Straight answers about what Google Forms can and cannot do — and what to use when it cannot.
No. Google Forms records only the answers and a submission timestamp. It cannot detect tab switches, copied text, screenshots or a second device. Third-party proctoring add-ons can detect some of those, but nothing running in a browser can see a phone, paper notes or another person in the room.
No. Google Forms has no tab-switch detection and never has. Browsers expose the event, but Forms does not use it. Proctoring add-ons detect it by wrapping the form in their own page.
To the form owner, yes by default — they see answers and a timestamp, with no name, email or IP address. Turning on 'Collect email addresses' or 'Limit to 1 response' forces a sign-in and identifies respondents. Google itself still logs requests regardless.
Google Forms has no built-in timer. A comparison of the practical options — Workspace add-ons, Apps Script, and a timed link — and which fits which job.
Use 'Limit to 1 response', which works but forces every respondent to sign in to a Google account. Without a sign-in there is no reliable way to identify a person in a browser; personal links or a self-reported email are the practical alternatives.
Google Forms cannot tell whether a student switched tabs or pasted an answer. Here is what browser-based proctoring can and cannot detect, and how to read the results.
Google has never released a Forms app for iOS. You can use the mobile web version in Safari, request the desktop site, or use a third-party native client.
Google Forms has no built-in timer. You add one with a Workspace add-on, which closes the form at a fixed time, or with a timed link, which gives each respondent their own countdown from when they open it.
Yes, natively since January 2026. In Settings, a published form can close at a set date and time or after a set number of responses. The setting is off by default. Per-option limits are still not supported.
AI Forms for Google Docs does this from your phone — no add-on, no laptop. Get it on the App Store.