# Screendrop: native macOS screenshot and screen recording with Cloudflare self-hosting > Screendrop is a macOS menu bar app for screenshots, screen recordings and OCR text capture that routes sharing through your own Cloudflare account. It requires macOS 26.4 and carries an active-development warning about rough edges and occasional breaking changes. **fayazara/Screendrop** — A beautiful screenshot + screen recording + Loom alternative - all native, self hostable and free. - Repository: https://github.com/fayazara/Screendrop - Stars: 2,268 · Forks: 123 - Language: Swift - License: CC0-1.0 - Published: 2026-10-11 · Updated: 2026-10-11 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/fayazara-screendrop ## What Screendrop covers and what the macOS 26.4 floor excludes Screendrop is a native macOS menu bar app that combines screenshots, screen recordings, annotation and OCR text capture in one tool. It positions itself against cloud-hosted screen recorders: files shared through the app go to your own Cloudflare account rather than the developer's servers, and the binary downloads from GitHub at no cost. The system requirement is macOS 26.4. That version is a 2026 macOS release, and the README states it without qualification under the Install section. The app targets the operating system's newest APIs: on-device OCR through Vision, on-device speech recognition for the teleprompter and transcription, and notch-aware layout that trims the black menu-bar strip on Macs with a notch. None of those capabilities have documented fallbacks for macOS 15 or earlier. For a solo user the floor is either a non-issue or a hard blocker depending on the machine. For a team, every member must be on macOS 26.4 before the tool is usable across the group. The README includes a prominent notice before the feature list: Screendrop is under active development, and users should expect rough edges and occasional breaking changes. That placement, before the features rather than after them, signals that the author is being direct about the project's current state rather than burying the disclaimer. ## DMG download, Homebrew tap and Sparkle auto-updates Two install paths are documented. The standard path is a three-step process: download Screendrop.dmg from the GitHub releases page, drag the app into Applications after opening the DMG, then launch it. After launch, the app lives in the menu bar at the top-right of the screen and has no Dock icon. The Homebrew path uses the author's own tap: ```bash brew install --cask fayazara/tap/screendrop ``` Updating through Homebrew uses: ```bash brew upgrade --cask screendrop ``` Screendrop can also update itself through Sparkle, which is the macOS framework native apps use for in-app updates. The Homebrew tap is the install path for scripted deployments or configuration management across multiple machines. Given the active-development warning at the top of the README, locking to a specific version may matter more here than it would for stable software: either the Homebrew cask or the Sparkle channel can deliver a change that breaks existing behavior without a major version increment. ## Five default capture shortcuts and how shortcut conflicts are handled Five keyboard shortcuts cover the main capture actions: Option + 1 captures the full screen, Option + 2 captures a window, Option + 3 captures a selected area, Option + 4 opens the screen-recording picker, and Option + 5 runs OCR text capture directly to the clipboard. All five are configurable under Settings → Screenshots and Settings → Screen Recordings. When a new shortcut cannot be registered, Settings reports the failure and keeps the previously working binding instead of leaving the slot empty. A developer migrating from another screenshot tool who already has similar shortcuts assigned will see a clear conflict report rather than a silently broken action. Capture actions can also run through Apple Shortcuts, Siri and Spotlight. For scripted or voice-triggered workflows, those paths avoid the need for a keyboard shortcut entirely. Opening one or more images from Finder through Open With → Screendrop brings them into the editor as imported copies, with no changes written back to the original files. Past captures are accessible from the native Library, which groups screenshots and recordings together in one view. Recent captures can also be reopened from the menu bar directly. This history access matters for annotations you deferred: a screenshot captured but not annotated immediately can be retrieved from Library or the menu bar rather than requiring a new capture. ## OCR text capture sends nothing to disk, and on-device transcription works the same way The text-capture action (Option + 5) differs from screenshot capture in every step that follows the selection. You drag out an area exactly as you would for an area screenshot. On-device Vision OCR then reads the selected region, puts the recognized text on the clipboard, and discards everything else. No file is written, no item enters the Library, and no floating card appears over the workspace. A short confirmation toast is the only UI feedback. Multi-column layout text comes back in reading order. Vision's OCR returns lines in the order a human reader would follow across columns, not in the internal order Vision encountered each bounding box. For a developer copying a code listing from a multi-column terminal view or a document screenshot, that ordering matters: columns found by Vision in an unexpected sequence would otherwise paste in the wrong order. On-device transcription for recordings follows the same no-server principle. After recording, narration can be transcribed locally and the result used in three documented ways: burning karaoke-style captions into the video, editing the recording