Dolly records your cursor separately and draws it again, so you choose after recording how it looks: bigger, a Spotlight, a ring on every click, a click sound. A screen recorder for Mac, free with no time limit.
The free way: press ⇧⌘5, open Options and turn on Show Mouse Clicks. macOS then draws a dark circle around the pointer on every click, burned into the video. To change it afterwards, or to get a bigger cursor, a Spotlight, click sounds and zooms, record with Dolly: it keeps the cursor as data and redraws it, so every highlight is a setting you can change after the take.
Every move is smoothed and every click lands. The cursor stays crisp, even three times closer.
A real take in Dolly: the cursor glides from click to click, and stays crisp up close.
Each one is a setting in the editor, not part of the recording, so you can try them all on the same take.
The built-in one is free and already on your Mac. Here is what it can and can't do.
| Dolly | macOS ⇧⌘5 | |
|---|---|---|
| When you choose | After recording, per project | Before recording |
| Click highlight | Press, Circle or Ripple | A dark circle (Show Mouse Clicks) |
| Cursor size | 0.5× to 4×, redrawn sharp | System pointer size, recorded as pixels |
| Cursor look | Spotlight, Ring and 25 cursor sets | Pointer outline and fill colour |
| Click sounds | Yes | No |
| Shortcuts on screen | Yes | No |
| Dim everything but one area | Highlight mask | No |
| Zoom in on clicks | Automatic, editable | No |
| Smooth out shaky moves | Yes | No |
| Price | Free (export up to 1080p) | Free |
macOS details from Apple's support articles on recording the screen and on pointer settings, checked on 17 October 2026.
On your screen, the pointer is easy to find: you're the one moving it. Your viewer isn't. They watch at a smaller size, often on a phone, and they don't know where you're about to click. A cursor that's too small, jumps around or clicks without a trace is a common reason people rewind a tutorial.
A highlight answers one question for them: where is the action now? A bigger pointer helps them find it, a ring on the click shows the moment something happened, and a zoom makes the thing you clicked readable.
Both are burned into the recording. If the circle is too much, or the pointer is too big in one part, you record again.
Dolly records the cursor's path and clicks next to the video. In the editor, the Cursor panel turns that into whatever you need:
Two more tools sit outside the Cursor panel. Show shortcuts puts the key combinations you press in the video. A Highlight mask dims the whole screen except one area, for as long as you set it on the timeline. The cursor docs show every cursor setting.
A highlight shows where the action is. Auto zoom takes the viewer there: Dolly zooms in on your clicks on its own, and every zoom is a block on the timeline you can move or delete.
The built-in recorder (⇧⌘5) can show a circle on clicks. Dolly does more, after recording: a bigger cursor, Spotlight and Ring cursors, Press, Circle or Ripple on clicks, click sounds and shortcuts on screen. Screen Studio and CleanShot X also have cursor effects.
With Dolly, yes. The cursor and clicks are recorded as data, so the click effect, size and style are settings you change in the editor. With ⇧⌘5, the circle is part of the video.
In Dolly, drag the Size slider in the Cursor panel (0.5× to 4×). It's redrawn, so it stays sharp. On the built-in recorder, raise Pointer size in System Settings › Accessibility › Display before you record.
Yes. Show shortcuts puts the key combinations you press in the video, and can include single keys. It needs Input Monitoring allowed for Dolly in System Settings.
Yes. Every cursor setting is in Dolly Free, with no time limit. Free exports go up to 1080p with a small Made with Dolly logo in the corner.
Yes. Turn on Hide cursor in the Cursor panel, or hide it only while you type or when it's idle.
Screen Studio quality. Free. No 5-minute limit.
First time: open Dolly, click Done, then System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway (macOS 13–14: right-click Dolly → Open). Once only. Installation help