Where coaching call recordings are stored and how to access them

You just wrapped a powerful 60-minute coaching session. The client asked great questions, you shared a framework you've never written down anywhere, and now you're both wondering: where did that recording go? Whether you're a coach trying to share a replay or a client who missed a live call, knowing exactly where coaching call recordings are stored — and how to pull them up fast — saves you from inbox archaeology and embarrassing follow-up messages.

This guide covers everything about coaching call recordings in Coachful: where they live, how to access them as a coach or client, how to share them, and how to stay organized as your library grows.

TL;DR

• Recordings are stored inside the session record tied to the booking — find them under Coach → Bookings → [Session] → Recordings.
• Clients access their session recordings from My Sessions in their member portal.
• Coachful uses Stream-powered HD video; recordings are processed and available within a few minutes of the call ending.
• Coaches can share a recording link directly or attach it to a program task for async review.
• Recordings are retained according to your workspace's storage plan — download important replays for long-term archiving.

How Coachful Records Coaching Calls

Coachful's built-in video is powered by Stream Video, a real-time communications platform that handles HD video, audio capture, and cloud recording. When recording is enabled, Stream captures the session on its cloud infrastructure and pushes the finished file back to your Coachful workspace automatically. You don't need a third-party tool like Zoom or Loom — everything stays in one place.

Recording can be started in two ways: automatically (if your workspace has auto-record enabled for a session type) or manually (by pressing the record button inside the call). Either way, the resulting file is linked to the specific booking record it belongs to, so you'll always find recordings in context — not floating in a generic folder somewhere.

What Gets Captured

• Video and audio from all participants in a 1:1 session or group call.
• Screen shares, if any participant shared their screen during the session.
• The full duration from the moment recording started to when it was stopped or the call ended.

Note: If recording was started mid-call, only the portion after the record button was pressed is captured. The pre-recording segment is not recoverable, so it's a good habit to start recording as soon as everyone joins.

Where Recordings Are Stored: The Coach's View

As a coach (or admin), your recordings are organized by booking. Here's exactly how to find them:

1. From your coach dashboard, go to Bookings in the left sidebar.
2. Select the Past tab to see completed sessions.
3. Click the session you're looking for — this opens the session detail page.
4. Scroll down to the Recordings section. You'll see a list of all captured recordings for that session, each with a timestamp and duration.
5. Click Play to watch inline, or Download to save the file locally.
6. Use the Copy link icon to grab a shareable URL you can send to the client.

If you run a lot of sessions, use the search bar at the top of the Bookings page to filter by client name or date range. This is much faster than scrolling through weeks of sessions.

Recordings Inside Programs

If the coaching call was scheduled as part of a structured coaching program, the recording is also accessible from the program's session task. Navigate to Coach → Programs → [Your Program] → Schedule, open the relevant week and session task, and you'll see the recording attached there. This keeps your program delivery tidy — clients can watch replays in the same place they complete their other weekly tasks.

Group Call Recordings (Squads)

Group calls held inside a cohort squad or community squad work the same way. Go to the squad, click Sessions, then open the past call. The recording appears in the session detail just like a 1:1. All members of that squad can access the recording from their own portal without you having to send individual links.

Pro tip: Coaches running cohort programs on Coachful often record every group call and attach it as a "watch the replay" task inside the following week's curriculum. This way, clients who missed the live call get the same value — and the replay becomes a permanent part of your program content.

Where Recordings Are Stored: The Client's View

Clients don't need to ask their coach for a replay link — recordings are already waiting for them in their member portal. Here's where clients should look:

1. Log into the client portal at {yourcoach}.coachful.co (or your coach's custom domain).
2. Click My Sessions in the main navigation.
3. Switch to the Past tab.
4. Open the session. The recording will appear in the Recordings section of the session detail.
5. Hit Play to watch directly in the browser, or Download to save a local copy.

If the recording isn't showing up yet, it may still be processing. Stream typically delivers the finished recording within 5–10 minutes of the call ending, but high-demand periods can extend this to 20–30 minutes. Refreshing the session page after waiting a few minutes usually does the trick.

Clients enrolled in a program can also find session replays directly inside their program view under the relevant week and task — no need to navigate to "My Sessions" separately.

New to Coachful? Coaches and clients both benefit from having calls, notes, tasks, and recordings all in one workspace. Explore Coachful to see how it compares to juggling five separate tools.

Sharing and Distributing Recordings

There are several ways to share a coaching call recording with your client or team.

