How to record your screen and webcam on a Mac

A face in the corner makes a screen recording feel like someone is talking to you, not at you. On a Mac you can do it for free with what's already installed, or with an app that handles the camera for you. This guide covers both, plus the settings that make the difference between "webcam video" and something people enjoy watching.

Option 1: free, with QuickTime Player

macOS doesn't have a single "screen plus camera" button, but QuickTime Player can show your camera in a floating window that you then record along with the screen. This approach is described in many guides, for example Jeff Geerling's.

Open QuickTime Player and choose File → New Movie Recording. Your camera appears in a window.
Choose View → Float on Top, so the camera window stays above other apps.
Make the window small and drag it to a corner.
Press ⇧⌘5, choose to record the entire screen or a selected portion that includes the camera window, and pick your microphone under Options.
Click Record. Stop with the stop button in the menu bar.

The catch: the camera window is part of the screen image, so it's square-cornered, can't be moved or resized afterwards, and covers whatever is under it. Some apps in full-screen mode can hide it. And there is no zoom or editing beyond trimming in QuickTime.

Option 2: a recorder with a camera bubble

Dedicated recorders record the camera as a separate track and put it on top later, so you can change it after recording. Here is how it works in Dolly, our Mac recorder; other apps such as Screen Studio and Loom have similar controls.

Open Dolly and press ⇧⌘2. The recording bar appears.
Pick Display, Window or Area, then switch on Camera and Microphone with one click each. Turn on System audio if you want your Mac's sound.
Set the camera bubble: small, medium or large, round or rounded, mirrored or not. Drag it with your hand to where it covers nothing important, or minimise it while you record.
Record. When you press Stop, the camera comes along into the project.
In the editor, choose a layout per clip: a bubble, side by side, or camera only for an intro. Dolly animates between them.

Because the cursor and camera are recorded separately, Dolly also zooms in on your clicks and smooths your cursor, and the bubble stays put while the screen moves. Captions are transcribed on your Mac if you want them burned in or as an SRT file.

To send it, export an MP4, or use Quick share: the video lands on your clipboard when you stop, ready to paste into Slack or Mail. Dolly is free with no time limit and exports up to 1080p; free exports carry a small "Made with Dolly" logo in the corner, which Pro removes.

Option 3: Loom

Loom's recorder shows a camera bubble during recording and uploads the video so you get a link right away. Its free Starter plan stops recordings at 5 minutes and caps you at 25 videos, at up to 720p with a Loom watermark (pricing, checked 14 October 2026). If your viewers expect a link and you need to see who watched, Loom is built for that. See Loom's 5-minute limit, explained if you keep hitting the timer.

Tips for a webcam that looks good

Light from the front. Sit facing a window or put a lamp behind your screen. Light from behind you turns your face into a silhouette.
Camera at eye level. Raise the laptop a few centimetres so the camera isn't looking up your nose.
Keep the bubble small and in a corner that your UI doesn't use. Bottom right is usually safe, except in apps with chat buttons there.
Look at the camera for the first and last sentence. In between, looking at the screen is natural.
Use a separate microphone if you can. Audio quality matters more than video quality for how professional you sound.
Hide the camera for detailed parts. If you show a dense table, switch that clip to screen only.

Which option should you use?

One-off, free, nothing to install: QuickTime plus ⇧⌘5.
A video you'll put on a website, in docs or in a sales email: a recorder with a real camera bubble, such as Dolly.
A quick message where a link matters more than looks: Loom.

Sources

Display webcam content overlaid on your presentation on a Mac, Jeff Geerling
Loom pricing, checked 14 October 2026
Loom Free limits (5 minutes per video, 25 videos, 720p, Loom watermark) from Layerpath, checked 7 September 2026