At a Glance:
Screenity is a free, privacy-friendly screen recorder and annotation tool for Chrome that works offline, requires no sign-up, and supports unlimited recordings of tabs, desktop, camera, and microphone with built-in editing and export to MP4, GIF, or WebM.
Overview:
Screenity is an open-source screen recording Chrome extension designed for creating product demos, tutorials, presentations, and feedback videos. It allows users to record their browser tab, a selected area, the entire desktop, any application, or their camera with microphone or internal audio. The tool includes on-screen annotation, AI-powered camera backgrounds, zoom, and content blurring, followed by trimming, cutting, and audio editing in a built-in editor. It runs entirely in the browser with no data collection, works offline, and requires no account sign-up. Developers can self-host the extension locally outside the Chrome Web Store.
Key Decision Points:
Runs as a Chrome extension: The tool is installed as a browser extension that operates fully client-side with no server-side components or sign-in required.
Self-hostable but local-only: When loaded from source or build files, the extension functions entirely offline with no API calls or platform features enabled; integration paths for Screenity Pro exist only in the official Chrome Web Store version.
No centralized data collection: Recordings remain on the user’s machine; offline use is explicitly supported and no user data is collected by the extension.
Built-in editor and export options: Users can cut, trim, crop, and manage audio within the extension before exporting recordings as MP4, GIF, or WebM files or saving directly to Google Drive for link sharing.
Core Features:
Screen, window, and camera recording: Capture a specific tab, area, desktop, any application, or camera feed with microphone or internal audio support and push-to-talk.
On-screen annotation: Draw, add text, arrows, and shapes directly onto the recording to highlight information during capture.
AI-powered camera backgrounds and blur: Apply virtual backgrounds or blur effects to camera recordings during capture.
Content blurring and zoom: Blur sensitive areas on any page to keep them private and zoom smoothly into specific regions during recording.
Spotlight and cursor highlighting: Highlight mouse clicks and cursor movement, and activate spotlight mode to visually track focus areas.
Recording editor and export: Trim, cut, crop, and add or remove audio in the integrated editor; export recordings as MP4, GIF, or WebM, or save to Google Drive.
Use Cases:
Creating product demos or tutorials: A user can record their screen with annotations and voiceover, then export the finished video directly from the browser.
Sharing visual feedback privately: A developer or reviewer can capture a specific tab, blur sensitive content, add annotations, and share the result via Google Drive link.
Offline recording without account setup: A user can install and use Screenity without internet access or a user account, storing all recordings locally.
Open-Source Alternative Value:
Screenity provides source-available Chrome extension code that can be built, inspected, and self-hosted locally for personal, educational, or internal use. The extension operates fully client-side with no telemetry, sign-in, or upstream server dependence, allowing developers and privacy-conscious users to verify the recording environment or modify it for offline, local-only workflows. Optional Google Drive integration is configurable through a user-provided OAuth client, giving adopters control over how exports are handled without relying on a hosted service.
