How often is Cohort data refreshed when added to Visibility Rules?
- 02 Jan 2026
- 2 Minutes To Read
- Print
- DarkLight
- PDF
How often is Cohort data refreshed when added to Visibility Rules?
- Updated On 02 Jan 2026
- 2 Minutes To Read
- Print
- DarkLight
- PDF
Article summary
Did you find this summary helpful?
Thank you for your feedback
Cohorts enable you to group users based on their behavior. Add Cohorts to Visibility Rules to target Whatfix content to a specific group of users. Depending on whether you have the Real Time Cohorts feature enabled, Whatfix refreshes Cohorts added to Visibility Rules either in real time or once every 24 hours.
Read the following article to learn how each refresh type works so you know when Cohort updates take effect for your end users.
Refresh behavior while creating Cohorts
Use Cohorts to compare and contrast end-user behavior. You can create a Cohort and derive results immediately.
Note:
If your end users have not performed the events at least once, they do not show up in the Cohort rule builder.
Refresh behavior while adding Cohorts as Visibility Rules
Add Cohorts as Visibility Rules (Beta) to target Whatfix content based on end-user behavior. For more information, see Add Cohorts as Visibility Rules.
The following are the refresh behaviors for Cohorts added as Visibility Rules:
Real time refresh: If you have the Real Time Cohorts (Beta) feature enabled, upon saving the Cohort as a Visibility Rule, Whatfix performs an initial sync that may take up to 15 minutes. After the one-time processing window, all syncs occur in real-time. Whenever a user is added to or removed from a Cohort, Whatfix immediately evaluates and updates the widget visibility for that user.
Note:
- You need to enable Cohorts as Visibility Rules before enabling Real Time Cohorts. To enable Cohorts as Visibility Rules and Real Time Cohorts, contact support@whatfix.com.
- To understand the conditions that qualify a Cohort as a Real Time Cohort, see Understand Real Time Cohorts.
Periodic refresh: If you don't have the Real Time Cohorts (Beta) feature enabled, and you add such Cohorts as Visibility Rules, the Cohort is synced within 15 minutes initially, and your widget becomes visible. Afterward, the Cohort is refreshed periodically once every 24 hours. Whatfix refreshes such Cohorts once every 24 hours to capture the latest engagement data, and the widget visibility does not happen in real time.
The following table shows the differences between the two refresh behaviors:
| Real time refresh | Periodic refresh |
|---|---|
| Requires the Cohorts as Visibility Rules feature to be enabled. | Requires the Cohorts as Visibility Rules feature to be enabled. |
| Requires the Real Time Cohorts feature to be enabled. | Does not require the Real Time Cohorts feature. |
| When added as a Visibility Rule, the Cohort is initially synced within 15 minutes. | When added as a Visibility Rule, the Cohort is initially synced within 15 minutes. |
| After the initial sync, Cohorts are refreshed in real time. | After the initial sync, Cohorts are refreshed once every 24 hours. |
| Widget visibility is evaluated immediately whenever a user is added to or removed from a Cohort. | Widget visibility is not updated in real time; it reflects changes after the next 24-hour refresh. |
Was this article helpful?