I’ve tried dozens of screen recorders over the years, and they all seem to follow the same playbook: create an account, pick a subscription tier, agree to upload everything to their cloud. Last week I found Ooml, a screen recorder that takes the opposite approach - it just records, and everything stays on your Mac.
The first thing that struck me was how fast I could start recording. No onboarding flow, no account creation, no payment walls during what they call “early access.” I clicked the menu bar icon, selected my screen area, and started recording. That’s it. The recording stayed local on my Mac Mini M4, exactly where I wanted it.
The control panel uses macOS’s Liquid Glass interface and floats above your work. You can record full screen, specific windows, or custom regions. What I really appreciate is the camera overlay feature - it adds your face with customizable styles (circle, rounded, square) and includes portrait mode lighting and studio mode effects. For someone making tutorial videos or async updates for my distributed team, this eliminates the need for post-processing.
Audio capture is straightforward: microphone, system audio, or both. I’ve been using it to record quick demos for colleagues across different time zones, capturing both my voice and the app sounds. The recordings work great for asynchronous communication where I need to show exactly what I’m seeing and talking through a technical issue.
Performance on my M2 MacBook Air has been solid. The app is optimized for Apple Silicon and requires macOS 15. It sits quietly in the menu bar, using minimal resources until you actually start recording. I haven’t noticed any slowdown during recordings, even when capturing at full resolution with camera overlay active.
For sharing, Ooml integrates with native macOS features - AirDrop to other Apple devices, Messages and Email, or save locally. You can also upload to iCloud or Google Drive if you want cloud storage, but that’s entirely your choice. The app never forces you to upload anywhere.
One limitation worth mentioning: because it’s entirely offline and local, there’s no cloud-based editing suite or automatic transcription. If you need those features, you’ll need separate tools. But for me, that’s actually the selling point - no platform dependency, no data leaving my device unless I explicitly choose to share it.
The development team’s philosophy resonates with my privacy preferences: “Every screen recorder wants your data, your login, your subscription - we wanted one that just records.” That’s exactly what they’ve built. No analytics tracking my recordings, no servers processing my content, no subscription renewal reminders.
Currently available free on the Mac App Store during early access - no credit card required, all features included. This pricing model might change eventually, but right now it’s an excellent opportunity to try a genuinely privacy-respecting screen recorder.
After a week of daily use for work demos and the occasional tutorial, Ooml has replaced my previous screen recording workflow entirely. It does exactly what a screen recorder should do: capture what’s on my screen, let me add my camera if needed, and store the result locally where I control it.
