Most people buy ScreenFlow to record a demo or a tutorial on their Mac, then tidy it up before it goes out. A new licence is $199 for ScreenFlow 10, and new major versions are paid upgrades: Telestream lists $79 from version 9 and $119 from versions 4 to 7. The Stock Media Library is another $99 a year on top. If all you want is a clean screen recording where the viewer can actually see what you clicked, that's a lot of editor to pay for.
ScreenMotion is a Mac screen recorder that adds the zooms for you. It watches where you click, pushes the camera in before each click, holds there, and pulls back out when you move on. When you stop recording, the editor opens with the zooms already in place. Drag one if you disagree, then export.
Small, quick, and out of the way
- An 11.2 MB download. It's built on Apple's own frameworks, so it downloads in seconds and opens instantly.
- It stays out of the shot. A small floating pill holds the stop button, and ScreenMotion leaves itself out of its own capture.
- Nothing leaves your Mac. The recording is a file on your disk. Nothing is uploaded, and the app never phones home.
What you can do in it
- Zooms that place themselves. Your clicks get grouped into moments, and each one becomes a zoom with no keyframes to set.
- A calm camera. Nearby zooms merge instead of bouncing, and the frame only pans once your cursor leaves the middle.
- Four dials for the feel. Zoom level, hold time, how fast it moves in, and how eagerly zooms merge.
- A timeline you can edit. Every zoom is a block you can drag, stretch, or leave alone.
- A finished look. Gradient backdrop, padding, rounded corners and a soft shadow, baked in at full resolution.
- Sound in sync. System audio and your mic go into the same video file, so there's nothing to line up later.
Who it's for
The developer attaching a clip to a bug report, so the line they clicked is readable. The product person making a fifteen second changelog video. The teacher recording a walkthrough who doesn't want to spend the evening moving a camera by hand.
When to stick with ScreenFlow
ScreenFlow is a full video editor, and ScreenMotion doesn't try to be one. If you need a camera recorded next to your screen, multi-track editing, titles and transitions, closed captions, iPhone or iPad recording, or animated GIF export, ScreenFlow does all of that. And if you'd rather pay once and keep the version you bought for years, $199 one time can work out cheaper than any subscription.
What it costs
ScreenMotion comes with a getapps.cafe membership, from $1.99 a month on the annual plan, along with the rest of the apps on the menu. A Solo membership covers one device. Try it free for 7 days first.
