Screen recordings, already edited.

Take is not alone on any single row. It is the only one that lands every row at once: a one-time, native, offline recorder that stages your captures, records a cabled iPhone in its frame, and takes the staged look live into Meet and Zoom.

Published by the makers of Take. The marks reflect each app's own documentation and pricing as of July 2026. Competitor names are the property of their owners. The longer Screen Studio comparison, vs Loom, vs CleanShot X, vs Descript, vs Camtasia, vs ScreenFlow, Screen Studio alternatives, Best Mac screen recorders in 2026.

Can I try Take before I buy?

Yes. Take runs fully for 7 days with no card. The download needs no account, and you can record and edit straight away. The week starts the first time you share or go live, when Take asks you to sign in. Nothing is watermarked during the trial or after it.

Can I buy Take on its own?

No. Take comes with Crest: $24.99 once buys Crest Pro, Take and Minutes, three licences on one account, two Macs each. Own Crest Pro already? Sign in and add Take and Minutes for $5. Or subscribe to all three for $2.99 a month or $14.99 a year.

Does Take work offline?

Yes. You need internet once, to start the free week or to unlock Take. Recording, editing and sharing all run on your Mac using Core Image and Metal. Nothing you record is uploaded anywhere.

What format are the files, and is there a watermark?

Takes are ordinary .mov files in an open folder, with small sidecars next to each one holding the edits and the look. Share makes an MP4 or a GIF, or hands over the original .mov. There is no watermark, ever, and no project format to export out of.

Which Macs does Take run on?

Any Mac on macOS 14 Sonoma or later. The app is universal, so Apple Silicon and Intel both run natively.

Can Take present live in Google Meet or Zoom?

Yes. Press Go live, add Take Camera once and allow it once in System Settings, then pick Take Camera as the camera in Meet, Zoom or FaceTime. The call sees your screen staged with your look: the backdrop, the cursor, zooms on your clicks and your face in the bubble. A bar shows what is being sent and stops it in one click.

How does Take compare to Screen Studio?

Take matches it on automatic staging, and moving a zoom updates the picture at once because the preview and the shared file use the same compositor. Take also goes live through a virtual camera, which Screen Studio does not do. Screen Studio is subscription-only for new buyers and project-based; Take can be one payment, and it saves plain files.

Where did the timeline and the Live Studio go?

Take 4 keeps one take on one strip. Projects with several clips, the multi-track timeline, transitions, imported media, background music and the Live Studio with its scenes are gone, and Go live replaced the studio. Your Take 3 takes are all still in the library. If a video needs several tracks or music, finish it in an editor such as iMovie or Final Cut Pro.

How do updates work?

Take checks for updates by itself and can install them in place, and there is a Check for updates button in Settings if you would rather ask. Every update is free.

Staged from what happened

Take records the screen and, separately, the truth about what happened on it: where the cursor went, when you clicked, what you typed and said. The edit is worked out from that, which is why it stays editable instead of being baked into pixels.

Edited before you look

Press Stop and the take plays in a moment. The start and your reach for Stop are trimmed, dead air plays faster, the cursor glides, and it zooms in where you clicked.

The backdrop

Padding, rounded corners and a shadow, over a backdrop you pick. Save the look you like and every new take arrives wearing it.

The cursor

Redrawn from its own track rather than filmed, so it stays crisp at 2.4x zoom. It glides as smoothly as you set it, and a spotlight can dim everything but the pointer.

The zooms

Worked out from your clicks and typing, then put on the strip. Drag one to move it, aim it at what matters, pick Subtle, Standard or Close, or delete the one that guessed wrong. Zoom adds your own.

Cut into clips

Cut a bit out of the middle, or split the take into clips and move, trim or delete them. Command Z undoes any step, and a drag is one step.

One picture, not a render

The preview and the shared file are drawn by the same compositor from the same edit, so what you scrub is what you ship.

Blur what should not ship

Drag a box over a key or a customer name. It stays on the strip for as long as you set and is burned into the shared file.

Keystrokes as keycaps

Shortcuts appear as you press them, so a terminal demo does not need narration to be followable.

Dead air speeds up, it does not vanish

Idle spans get a 4x ramp by default, and you can keep any of them at full speed.

Voiceover

Talk over a take after you stop. The voiceover sits on the strip, and you can move it or remove it.

Click rings

A ring where you clicked, so a viewer's eye follows the action instead of losing it.

Camera bubble

Your face in a circle you can drag to a corner, recorded to its own file and drawn in when you share. Off by default, because most demos do not want a face.

iPhone, in a real frame

Record a cabled iPhone and show it inside its device frame, no mockup afterwards.

Vertical without cropping badly

Switch a take to vertical and the zooms are worked out again for the tall frame, which follows your pointer, rather than sliced down the middle.

Captions, on device

Written by macOS on your Mac. Click a line to fix a word, and show them in the video if you want them. No upload, no per-minute bill.

Share that tells the truth

A video, a GIF or the original take, at 16:9, vertical, square or in its iPhone frame, small, medium or large. The sheet says about how big the file will be before you start, then shows each step while it is made.

A library that is just a folder

Takes are .mov files on disk. Delete one in Finder and it is gone, with nothing left behind to repair.

A Look panel that changes the picture

Move padding and the preview moves under your finger. There is no Apply button because there is nothing to apply.

A strip that says what it did

Zooms and sped-up pauses sit above the strip. The line under it says what the edit did: how long you recorded, how long it plays, and what was trimmed.

Everything Take does to a recording, it can do to a call. Press Go live and pick Take Camera as the camera in Google Meet, Zoom or FaceTime. The call sees your screen staged with your look: the backdrop, the cursor, zooms on your clicks and your face in the bubble.

One button

Press Go live in the record panel or the library. The first time, Take walks you through adding Take Camera and allowing it once in System Settings.

Switches while people watch

The live bar has a Bubble switch and a Zoom on clicks switch. Hide your face or stop the zooms from the next frame, without a menu.

You can see what is sent

The bar shows how long you have been live and what the call is getting, and Stop ends it in one click. Take Camera shows nothing until you go live again.

Honest under load

If your Mac falls behind, Take steps down one rung at a time and tells you in a sentence. It never silently degrades what the call sees.

The camera, added and removed

Take Camera is a small camera extension. Remove it any time in Take Settings, General. Your self view in Meet or FaceTime appears mirrored, the way those apps show every camera; everyone else sees it the right way round.

Works on

macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on any Mac. Universal: Apple Silicon and Intel both run natively.

Records

A screen, a window or an area, or a cabled iPhone. Your microphone and the Mac's sound, and the camera bubble to its own file.

Files

Plain .mov files in an open folder, each with small sidecars holding its edits and look. No watermark, ever.

Share

A video (MP4), a GIF or the original take. 16:9, vertical, square, or an iPhone take in its frame. 720p, 1080p or 4K, with a size estimate before you start.

Live

Go live with Take Camera, a virtual camera for Meet, Zoom and FaceTime.

Trial

7 days with everything, no card. Record and edit first; the week starts when you first share or go live.

Licence

Take comes with Crest: $24.99 once buys Crest Pro, Take and Minutes, two Macs each, with updates through Crest 7. Or subscribe for $2.99 a month, with every update while it runs.

Updates

Take checks by itself and installs in place. What changed in the last release.

Install

Signed and notarized by Apple.