Direct Link Sharing

Inside the session's Recordings section, each recording has a Copy link option. This generates a private, access-controlled URL — only people with access to that session (the coach and the enrolled client) can view it. Paste it into an email, a Coachful message thread, or a program task description.

Attaching to a Program Task

For asynchronous coaching, attaching a recording to a task is ideal. Open the relevant task in your program curriculum, paste the recording link into the task description or the media embed field, and save. Clients will see the replay as part of their structured workflow alongside action items and habit trackers.

Sharing in the Squad Chat

You can also paste the recording link into a squad's chat. If you ran a live group session and want to distribute the replay to everyone in the cohort at once, dropping the link in the squad's Stream-powered chat is the fastest method. All current squad members will see it immediately.

Downloading and Redistributing

If you want to upload the recording to an external platform (YouTube, a private course site, your own storage), download the file first from the Recordings section and then upload it wherever you need. Keep in mind that downloaded recordings lose their access-controlled status once you distribute them outside Coachful, so only do this when you intend for the content to be more broadly available.

Pro Tips for Managing Your Recording Library

Name your sessions clearly before they start. The recording file inherits the session title from your booking. A session named "Week 3 — Mindset Deep Dive" is infinitely easier to find three months later than "Coaching Call."

• Start recording immediately. Don't wait until the "important" part — the context at the start of a call often matters as much as the takeaways at the end.
• Download milestone recordings. Storage retention depends on your Coachful plan. If a recording is a cornerstone piece of content (a client breakthrough, a framework you articulated perfectly), download a local backup.
• Use Michelle to find recordings faster. Coachful's built-in AI assistant, Michelle, can answer questions like "Show me recordings from my sessions with [client name] in March" and navigate you directly to the right booking without manual searching.
• Turn recordings into evergreen content. Strong group-call recordings can be repurposed as onboarding content for future program cohorts. Attach them to your Week 1 orientation task so every new client gets the benefit of your best live teaching.
• Notify clients proactively. After a session ends, use the Coachful messaging thread to send a quick note: "Replay is live in your My Sessions tab!" It takes 10 seconds and dramatically increases the chance clients actually watch it.

Troubleshooting: Common Recording Problems

The recording isn't showing up after the call

Wait at least 10 minutes and refresh the session page. If it's been longer than 30 minutes and still nothing, check whether recording was actually started during the call. If no participant pressed record and auto-record wasn't enabled, no file will have been created. Going forward, enable auto-record in your session type settings under Bookings → Session Types → [Type] → Recording settings.

The client says they can't see the recording

Confirm the client is logged in to the correct workspace URL ({yourcoach}.coachful.co or your custom domain). Clients sometimes bookmark the generic app.coachful.co URL, which won't show their session history. Also verify that the client's enrollment is still active — if a program or subscription has lapsed, session access may be restricted depending on your workspace settings.

The recording is cut off or incomplete

This typically happens if the browser tab or app was closed abruptly before the call officially ended, or if the session ran into a network interruption. The recording captures whatever was successfully transmitted to Stream's cloud before the disconnection. Always end calls using the End Call button rather than closing the tab — this signals a clean stop to the recording pipeline.

The video quality looks low on playback

Recorded quality is determined by the stream quality at the time of the call, not a post-processing setting. If video looks pixelated, the original session likely ran on a congested or slow network connection. For future calls, a wired ethernet connection and a minimum 10 Mbps upload speed are recommended for HD recording quality.

I can see the recording but can't download it

Download permissions are tied to your role. Coaches and admins always have download access. Client download access depends on the setting under Coach → Settings → Client Permissions → Allow session recording downloads. Toggle this on if you want clients to be able to save replays locally.

I accidentally deleted a recording

Deleted recordings cannot be recovered from the Coachful interface — Stream removes the file from storage once deletion is confirmed. If this happens, reach out to support@coachful.co as quickly as possible; in some cases, a recovery window exists at the infrastructure level depending on how recently the deletion occurred.

Ready to Never Lose a Session Recording Again?

Coaching call recordings are one of the most underused assets in a coach's business. They're proof of transformation, reusable content, and a safety net for clients who can't always attend live. Having them automatically stored, organized by session, and accessible in one click — for both you and your clients — removes every excuse not to use them.

If you're still stitching together Zoom recordings, Google Drive folders, and manual email links, it's worth seeing how much simpler a unified workspace makes this. Start your free Coachful trial and run your first recorded session end-to-end without switching tabs. Or, if you're a client looking for a coach who uses professional tools, find a coach on Coachful and get access to session replays from day one.