> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nextintent.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Watch mode

> What NextIntent records while Messages are off, how to read it, and how to use a week of watch mode to decide whether to turn active mode on.

Watch mode is NextIntent with Messages off. It reads every visit, finds every moment, composes the sentence it would have said, and shows nothing to anyone. Everything is recorded so you can read it. It is free with no time limit.

## What it records

Every stuck shopper still becomes a moment on **Moments**, labelled "Left alone, nothing shown", with:

* the page and the cart at that second,
* the reason in plain words ("sitting on the cart 30 s, idle 12 s"),
* the sentence that would have been shown, exactly as a shopper would have read it,
* what the shopper did next, checked 10 and 30 minutes later: bought, kept browsing, left soon after.

**Reasons** groups the moments by what stalled the shopper. **Money** shows what those shoppers bought on their own. That "on their own" rate is the baseline that active mode is later compared against.

## How to read a week of watch mode

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Reasons after two or three days">
    You see the share of stalls that were about shipping, about a declined code, about size, and so on. This is the first useful thing the app tells you: the shape of the friction in your store, in your store's terms.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Read twenty moments">
    On **Moments**, click into a few. Read the sentence the app would have said. Ask two questions: is it true, and would I have said it? If a sentence is wrong, the fix is almost always on the facts sheet: a return window the policy states badly, a product with no note. See [What it reads from your store](/shopify/getting-started/what-it-reads).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check the silences">
    Filter Moments to "We stayed quiet". The reasons should look right: bought in the last day, in checkout, typing, no fact to state. If you see "no fact to state" on product pages often, that is the size note you have not written yet.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Decide">
    When the sentences read like something your best shop assistant would say, turn Messages on. See [Watch mode and active mode](/shopify/getting-started/modes). If they do not, fix the facts and watch another few days. It costs nothing.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What watch mode is worth on its own

Even a store that never turns Messages on gets a report no analytics tool gives: which shoppers stopped, on what, with the cart they had. A store that learns that a third of its cart stalls are shoppers under the free shipping line by less than \$15 can act on that with or without NextIntent speaking.

## What is different from active mode

| | Watch mode | Active mode |
| - | - | - |
| Shoppers see a card | No | Yes, when stuck |
| Moments are recorded | Yes | Yes |
| Sentence is composed | Yes, shown to you only | Yes, shown to the shopper |
| Held back to compare | Everyone is left alone | A random share is left alone |
| Cost | Free | 5% of credited orders, under your cap |
| Billing | None | Through Shopify |

Watch mode is also where the app drops back to when your cap is reached. See [The cap](/shopify/billing/the-cap).

## Related

* [Watch mode and active mode](/shopify/getting-started/modes)
* [Moments](/shopify/reports/moments)
* [Reasons](/shopify/reports/reasons)
* [Held back to compare](/shopify/how-it-works/held-back)