everyone is right now, so you can see, for example, that ten people scanned but only three have started recording, and go help the seven who are stuck in setup.

Click any dot to see more. A person still in setup shows a visitor card: what they have done so far (scanned, accepted terms, mic checked or skipped or blocked, entered details), each with a time, plus their device and any weak network or low battery warning. A person who is recording opens the conversation view described further down.

The conversation list#

Below the flow is the list of conversations, grouped by tag so a busy project stays scannable. Within a group the rows keep a steady order (by when each person started), so they do not jump around while you read them.

Each row is one participant, and it is built to answer a host’s questions at a glance.

What state they are in#

A colored pill tells you what the person is doing right now: Recording, Paused, Verifying, Exploring, Typing, Finishing, Finished, Waiting, Just started, Away (their screen is locked or the tab is hidden), Left (they closed the tab), or Offline (we have lost contact). The recording pill gently pulses so an active recording is easy to spot.

How long they have recorded#

A small clock shows the recorded length, with a state-colored dot beside it. It counts up while they record, holds still while they are paused, and settles on the final length when they finish. It only ever shows real recording time, so a paused or not-yet-started session never drifts upward.

Whether audio is really coming in#

While someone is recording, a small microphone meter shows how loud their mic is. Lit bars mean audio is flowing; empty bars mean it is very quiet, which is your cue to check they are not muted. It reflects the loudest moment over the last few seconds, so a natural pause between sentences does not read as silence.

What they are saying#

The most recent line of their transcript fades in under the pill, so you can follow the gist without opening anything. If a conversation is anonymized, personal details in that line are shown as redaction badges rather than the original words. On some plans, transcripts for new conversations are locked; the row shows a prompt to upgrade instead of the text.

When something needs attention#

Warnings surface right on the row so you can act:

• Audio stopped?: they were recording but nothing has arrived for a while. They may have lost connection or locked their phone.
• Screen locked: their screen is locked or the tab is hidden, so recording is paused until they come back. This is gentle, not an alarm.
• A weak-network or low-battery icon when their device reports one.
• Error: some recent audio could not be transcribed. The recording itself is still saved.

How transcription is going#

A badge shows transcription progress: Transcribing N clips while it catches up, or Transcribed once a conversation’s audio is done. A language tag shows the detected or chosen language.

The summary line#

Across the top of the list is a running count so you can gauge the whole session without reading every row: how many are live, how many are offline, how many have audio stopped, how many are transcribing, how many have errors, and a rough catch up ~N min estimate for how long the transcription backlog will take to clear. The estimate is deliberately conservative, so it never over-promises.

Opening a conversation#

Click a row (or its pencil) to open the conversation. From here you can:

• Rename the participant, so an anonymous row becomes a name you recognize.
• Edit tags, to group or re-group the conversation on the fly.
• See the timeline: their journey (scanned the QR, accepted terms, mic checked, entered details), then when they joined the conversation, started recording, and were last heard.
• Delete the conversation, with a confirmation first. Deleted conversations disappear from the monitor and the flow right away.
• Open conversation to jump to the full conversation view.

Privacy and what stays hidden#

• Anonymized conversations have personal details redacted in the live transcript line, shown as badges instead of the words.
• On plans where transcripts are gated, the monitor shows the state and progress of a conversation but not its transcript text, with a prompt to upgrade.
• Deleted conversations are never shown here.

At a glance#