What your audience actually sees
Your display arrives in someone's call window at a fraction of its size, then gets compressed for bandwidth. Small text goes first, then the pointer, then anything that changes quickly – which is exactly the stuff you are pointing at.
The built-in macOS Zoom does not help here. It is applied to your display after the image that screen sharing reads, so on your side it looks magnified and your viewers see the normal screen. The full explanation is here.
What works is anything drawn into the screen itself. That is how every part of the Gaze presenter kit is built, and why it shows up in Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack huddles and any screen recorder.
The presenter kit
A zoom your viewers can see
Scroll, pinch or press a hotkey and the screen eases in toward your cursor. The screen under the zoom stays live: you keep clicking, selecting and typing while zoomed in, right where you point. Free, with no account.
Keystrokes on screen
When you press a shortcut, it appears on screen, so "I pressed something and the window moved" becomes ⌘⇧T. By default only shortcuts are shown – combinations with a modifier key – so ordinary typing stays off screen. Nothing appears while macOS secure input is on, as it is in password fields. More in the guide to showing keystrokes on a Mac.
A webcam bubble
Your camera in a circle you can drag anywhere and resize, mirrored or not. Zoom and frame it once in Settings, and it opens that way every time. It earns its place in recordings, where there is no call grid, and in calls where viewers enlarge your shared screen and lose your face. See webcam overlays for Mac recordings.
Draw on a frozen frame
Freeze the live screen, then circle, underline and measure on it. The ink is part of the screen, so everyone on the call sees it, and you can copy or save the marked-up frame afterwards.
A pointer people can find
Spotlight dims everything except a circle around the cursor. Click ripples show every click, and cursor styles change how the pointer looks so it stands out. The spotlight is free.
All of it, recorded in one take
On macOS 15 or later, Gaze can record the screen together with the zoom, the ink, the keystrokes and the webcam bubble, with your microphone and system sound. You steer the zoom while you talk, so the file is finished when you stop. The recording page has the details and an honest comparison with auto-zoom editors.
Calls, lessons and demos
On a call
- Share your entire screen, not a single window. Gaze draws on top of everything, and a window share sends only that one window.
- Zoom before you talk about the detail, then hold still. A zoom that wanders while you speak is harder to follow than no zoom.
- Leave the webcam bubble off unless viewers lose your tile – the call app already shows your camera.
Teaching a lesson
- Freeze, then draw. A slide that advances or a simulation that keeps running stops long enough to mark up.
- Spotlight for "look here". It survives a projector and a low-bitrate stream far better than a small pointer does.
- Record the lesson as you teach it. Students get the same zoom and the same ink, without an editing pass afterwards.
Product demos
- Keystrokes for shortcut-heavy software. Editors, design tools and terminals stop looking like magic.
- Pin a lens on the number that matters and keep clicking elsewhere while it stays enlarged.
- The bubble for recorded demos, parked in a corner the interface does not use.
If you only need one of these
Each piece on its own has a free answer, and some of them are very good. If one of these covers you, use it and keep your money.
| You need | Free option |
|---|---|
| Keystrokes on screen | KeyCastr – free, open source and long-standing |
| Your face in a screen recording | QuickTime Player: New Movie Recording, then View → Float on Top |
| You beside your shared screen on a call | Presenter Overlay in macOS Sonoma or later, on Apple silicon, in supported call apps |
| A pointer people can find | Accessibility → Display → Pointer size and colour |
| Bigger content inside one app | ⌘+ in the browser or editor |
Gaze is for when you want all of it at once, drawn into the screen, with a zoom that stays live under your cursor and works on anything – menus, system dialogs, any app.
What is free and what is Pro
The free core stays free forever, with no account: zoom to the cursor, pinch and wheel zoom, all hotkeys and the cursor spotlight. Pro adds keystrokes, the webcam bubble, freeze and drawing, the pinned lens, click ripples and cursor styles, and recording.
Pro is $49 once, with every future update included – or $19 a year or $5 a month if you would rather start small. No subscription is required. Every Pro feature is free for 14 days, with no card. If you already bought Lifetime, the presenter kit is yours at no extra cost.
What stays on your Mac
- Keystrokes are drawn on your screen and forgotten. They are never stored, logged or sent anywhere.
- Camera and microphone are used only on your Mac, for the bubble and for recording with sound.
- Recordings are files on your Mac. Gaze never uploads them.
The privacy policy lists every piece of data Gaze does send – license, anonymous diagnostics and daily usage counts, which you can switch off.