FrameMate: Accessible Mac Recorder for Screen, Camera, iPhone, and System Audio, with Spoken Framing Help

Hello everyone,

I'm the developer of FrameMate, a Mac app for macOS 14 or later. With it you can record yourself on camera in landscape or portrait, record your whole screen or a single window, record the screen of an iPhone or iPad connected by cable, or record audio only. You can include your microphone and your Mac's system sound, and show yourself in a box on top of the screen or the phone. A spoken Frame Coach helps you stay in the camera frame without seeing the preview. I'm a VoiceOver user myself, and I built it so that I always know what is being recorded and what is happening during a take.

FrameMate is available on the Mac App Store in more than 40 languages: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6762084840

Recordings are saved on your Mac. There is no account, no cloud upload, no ads, and no tracking. The first 7 days are unlimited; after that you can keep recording with FrameMate Pro, as a lifetime purchase or a yearly or monthly subscription.

I wrote a full user guide for VoiceOver users, with headings for the headings rotor. It explains what you hear and what each shortcut does, step by step: https://recepgur07-bot.github.io/en/framemate/guide/

## What you can record

Camera
- Landscape (1920x1080) for YouTube and presentations, or portrait (1080x1920) for Reels, Shorts and TikTok.
- Your Mac's camera, an external camera, or your iPhone as a camera through Continuity Camera.
- Your microphone in automatic, mono or stereo, and optionally your Mac's system sound.
- Auto reframe keeps you in the middle of the picture for single-person recordings.

Screen
- The whole display or one window, as a 1080p MP4.
- Microphone and system sound, each with its own level.
- A camera box over the screen: three sizes and nine positions, so you can put yourself in a corner, at the middle of an edge, or in the center.
- Cursor and click highlighting for sighted viewers.
- If the screen or window turns completely black, for example a minimized window, FrameMate tells you while you are still recording.

Phone screen
- Connect an iPhone or iPad with a cable, unlock it, and accept the Trust prompt the first time. FrameMate tells you when the phone is ready.
- Five video layouts: keep the phone's own proportions, 1080x1920 portrait, 1920x1080 landscape, or side by side in landscape with you on the left or on the right.
- Phone sound can go into the recording. If you use VoiceOver on the phone, its speech is recorded too, which is useful for app demos. You can turn it off.
- With "Hear phone through speakers" you keep hearing the phone, including VoiceOver, through your Mac while you record. This does not change what is recorded. Headphones are recommended, otherwise the phone sound can echo into your microphone.
- If the picture is black, FrameMate tells you. A common reason is VoiceOver's Screen Curtain on the phone; a three-finger triple tap turns it off.

Audio only
- Microphone, system sound and phone sound, alone or together, saved as M4A. Useful for podcasts and voice notes.

## Frame Coach

Frame Coach speaks to you while you set up your camera: "Face not detected, look at the camera", "You are partly out of frame, move slightly right", "Too close, move back", "Low light, illuminate your face", and "Frame is good". It also handles two or three people. You can choose speech, directional tones, or both: with headphones, the ear you hear the tone in is the direction to move. It stays silent while a recording is running, so it never ends up in your video. You can turn it on and off from any app with Command-Option-O.

## Changing the layout while recording

During a screen or phone recording with the camera box on, you can change what the finished video shows without stopping:
- Command-Option-V: you fill the whole frame.
- Command-Option-E: the screen (or the phone) fills the whole frame.
- Command-Option-G: back to the default layout.
Each change is announced by name, and it appears in the exported video, not in the live preview.

## Knowing the state at any time

Command-I (in the app) or Command-Option-B (from any app) reads the current state. Before recording it tells you the settings of the next take. During recording it tells you the mode, the elapsed time, the layout, and which sounds are on. Other global shortcuts: Command-Option-R start or stop, Command-Option-5 audio recording, Command-Option-P pause, and Command-Option-S, F and M for system, phone and microphone sound. If a shortcut can't do something, it tells you why.

## A note from me

I have tested FrameMate for many hours with VoiceOver, including real recordings with the camera, the screen and a cable-connected iPhone. Even so, there are many combinations of Macs, cameras, microphones and phones, and some things may still need improvement. If something doesn't work as expected, a label or announcement is unclear, or you have an idea, please tell me in this thread. I read every comment.

Thank you for reading.