Screen Playground 0.3.2

A small fix for the update notice.

Download

Download ScreenPlayground-0.3.2.dmg below and drag it into Applications. If you have 0.3.0 or 0.3.1, the app offers this update by itself.

Fixed

• The "update ready" notice is no longer upside down. On macOS 26, its description and buttons were drawn mirrored. If you saw that while updating to this version, use Settings › Updates › Restart to Update (or the menu bar icon) instead; from now on the notice shows correctly.

Screen Playground 0.3.1

A quick fix for projects from earlier versions, plus a much easier way to crop.

Download

Download ScreenPlayground-0.3.1.dmg below and drag it into Applications. If you already have 0.3.0, it will offer this update by itself.

Fixed

• Projects made with earlier versions open again. 0.3.0 showed "Couldn't open project — the data couldn't be read because it is missing" for recordings made with 0.2 or earlier. Your files were never damaged; they open normally now.
• The editor window keeps its size. It no longer shrinks itself to fit what's on screen.

New

• Crop by dragging. Click Crop to see the whole recording with a glowing frame.
  • Drag the corners or edges to resize; drag inside to move.
  • Pick Free, 16:9, 4:3, 1:1 or 9:16.
  • Press Return to apply or Esc to cancel.

Screen Playground 0.3.0

Screen Playground 0.3.0 lets AI agents make your demo videos.

Download

Download ScreenPlayground-0.3.0.dmg below, open it, and drag Screen Playground into Applications (replace the old copy).

• Requires macOS 15 or later.
• Runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

What's new

• Prompt a demo video. Ask Claude Code, the Claude app or Codex for something like "make a 20-second demo of the signup flow".

  • The agent writes a short script.
  • Screen Playground clicks and types through it with a smooth, real cursor while recording.
  • It then auto-zooms on clicks, adds captions, cuts dead time and exports an MP4.

• One-click setup. Go to Settings › Agents & command line and click Set Up… next to Claude Code, the Claude app or Codex.

• pgctl, the command-line tool, ships inside the app. It can record, run demo scripts, add captions and zooms, cut, render review frames and export. Every command has --json output, and pgctl mcp serves the same tools to apps without a terminal.

• Captions. Add captions on the new timeline lane, or let agents add them. Keyboard shortcut overlays move up so they never collide.

• Choose where everything is saved. On first launch, a welcome screen shows where recordings will go (~/ScreenPlayground by default) and lets you pick another folder; it warns you if the folder syncs to iCloud Drive or Dropbox. Change it any time in Settings › Storage, which moves your projects along. If you're upgrading, your recordings stay in ~/Movies/Screen Playground.

• Automatic updates. Screen Playground now checks for new versions, downloads them in the background, and asks before restarting into the new version. Every update is verified (signed by the developer and notarized by Apple) before it's installed. You can turn this off in Settings › Updates.

• Less clutter. Videos copied to the clipboard are cleaned up after a day.

Safety

• You stay in control. While an agent runs a demo, press Esc or move the mouse to stop it; whatever was recorded is kept.
• No passwords. It never types into password fields.
• No blind clicks. Before each click it checks that nothing (an autofill or password-manager popup, a notification) is covering the target. If something is, it stops instead of clicking.

Fixed

• Recording a screen area where nothing moves no longer fails with "No video was captured".

Screen Playground 0.2.0

A big visual refresh for Screen Playground, plus on-screen keyboard shortcuts and many fixes.

Download

Download ScreenPlayground-0.2.0.dmg below, open it, and drag Screen Playground into Applications (replace the old copy if asked).

• Requires macOS 15 or later.
• Runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

What's new

• New light design with Liquid Glass. On macOS 26 the toolbars, panels and timeline use Apple's Liquid Glass; on macOS 15 they use frosted glass. A calm, solid backdrop keeps the video front and centre.
• Keyboard shortcuts on the video. Turn on Shortcuts in the sidebar and shortcuts you pressed while recording (like ⌘C or ⇧⌘4) appear as keycaps in the preview and export.
• Smoother feel. Buttons respond when pressed, selections slide into place, panels fade between each other, and the Home screen and Export window animate gently. Keyboard actions stay instant, and Reduce Motion is respected.
• Clearer playback controls. The play button is green and turns into a red stop button while playing.

Fixed

• The end of a recording is no longer cut off when the screen was still for the last few seconds.
• The playback bar no longer touches the timeline in smaller windows.
• The Export button keeps its colour while another window is in front.
• Top toolbar buttons are aligned, and the project title stays centred.

Screen Playground 0.1.0

The first public build of Screen Playground: a free, native macOS screen recorder that makes polished videos with no editing skills.

Download

Download ScreenPlayground-0.1.0.dmg below, open it, and drag Screen Playground into Applications.

• Requires macOS 15 or later.
• Runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
• Allow Screen Recording on first launch.

What it does

• Record a display, a window or an area. Press ⌥⌘↩ anywhere to start or stop, with pause, restart and recording flags. Recordings survive crashes.
• Auto-zoom follows your clicks. You can tune the timing, aim zooms manually with a live preview, or use the Glass Loupe magnifier.
• Smooth cursor with motion blur, re-rendered sharp at any size, with click effects. Pick a Touch or Outline style if you prefer.
• Make it look good with wallpapers (including your Mac's own), gradients, padding, rounded corners and shadows, in 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4 or 4:5.
• Edit fast:
  • split (C), ripple delete (X), trim by dragging;
  • per-clip speed and volume;
  • blur masks and highlights;
  • presets;
  • full undo.
• Webcam overlay or split-screen layouts, plus microphone and system audio, and background music.
• Export to MP4 (up to 4K60), GIF or ProRes, or copy straight to the clipboard to paste into Messages or Slack.

Free for everyone: no account, no watermark, no tracking.

Fixed since the preview

• Crash: the app no longer quits when you delete the last segment of a clip.
• Background music: you can now hear it while previewing, and adding or removing it applies immediately.
• Paused preview: it now updates on every click and edit.
• Timeline: segments sit side by side with clear gaps, and trim handles only appear on hover. Zooms can't be dragged over each other.
• Manual zoom: the target picker shows the real frame and what the zoom will show, and the preview jumps into the zoom while you aim it.
• Undo: two separate changes to the same slider are now two separate undo steps.