Looks, backgrounds & devices
Screen recording backgrounds and device mockups in one tab. Pick a finished look, then change the background, the device and the frame around your video.
Open the Style tab #
Screen recording backgrounds and device mockups on Mac all live in the editor’s Style tab. Start with a look, then fine-tune the background, the device and the frame. Your cursor, camera, captions and blurs stay as they are.
- Press Esc so nothing is selected. Clicking the timeline only moves the playhead.
- Click Style in the toolbar, or press Cmd1. If the inspector is hidden, press OptionCmdI first.
The tab has five sections: Looks, Background, Device, Frame and Logo watermark. Each section’s round arrow puts just that section back to its defaults, and CmdZ undoes it.
Pick a finished look #
A look is a ready-made style: a background, padding, corners, shadow and sometimes a device. Each preview in the gallery shows your own recording, in your video’s shape.
- Point at a preview to try it on the video. Nothing changes until you click.
- Click a look to keep it. CmdZ takes it back.
- Use the chips above the gallery to show one kind. Your current look has a check mark.
| Chip | Looks |
|---|---|
| Product demo | Studio, Browser (a Safari window), Liquid glass |
| Device | Laptop showcase, MacBook Air, Desktop (a Studio Display), iMac |
| Social | Bold gradient, Prism, Phone vertical (9:16), Lava |
| Minimal | Clean light, Editorial, Clay, Edge to edge (just your recording) |
| Dark | Minimal dark, Neon night, Live aurora, Keynote, Graphite silk |
| Store screenshots | Store · iPhone (1290 × 2796), Store · iPad (2752 × 2064), Store · Mac (2880 × 1800) |
| Yours | Looks you saved, Match my recording, and Your brand once you add brand colors |
Looks fit your video’s shape. On a vertical video, a laptop, display or browser becomes a rounded screen that follows your cursor. Square videos get a bigger device. Phone vertical and the store looks set their own shape.
Save your own looks #
Made a style you like? Save it once and reuse it on every recording, or make it the default for new ones.
- Click Save Look… under the gallery and give it a name. It keeps the background, frame and device, plus your cursor and camera settings. It appears under Yours.
- Click Make Default to start every new recording with the current style. Its preview gets a Default badge.
- To stop, open the round … menu at the end of that row and choose Reset Default Look.
- Right-click any look to apply it, choose Use for New Recordings, or choose Add to Favourites. Favourites come first in the gallery.
- On your own looks, the right-click menu also has Rename…, Export… and Delete.
| Under Yours | What it is |
|---|---|
| Match my recording | A backdrop made from your recording’s own colors: pale washes for a light screen, a deep tint for a dark one. |
| Your brand | A lit gradient in your brand colors. It appears once you add colors in Settings → Brand. |
Reset to No Look, in that menu too, puts the background, padding, corners and device back to how a new recording starts.
Change your screen recording background #
The background fills the space around your video. Open Background and click any tile; the preview updates straight away.
| Group | What you get |
|---|---|
| Wallpapers | 23 pictures, from Amber Rose and Misty Mountains to Neon and Studio White. |
| Animated | 8 moving backgrounds: Drift, Aurora, Lava, Silk, Peach Drift, Northern, Mint Glass and Graphite Silk. Point at one to see it move. |
| Gradients | 24 gradients, such as Ember, Dusk, Nebula and Flame. With two or more brand colors, a brand gradient comes first. |
| Colors | Paper, Snow, Slate, Midnight, Amber and Blueprint, after your brand colors. The last tile, Any colour, opens the color picker. |
| Your image | Choose Image… uses a picture of your own. Use My Desktop uses your Mac’s desktop picture. |
With a wallpaper or your own image, Background blur appears. Drag it to soften the picture so your recording stands out. Animated backgrounds move the same way in every export.
Put your recording on a device mockup #
A device mockup shows your Mac recording on the screen of a MacBook, iMac, display, iPad, iPhone or browser window. Every device keeps its real screen shape, so your recording is never stretched.
- Open Device. Each tile shows your own recording on that device. The tabs above show All, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Window.
- Click a device. None takes it away again.
- Pick a Size where there is one, such as 14″ or 16″ for MacBook Pro.
