Observer Rooms Settings
Last updated: May 12, 2026
Configure workspace-level settings for Observer Rooms, including who can access recordings, how long they're stored, and whether AI transcription is enabled.
Managing Observer Rooms settings requires the "Modify observer room settings for workspace" permission.
To access Observer Rooms settings:
In the top left corner of Rally, select your workspace name and choose Settings.
From the sidebar, select Observer Rooms.
Enable Observer Rooms by default for new studies
When enabled, Observer Rooms will be turned on automatically for all new interview studies, as long as the interview host has a connected calendar. This is enabled by default on all workspaces.
Disable recording storage
If your team needs to protect participant data, you can disable recording storage entirely. Observer Rooms will still be available for live viewing, but sessions will not be recorded or stored.
Enable AI transcription & summaries
Rally and its sub-processors do not use transcript or summary data to train AI models. See our AI Terms of Service for more details.
Opt in to AI-generated transcripts and summaries by toggling on Enable AI transcription & summaries. Once enabled, the Rally notetaker bot will automatically generate a transcript and summary after each interview, which you can search, scan, and copy from the observer room.
AI summaries are only generated for sessions completed after opting in and won't be applied retroactively. Observer Room storage must be enabled for transcripts and summaries to be generated.
Delete observer room recordings
By default, Rally stores all Observer Room data for up to 1 year. Toggle this on to automatically delete recordings after a shorter time period. Select your preferred duration: 7 days, 14 days, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 6 months, 9 months, or 1 year. Once deleted, recordings and all associated Observer Room data are permanently removed from Rally and its sub-processors.
Select Save changes to apply your settings.
Enable automatic Zoom recording
When enabled, the recording starts automatically when the observer bot joins; no manual host approval required.
Observer Room access
Admins can define who can access Observer Room links. Changes to this setting apply to all upcoming sessions.
Anyone with the link (default)
Anyone with the observer room link can access it without entering a password. The link itself contains a protected parameter that prevents unwanted access.
Anyone with the link and password
Observers are prompted to enter a password to access the room. The password can be found in the observer room share sheet in Rally, in calendar invites, and in emails sent to observers. You can update the password at any time from the share sheet.
Only Rally users
Only Rally users logged into your workspace can access the observer room. Observers who aren't logged in will be redirected to the Rally login page and brought back to the observer room once signed in.
If you change the observer room password, any previously sent communications containing the old password will not be updated automatically.
Download past recordings
Control who can download past Observer Room recordings.
Study owners and admins - only study owners and admins can download recordings.
Admins only - only admins can download recordings.
To learn how to enable Observer Rooms for a study, see Observer Rooms.