Product Overview

Smooth Recorder is a native macOS screen recording, screenshot, and demo creation tool, with the official tagline "Record Beautiful Demos Without Editing." Built with SwiftUI and AppKit, it requires macOS 15 Sequoia or later. It is not a browser extension and does not run in the browser.

The core idea: once recording ends, the "post-production effects" like zoom, cursor smoothing, and captions are already done automatically, so users never need to open traditional editing software to tweak things frame by frame.

Key Features

Recording & Automatic Finishing

• Auto-zoom: Automatically generates zooms that follow mouse clicks, with styles like Auto, Snappy, Drift, and Cut, or you can manually specify target points.
• 3D angles (new in 1.1): Zooms can give the frame a three-dimensional tilt effect such as Left, Right, Lean, or Float.
• Smooth cursor: Offers Smooth or Silky motion, with a ripple on click, and the cursor can be enlarged up to 4x.
• Camera overlay: Supports bubble or split-screen layouts, with adjustable position, size, corner radius, and mirroring after recording.
• Pause and resume: Controlled via the recording capsule in the notch.
• Keystroke display: Shows pressed shortcuts at the top or bottom of the frame.

Captions & Text-Based Editing

• Captions are generated on-device on the Mac, with word-by-word highlighting as they are spoken.
• Edit by text: Delete a word or sentence, and the corresponding segment is removed from the video.
• One-click removal of filler words like "um, uh, er" and long pauses; you can also strike out retakes so the video automatically tightens up.

Screenshot Editor

• Annotate screenshots directly: arrows, lines, brush, marker, shapes, text, callout boxes, numbers, spotlight, magnifier, blur, and mosaic, each of which can be bound to a shortcut.
• Smart Redact: Automatically detects emails, phone numbers, bank card numbers, keys, faces, links, IP addresses, amounts, and other sensitive information on-device and masks them with one click, with styles including blur, pixelate, or black bar.
• Tilt 3D: Nine 3D presets with fine-tuning and focus blur.
• 94 wallpapers (new in 1.1) across nine series, plus 28 gradients; supports blur and grain.
• Provides Mac window or browser frames, with light/dark options.
• Supports social sizes like 16:9, 1:1, 4:5, and 9:16, as well as link preview and Product Hunt sizes.
• Saved looks: Save styles to apply to future screenshots, while keeping edits re-editable.

Motion 3D Videos (new in 1.1)

Turn a single screenshot into a short clip: open with a 3D angle, slide in, focus-zoom, then pull back, with optional music, exported at 1080p or 4K (60 fps).

Capture Methods

A single shortcut (default ⌥1) opens the capture overlay, letting you choose an area, window, or full screen, with five modes:

• Screenshot
• Record (including camera, microphone, and system audio)
• GIF (up to 24 fps)
• Scrolling capture
• Copy text (extract text from any area, recognized on-device)

Supports 3, 5, and 10-second self-timers.

Other Production Capabilities

• Trim, split, and speed up clips up to 8x.
• Video annotations: text, arrows, boxes, spotlight, blur.
• Backgrounds: wallpapers, gradients, solid colors, or images, with padding, corner radius, and shadow support.
• Crop and reframe for export in 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, and 4:5.

Export Formats

• MP4 or MOV, H.264 or HEVC, 30 or 60 fps, up to 1440p.
• GIF, up to 24 fps.
• MOV for easy use in Keynote and Final Cut.

System Integration & Privacy

• Library in the notch, where you can search all screenshots and recordings and see recording timers.
• Menu bar icon (new in 1.1) opens the library and shows time while recording; the Dock menu offers Capture, Recent, Library, and Settings.
• Supports shortcuts and Siri actions to start/stop recording, take screenshots, or extract text.
• Light, dark, or follow system.
• In-app update checks.
• Captions, text recognition, and sensitive information masking all run on-device and are never uploaded to the cloud.

Use Cases

• Creating product demos, onboarding guides, and feature walkthrough videos without post-production editing.
• Recording tutorials, reviews, or presentations that need clear cursor, zoom, and captions.
• Making screenshots with 3D tilt, wallpapers, and frames for docs, social media, or store pages.
• Quickly masking private information like emails, card numbers, and keys before sharing screenshots.
• Turning a single screenshot into a short video (Motion).

Limitations & Notes

• Only supports macOS 15 Sequoia and later; does not support Windows, Linux, or browser extensions.
• The official site states export up to 1440p (recorded video), with Motion videos at 1080p or 4K.
• One license can only be activated on one Mac at a time; to switch devices, first deactivate it on the old device under Settings › License.
• One-time purchase, and all sales are final; the official site states no refunds, but support is available by email.
• Some features (3D angles, menu bar icon, 94 wallpapers, Motion) are listed as new in version 1.1.

Pricing Information (subject to the official site)

• Early-bird one-time license $9, no subscription, no account; the official site says the first 100 buyers get this price (the page shows 60 purchased and 40 remaining), with the launch price at $69 and later $39.
• Includes all features: auto-zoom and smooth cursor recording, transcription and filler word removal, screenshot/GIF/scrolling capture/text extraction, Smart Redact and Motion, 3D zoom angles and wallpapers, MP4/MOV/GIF export, notch library and search, shortcuts and Siri, and all updates during early access.
• The official comparison lists Screen Studio at $29/month, CleanShot X at $35 plus $19/year for updates, and Loom at $18/month (data checked on their official sites in September 2026, for reference only).
• The above prices and copy come from the product's official site; specific and latest terms are subject to the official site.