by cutting segments from the transcript directly, or making the transcript searchable on the Cloudflare sharing page. ## Video editing in Studio and what recording cards do when actions fail The Studio editor handles post-capture recording edits. Its feature list covers smooth zooms, reconstructed cursors and clicks, keystroke captions, camera layouts, clip cuts, speed changes, social aspect ratios and reusable style presets. Camera, microphone and system audio are recorded as separately editable sources. Annotation on screenshots is non-destructive. The annotation toolset includes drawing, crop, smart redaction, backgrounds, wallpaper packs, perspective effects, progressive blur, borders and watermarks. The lifecycle of a recording's preview card follows a documented pattern. The card closes once Studio loads or once a manual Save or Upload from the card completes. A failed or cancelled action keeps the card open for retry. Exporting or sharing from Studio or Library clears the recording card while the recording stays in the Library. Studio confirms a completed action with a Saved state that includes a Finder reveal, or a Link Copied state with options to copy or open the share URL. ## Cloudflare sharing requires your own account and documents no provisioned services The sharing side requires a Cloudflare account, configured under Settings → Cloud. On the sharing page, the published video comes with a player, scrub previews, searchable transcripts, comments and rich link previews. The README does not name which Cloudflare products the app provisions to produce those features: whether it uses R2 for storage, Stream for video delivery, Workers for the player page, or another combination is left unstated. Automatic uploading is one of several after-capture workflow options. When cloud setup is missing, the upload action points directly to Settings → Cloud instead of failing silently. That redirection is useful for diagnosing upload failures without searching through settings menus. The project's self-hostable claim is accurate in a narrow sense: your files sit in your Cloudflare account rather than on the developer's infrastructure. That said, you remain dependent on Cloudflare's availability, pricing and API surface. The README makes no guarantees about what happens to share links if you change accounts or if Cloudflare changes the underlying services. ## Go module and two Xcode projects in a repository listed as primarily Swift The repository's primary language is listed as Swift, and Screendrop.xcodeproj is the main macOS app project. Two other items in the top-level layout are worth noting: a go.mod file at the root, and a cmd/ directory alongside it. The go.mod file declares the module as github.com/fayazara/screendrop with a Go 1.25.4 toolchain requirement. A cmd/ directory at the repository root is the conventional location for Go command-line binaries, meaning the project includes Go-compiled components the README does not describe. A second Xcode project, OpenShot.xcodeproj, also sits at the repository root. OpenShot Video Editor is an unrelated open source video editor, making the name collision confusing without an explanation. The README does not mention OpenShot.xcodeproj at all. For anyone building Screendrop from source rather than using the DMG or Homebrew, both of these entries are relevant. A Go toolchain may be required in addition to Xcode, and the second Xcode project adds build steps the README does not address. The docs/ directory appears in the top-level repository entries, but the README does not reference it for any build steps. ## Conclusion Screendrop suits a developer or solo creator on macOS 26.4 who wants screenshots, recordings and self-hosted sharing in one native app and can tolerate active-development instability. It is the wrong tool for anyone on macOS 15 or earlier: the macOS 26.4 requirement is stated without qualification and no older version is mentioned. Before depending on the cloud sharing feature, complete a full upload-and-share cycle on a test recording, because the README does not name which Cloudflare services the app provisions or what happens to existing share links when the account is reconfigured. ## FAQ ### What is Screendrop? Screendrop is a native macOS menu bar app for screenshots, screen recordings, OCR text capture and video editing. Sharing uses your own Cloudflare account rather than the developer's servers, and the app installs via DMG or the Homebrew tap fayazara/tap/screendrop. ### What macOS version does Screendrop require? The README states macOS 26.4 or newer is required. No fallback for earlier macOS versions is mentioned. ### How do I install Screendrop? Download Screendrop.dmg from the GitHub releases page, open it, drag Screendrop into Applications, and launch it. Alternatively, use brew install --cask fayazara/tap/screendrop. Screendrop can also update itself through Sparkle. ### Does Screendrop require a cloud account to use? Local screenshots and recordings work without a cloud account. Sharing requires configuring your own Cloudflare account under Settings → Cloud. The README does not specify which Cloudflare services the app provisions. ### Is Screendrop open source? The repository is on GitHub under the CC0-1.0 license. The README includes an active-development warning: expect rough edges and occasional breaking changes. ## Sources - [fayazara/Screendrop on GitHub](https://github.com/fayazara/Screendrop) - [Issues](https://github.com/fayazara/Screendrop/issues) - [License: CC0-1.0](https://github.com/fayazara/Screendrop/blob/main/LICENSE) - [README](https://github.com/fayazara/Screendrop/blob/main/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/fayazara/Screendrop/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/fayazara-screendrop