diff --git a/packages/replay/src/coreHandlers/handleKeyboardEvent.ts b/packages/replay/src/coreHandlers/handleKeyboardEvent.ts
index f7943d34fa4f..0f7560f39584 100644
--- a/packages/replay/src/coreHandlers/handleKeyboardEvent.ts
+++ b/packages/replay/src/coreHandlers/handleKeyboardEvent.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@ export function handleKeyboardEvent(replay: ReplayContainer, event: KeyboardEven
     return;
   }
 
-  replay.triggerUserActivity();
+  // Update user activity, but do not restart recording as it can create
+  // noisy/low-value replays (e.g. user comes back from idle, hits alt-tab, new
+  // session with a single "keydown" breadcrumb is created)
+  replay.updateUserActivity();
 
   const breadcrumb = getKeyboardBreadcrumb(event);
 
diff --git a/packages/replay/src/replay.ts b/packages/replay/src/replay.ts
index 53f263b5fa3f..cbab2f8b55fb 100644
--- a/packages/replay/src/replay.ts
+++ b/packages/replay/src/replay.ts
@@ -480,6 +480,18 @@ export class ReplayContainer implements ReplayContainerInterface {
     this._updateSessionActivity();
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Updates the user activity timestamp *without* resuming
+   * recording. Some user events (e.g. keydown) can be create
+   * low-value replays that only contain the keypress as a
+   * breadcrumb. Instead this would require other events to
+   * create a new replay after a session has expired.
+   */
+  public updateUserActivity(): void {
+    this._updateUserActivity();
+    this._updateSessionActivity();
+  }
+
   /**
    * Only flush if `this.recordingMode === 'session'`
    */
diff --git a/packages/replay/src/types.ts b/packages/replay/src/types.ts
index 3d1d8616bb79..01efb4afc40c 100644
--- a/packages/replay/src/types.ts
+++ b/packages/replay/src/types.ts
@@ -542,6 +542,7 @@ export interface ReplayContainer {
   flushImmediate(): Promise<void>;
   cancelFlush(): void;
   triggerUserActivity(): void;
+  updateUserActivity(): void;
   addUpdate(cb: AddUpdateCallback): void;
   getOptions(): ReplayPluginOptions;
   getSessionId(): string | undefined;