What is Honorlock?
Honorlock is an online proctoring service, used mostly by colleges and universities in the United States. It runs inside common learning management systems, so students open a proctored exam from the same course page they use every week.
Honorlock is known for pairing AI software that watches the session with live proctors who step in when the software spots something a person should check. Your institution sets the rules for each exam and gets a report when it ends.
How does Honorlock work, step by step
Broadly, a session goes like this. The exact steps depend on the settings your institution picks.
- Setup. Before their first proctored exam, the student installs a browser extension.
- System check. The student confirms that the webcam, microphone and connection work.
- Identity. If the exam requires it, the student holds a photo ID up to the camera.
- Room check. If the exam requires it, the student shows the room and desk on the webcam.
- The exam. The software monitors the session while the student works. When it detects a possible issue, a live proctor may join to check in.
- The report. Afterwards, the instructor or exam office gets a report with recordings and any flagged moments to review.
For your exam office, the main thing to remember is that Honorlock monitors whatever the settings for that exam allow. Two Honorlock exams at the same institution can feel quite different to the student.
What can Honorlock see?
A webcam-based proctoring service like Honorlock can see what its tools are allowed to capture during the exam: the webcam view, the microphone, the screen and browser activity. Anything outside the camera’s view is out of reach, and no vendor claims a webcam sees everything.
Does Honorlock record you?
According to its public descriptions, Honorlock records the exam session, webcam included, so it can be reviewed later. Students should know before the exam what is captured and why. When students ask “does Honorlock use webcam” or “does Honorlock record you”, point them to your own exam instructions, which should spell out what each exam records.
Can Honorlock see your screen?
Webcam-based proctoring services usually monitor the screen and browser activity during the exam. Honorlock’s current documentation will tell you exactly what is recorded and whether each item can be turned on or off per exam.
Can Honorlock detect phones and AI tools?
People search this question about Honorlock more than almost any other. The answers to “can Honorlock detect phones not on wifi” or “can Honorlock detect ChatGPT on another device” depend on what is in Honorlock’s product right now, so its current documentation is the place to get a precise answer.
The general picture is worth knowing anyway. Second devices and AI assistants are now among the most common threats in online exams. Proctoring products tackle them with different signals: what the camera sees, what the microphone hears, what shows on the screen and in the browser, and in some products, checks on the computer itself. Since no one signal covers everything, a person has to look at the evidence in context.
The Honorlock system check and test day
Students usually run a system check before an Honorlock test to make sure the webcam, microphone, browser extension and connection work. Your exam office can head off most test-day problems with three steps:
- Ask students to run the check well ahead of the exam, rather than a few minutes before it starts.
- Put what the exam records, the ID required and the room rules in the exam instructions.
- Tell students who to contact if something breaks mid-exam, and make sure a technical failure gets treated as a technical issue, never as misconduct.
Why students search for Honorlock cheating, and what institutions should take from it
“How to cheat Honorlock” and “Honorlock cheating” are among the biggest searches around this product. That is useful for institutions to know. Some students are looking for a way around proctoring, and many more are simply worried about being flagged unfairly.
We don’t describe methods here. Your exam office needs the categories, how each one is detected or deterred, and how review deals with it:
- Second devices. A phone or tablet used for help. Proctoring products respond with camera checks, room scans and, in some cases, second-device features. Clear rules and a visible room check put most people off trying.
- AI assistants. Chatbots on the same device or a different one. Browser restrictions, AI-tool detection and question design all help. When an exam tests reasoning instead of recall, a quick answer from a chatbot is worth much less.
- Another person. Someone helping in the room, or sitting the exam for the student. Identity checks at the start and during the session, along with audio and camera signals, cover this.
- Leaving the exam. Opening other tabs, windows or apps. A locked browser and screen monitoring cover this.
If you are a student reading this, these methods are exactly what proctoring is built to notice, and attempts usually leave evidence that a reviewer will see. Taking the exam honestly is the safer choice, and academic integrity protects what your own qualification is worth.
For the full picture of what proctoring can and can’t observe, see our page on what we can and cannot see.
After a flag: why a person should decide
A flag means a moment may need a look. It does not prove anything. Students look away to think, read questions aloud, have relatives walk past or use assistive technology. Cameras freeze, and connections drop.
So the review step matters more than detection. Whichever product you use, ask these questions:
- Does a trained person look at every flag before it affects a student?
- Does that person record a decision and the reason for it?
- Does your institution make the final finding, with the evidence in hand?
- Can the student appeal, and does the record support that appeal?
See how human review proctoring works at Proctorly, from the first flag to your institution’s decision.
Questions to ask Honorlock, or any vendor
- Which features come with our plan, and which cost extra?
- Who joins a session live, and what training have they had?
- What is in the post-exam report, and can we export it for an appeal?
- How do we set up accommodations so that permitted behavior isn’t flagged?
- What happens if a student’s camera or connection fails?
- Where is student data stored, how long is it kept and who can see it?
How Proctorly handles the same situations
Proctorly is a different product built on a different model. Here is how it covers the same ground, and we don’t claim it suits every institution.
- The exam runs inside Proctorly, in a locked browser session on Chrome, Safari, Edge or Ulaa, on a laptop, desktop, tablet or phone. If your exams stay in Moodle, you can keep them there: Moodle monitoring with OAuth and LTI 1.3 is live and supports Canvas, Blackboard, and other learning platforms.
- Identity is checked throughout the session with continuous face verification and photo ID capture, plus active liveness for high-stakes exams.
- Known threats are monitored: AI tools from a maintained list, second devices in view, remote-access tools, overlays, virtual machines, extensions and extra monitors. An optional Windows desktop agent adds checks on the computer itself.
- A person can review every flag. At the Every flag reviewed level, a trained Proctorly reviewer looks at each automated flag and records a decision with a reason. No candidate fails because of an automated flag.
- Nothing is hidden. Candidates learn what is captured before the exam starts, and we never score emotion, personality or suspicion.
Explore online proctoring at Proctorly, or read the Honorlock vs Proctorio comparison.
Frequently asked questions
How does Honorlock work?
Going by its public descriptions, students install a browser extension, run a system check, show ID and the room if required, and then take the exam inside the LMS while AI software monitors the session. A live proctor may join if something is detected, and the instructor gets a report afterwards. Settings differ from exam to exam, so check Honorlock’s current documentation for the details.
What can Honorlock see during an exam?
It sees what its tools are set to capture: the webcam view, the microphone, the screen and browser activity. It can’t see outside the camera’s view. What a particular exam captures depends on the settings your institution chose, and the exam instructions your students receive should say so plainly.
Can Honorlock detect phones?
How Honorlock handles phones and other second devices, and in which situations, is covered in Honorlock’s current documentation. In general, institutions should combine camera and room checks, clear rules and human review of every flag, since no single signal catches every device.
Is a Honorlock flag proof of cheating?
No. A flag from any proctoring product is a signal that a moment needs a look, nothing more. Students look away to think, read aloud or get interrupted at home. A trained person should review the evidence in context and record a reason, and the final finding belongs to your institution’s own process.
How is Proctorly different from Honorlock?
Proctorly hosts the exam itself in its own LMS, so you don’t need an LMS, and you pick an assurance level for each exam, anywhere from recorded sittings to live dedicated proctors. At the Every flag reviewed level, a trained reviewer records a decision and reason on every flag, and your institution decides with an evidence pack in hand. Honorlock works inside your LMS.