Install
Up and running in two minutes.
Four short steps: drag, open, allow, record. Here's exactly what you'll see.
Step 1 of 4
Drag Dolly to Applications.
Download Dolly (about 94 MB) and open Dolly-mac-arm64.dmg from your Downloads folder. A small window opens with an arrow. Drag the Dolly icon onto the Applications folder, then close the window.
- Open Dolly from Applications, not from the disk image.
- You can eject the disk image afterwards (the ⏏ button next to “Dolly” in Finder's sidebar).
Step 2 of 4
Open it the first time.
Dolly isn't notarized by Apple yet, so the very first time macOS blocks it and you allow it once in System Settings. It takes four clicks, and you never do it again, not even after updates.
macOS 15 Sequoia, macOS 26 Tahoe and later
- Double-click Dolly in Applications. macOS says “Dolly” Not Opened. Click Done (not Move to Trash).
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security.
- Scroll all the way down to Security. Next to “Dolly” was blocked to protect your Mac, click Open Anyway.
- Confirm with Touch ID or your password, then click Open Anyway once more. Dolly opens.
The button opens System Settings on a Mac. Open Anyway shows for about an hour after you tried to open Dolly; if it's gone, double-click Dolly again first. Right-click → Open no longer skips this on macOS 15 and later.
Step 2, older macOS
On macOS 13 Ventura or 14 Sonoma.
Here it's one right-click.
- Open Applications in Finder.
- Right-click Dolly (or Control-click) and choose Open.
- macOS asks if you're sure. Click Open.
You only do this once. After that, Dolly opens like any other app.
Step 3 of 4
Allow screen recording.
Dolly's welcome window asks for this right away, with a button that opens the right place. Without it, recordings come out black. You allow it once: updates keep it.
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording (on macOS 13 and 14 it's called Screen Recording).
- Switch Dolly on.
- macOS asks to restart Dolly. Click Quit & Reopen.
Opens System Settings on a Mac.
Step 4 of 4
Optional extras.
Only when you use them. Dolly works without these.
These buttons open System Settings and only work on a Mac.
Something not working?
Still stuck? The troubleshooting docs have more.
My recording is black.
Dolly doesn't have screen recording permission yet. Allow it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording, then quit and reopen Dolly.
Dolly isn't in the list.
Click the + button under the list, choose Applications → Dolly, and switch it on. Then quit and reopen Dolly.
It worked before, but not after an update.
Updates keep your permissions. Coming from Dolly 0.4.14 or older, macOS asks one last time: Dolly opens Allow Dolly again with only what's missing; click the button for each and Dolly notices by itself. Dolly is switched on in the list but still can't record? Click Dolly's button anyway (it clears the old entry), or select Dolly in the list, remove it with −, add it again with +, switch it on and reopen Dolly.
There's no Open Anyway button.
Double-click Dolly in Applications first, click Done, then look again at the bottom of Privacy & Security. The button only shows for a while after a blocked attempt.
macOS says Dolly is damaged.
Delete Dolly, download it again from this site and drag it to Applications. If it still says so, open Terminal and run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Dolly.app, then open Dolly. Only do this for apps you downloaded from a source you trust.