Polishcast
Record your screen, get a polished video: smooth cursor, zoom on clicks
Record from the menu bar or with a shortcut. The cursor is redrawn so it glides, clicks become zooms that ease in, and a background, padding and rounded corners frame the result. Adjust it in the editor, cut the pauses, and export to MP4 at up to 4K.
Free: export 10 different videos; exporting one again is free, and recording and editing are never limited. Pro: export every video, for personal or professional use. Every build is produced by release CI and served from mayorana.ch.
The macOS build is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized, so it opens with a normal double-click.
Read the release notesThis app is in beta. The core workflow is stable; some panels are still being refined.
How Polishcast compares
Only the things Polishcast is strong at are listed. The others do plenty it doesn't — this table is about why you would pick it.
| Feature | Polishcast | Screen Studio | FocuSee | OBS Studio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smooth redrawn cursor and automatic zoom on clicks | ||||
| Runs on Windows as well as macOS | ||||
| Free for personal use, no subscription | $29/month or $108/year | Paid licence |
Compared in October 2026 from each product's public documentation. Something out of date? Tell us
One-time purchase, including a year of updates. Secure payment by Stripe; your licence key is shown right after and sent by email.
Overview
A raw screen recording is hard to watch: the cursor jumps around, the text is tiny, and every pause where you were thinking is still in it.
Polishcast records the screen without the cursor and notes where the pointer goes. It then redraws a smooth cursor, zooms in where you clicked, and frames the video with a background, padding and rounded corners.
The editor lets you adjust each zoom, cut the silences and choose the frame. What you export is exactly what the preview shows.
What it does
Record from anywhere
Start and stop from the menu bar (macOS) or the notification area (Windows), or with ⌘⇧2 / Ctrl+Shift+2 from any app. The display your pointer is on is recorded with your microphone, and Polishcast's own windows are left out.
A cursor that glides
The cursor isn't recorded: it's redrawn from the pointer's path, so it moves smoothly, and it can be made bigger.
Zooms from your clicks
Each click becomes a zoom that eases in on where you clicked. On the timeline you change when it starts and ends, how deep it goes and where it looks, or add one at the playhead with Z.
Pauses cut out
Silences where nothing is said are left out, picture and sound together, with a moment kept around your words. Two sliders set what counts as a pause, and a click on the timeline puts one back.
A frame for every format
Screen, 16:9, 9:16 or square, with background, padding, corners, shadow, cursor size and smoothing. Every change can be undone and is saved as you go.
Light files, sharp export
MP4 at 1080p, 1440p or 4K, 30 or 60 fps, with your voice. On macOS each recording is shrunk to about a fifth of its size right after you stop, with no visible loss on text.
Requirements
- macOS 15 or later on Apple Silicon, or Windows 10 (version 2004) or later
- Screen Recording and Microphone permissions, asked for on the first recording
- An internet connection on first export, to download the video tool (ffmpeg) the app uses
Built with
Rust · Dioxus · ScreenCaptureKit · ffmpeg
What's new
Version 0.1.1, released 9 October 2026. Polishcast ships often; every version and what it changed is listed on the release notes page.
Read the release notesLicence
Free: export 10 different videos; recording and editing are never limited. Pro: export every video, for personal or professional use. That is the only thing to buy: there is no separate commercial licence.
Source
The source is public and readable. Fork it and rebrand it — the name and logo are trademarks and are not covered by the licence.
View on GitHubQuestions
Is the Windows version ready?
It is built and signed with every release, but it hasn't been run on a real Windows machine yet, so expect rough edges. macOS is the tested platform.
Does it work on Linux?
Not yet. Under Wayland, an app can't read where the pointer is in other apps, and the redrawn cursor depends on it.
Where are my recordings?
Each recording is a folder in Movies/Polishcast, with the video, the pointer movements and your edits. The exported MP4 is written next to it. Deleting a recording from the list moves it to the Trash, so you can still get it back.
Do I need to install ffmpeg?
No. The app downloads its own copy on first use and checks it against its published checksum. A copy already on your machine works too.
Questions about this tool?
Ask about a commercial licence for your team, report an issue, or tell us what is missing. We read every message.
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