Showbeam Support

Showbeam lets you draw on your screen while you present, or record a demo and fix the zoom, cursor and captions afterwards. It runs on macOS 15 or later.

Need help? Email wekstuff@gmail.com. Tell us your macOS version and what you were doing, and attach a screenshot if you can.

Recording says screen recording is off

Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Screen & System Audio Recording.
Turn on Showbeam.
Reopen Showbeam. macOS applies the change only after the app restarts; the Reopen Showbeam button in the app does this for you.

Live mode, the editor, the demo take and exports of existing takes all work without this permission.

Where are my takes and exports?

Takes are saved in ~/Movies/Showbeam, one .showbeam file per take. Exports go to ~/Movies/Showbeam/Exports unless you choose another folder. In the Library, Show in Finder opens the folder.

Drawing on screen

Press ⌃⌥D from any app to start drawing, and esc to stop. You can change every shortcut in Settings ▸ Shortcuts. The rehearsal (Help ▸ Run the Rehearsal Again) walks you through it.

Showing keystrokes

Turn on Keys when you start a take. macOS asks for Input Monitoring the first time. Keys are read only while a take records, only shortcuts unless you choose all keys, and never while a password field has focus.

Captions and transcripts

Captions use Apple's on-device speech recognition. The first time, macOS may need to download a speech model for your language; Showbeam asks before it does.

Free features, Showbeam Full and the trial

Free: all of Live mode, takes up to 5 minutes, the editor's cuts, speed, auto-zoom, cursor and framing, and 1080p MP4 export without a watermark.
Showbeam Full is a one-time purchase. It removes the take-length limit and adds the webcam, keystrokes, the teleprompter, captions, chapters, 4K and 60 fps, GIF and vertical export.
14-day Trial: everything in Showbeam Full, free for 14 days. Afterwards the free limits apply again, and your projects stay.
Restore: Settings ▸ Purchases ▸ Restore Purchases, signed in with the Apple Account you bought with.

Removing Showbeam

Delete takes from the Library or the Finder. Moving Showbeam to the Trash removes the app; your takes stay in ~/Movies/Showbeam until you delete them.

Privacy

Showbeam has no account and no network access, and everything stays on your Mac. Read the privacy policy.