Who can see my video link? How unlisted video links work

A common first question is about a hi recorded for one hiring manager: can the rest of the hiring team find it, and will it show up if someone searches your name?

Only people who have the link can open it, and nothing lists it publicly.

The rest is worth reading before you send your first one, because "unlisted" gets used loosely, and the practical questions are about forwarding and chat apps rather than search engines.

What unlisted means on hi.video

Every hi you publish gets its own link. Anyone who has that link can open it on any phone or laptop, without an account and with nothing to install.

The recipient page asks search engines not to index it, and hi.video does not publish a list of your videos anywhere a stranger could browse. That is the whole of "unlisted". It is a door with no sign on it, and the link is the only thing that opens it.

If you later change your custom username, your old links keep working. A hi you sent last month does not break because your link now has a different name in it.

What "anyone with the link" means in practice

The link is the key, and keys can be copied. If the recipient forwards your email, the person they forward it to can watch.

If they paste the link into a document, anyone who reads the document can watch. There is no second lock behind the link.

Treat a hi like an email attachment. You would not put something in an email that you could not stand to have forwarded, and the same rule applies here.

A hi that says "I would love to work on this with you" is fine to have forwarded. A hi that criticizes the recipient's current vendor by name is not.

The recipient's name on the page helps in a softer way. A video addressed to Dana by name, with a note to Dana, is awkward for anyone who is not Dana to pass around. That is a social deterrent rather than a technical one, and I would not rely on it for anything that matters.

What happens when it is forwarded

Someone who receives a forwarded hi sees exactly what the original recipient saw: Dana's name, your note, the video and your reply or booking button. The page looks the same to everyone who opens it.

You will see that the video has been viewed. You will not see who viewed it. If you sent a hi to one person and the view arrives at an hour that does not fit that person, the link has probably moved on, and there is little to do about it except be glad you kept the content professional.

Link previews in chat apps

Chat apps are an easy thing to overlook. When you paste a link into a messaging app or a team channel, the app often fetches the page and shows a preview card with a title and sometimes an image. The card is not the video, but it tells everyone in that chat that a video exists and gives them a way to open it.

Paste a hi into a direct message and the preview is seen by one person. Paste it into a channel of sixty people and you have shared it with sixty people, whether or not any of them click. If you want a hi to stay with one person, send it to one person, in a direct message or an email, and keep it out of group channels.

View notifications and reporting

As the sender, you can see when your hi has been viewed. That tells you the link was opened, and it can be a good time for a short follow up if the person has not replied.

Every recipient page has a report option, so someone who receives an abusive or impersonating hi can flag it to us.

The page also carries the "Recorded in hi.video" label, which means the video was made in our recorder rather than uploaded. The trust page spells out what that label does and does not prove.

If you sent it to the wrong person

It happens, and often the damage is one confused viewer. Work through this list in order.

1. Delete the video from your account. The link stops playing for everyone who has it, including the wrong recipient.
2. Record a fresh hi for the person you meant to reach. Do not just change the name on the page, because the video itself may still say the wrong name.
3. If you know the wrong recipient, send them one line. "Sorry, that link was meant for someone else, please ignore it." Keep it to that.
4. If you do not know them, leave it. A follow up can draw more attention than the mistake did.
5. Before you publish the next one, read the recipient's name on the page out loud and check it against the email address you are about to use.

The free plan stores five videos at a time, so clearing out a mistaken one is also housekeeping. Plan limits are on the pricing page.

A quick privacy check before you send

A thirty second check here can save you an awkward email later.

• The recipient's name on the page is spelled the way they spell it.
• The note says nothing you would not put in the email itself.
• If you recorded with screen plus camera, nothing private appeared on screen. Other tabs and notification banners can end up in the video.
• The reply or booking button goes where you want a stranger to land.
• You are pasting the link into a direct message or an email rather than a channel.

That is the privacy a hi has: unlisted, with search engines asked not to index it, and open to anyone who holds the link. A hi is a message, and messages travel, so write it the way you would write anything with your name on it. When you record your first hi, you will know exactly who can open it.

If you are deciding what to put in the text that goes with the video, what to write in the note with your video is the place to start. Record a video introduction in your browser covers the recording side, and if you have wondered about the label on the page, AI avatar vs real video introduction explains it.