- Pick a Colour from the swatches, or a Look for Safari and Window. Its name shows on the right.
| Device | Sizes | Colours |
|---|---|---|
| MacBook Pro | 14″, 16″ | Space Black, Silver |
| MacBook Air | 13″, 15″ | Sky Blue, Midnight, Starlight, Silver |
| iMac | One size | Blue, Green, Pink, Silver, Yellow, Orange, Purple |
| Studio Display | One size | Silver |
| Studio Display XDR | One size | Silver, Space Black |
| iPad Pro | 11″, 13″ | Space Black, Silver |
| iPhone 18 Pro | Pro, Pro Max | Burgundy, Glacier, Black, Silver |
| iPhone 17 Pro | One size | Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue, Silver |
| iPhone Air | One size | Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White, Space Black |
| Safari, Window | Fits your recording | Look: Light or Dark |
Every device also has Clay, a plain matte finish that lets your interface lead.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Orientation | iPhone and iPad only. Auto turns the device on its side for a landscape recording. Or pick Portrait or Landscape. |
| Angle | Devices only. Flat, Left, Right, Back or Hero turns the device in 3D; its side shows and the light moves with it. |
| Fit | Shown when your recording and the screen differ in shape. Whole recording adds black bars; Fill the screen crops the edges. |
| Shadow | Soft, Close, Floating or Reflection, a faint mirror image on a glossy floor. |
| Glass reflection | A soft reflection on the glass. 0% turns it off. |
| Show the camera notch | MacBooks draw the notch over the top of the video. On iPhones it’s Show the Dynamic Island. |
| Address / Title | The text in Safari’s address field, or in the middle of a window’s title bar. |
Set padding, corners and shadow #
The Frame section sets the space and edges around your video, with or without a device.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Padding | The space between your video and the edge. 100% is the most; type a number to be exact. |
| Corner radius | How round the video’s corners are. Shown only when Device is None. |
| Shadow | How strong the shadow under your video, or under the device, is. |
| Inset border | A thin border inside the frame, in pixels of the exported video. Shown with no device, Safari or Window. |
Add a logo watermark #
A logo watermark puts your logo in a corner of the video, in the preview and every export. Add your logo once in Settings → Brand, and new recordings show it.
- Open Logo watermark in the Style tab.
- Turn Show logo on or off for this video. No logo yet? Click Brand Settings… to add one.
- Pick its Corner, then drag Size and Opacity.
The logo sits over the screen and your camera, and under text and captions. It moves clear of the camera bubble when they share a corner. Full-screen title cards cover it. The brand guide covers the logo settings.
Choose the video shape #
Looks and devices adapt to your video’s shape, so set the shape early. Click the shape button over the preview. It shows the current shape, such as Auto or 16:9.
- Pick a common shape, search for a platform such as Instagram, TikTok or YouTube, or enter a Custom ratio.
- Vertical and square shapes follow your cursor, which suits Reels, Shorts and TikTok.
For a phone-shaped video, try the Phone vertical look or the iPhone device. The vertical clip recipe walks through it, and the export guide has every platform size.
Set motion blur #
Motion blur is part of the look, but it lives with the zooms. Press Esc, open the Motion tab (Cmd2) and find How zooms move. The zoom guide explains Motion blur and Blur look.
Shortcuts on this page#
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
| Cmd1 | Open the Style tab |
| OptionCmdI | Show or hide the inspector |
| Cmd2 | Open the Motion tab, for motion blur |
| CmdZ | Undo a look or any change |
| Esc | Deselect, so the tabs show |
If something’s off#
- The Style tab isn’t there
- Something is selected on the timeline. Press Esc, then press Cmd1.
- My recording has black bars on the device
- Your recording and the device’s screen differ in shape. Set Fit to Fill the screen, or click Suggested for this recording.
- The laptop disappeared on a vertical video
- On vertical videos, laptops and displays become a rounded screen that follows your cursor. Pick the iPhone device or the Phone vertical look instead.
- Your brand is missing under Yours
- Add at least one brand color in Settings → Brand. The look appears right away.
Checked against ScreenCameo 0.9.0 · October 20, 2026
Still stuck? Email support@screencameo.com. Replies come usually within 2 business days.
