Choose between the desktop app and the Chrome extension
Clevera's desktop app and Chrome extension both upload to your workspace. The extension records picture, sound, microphone and camera like an uploaded video; the desktop app adds clicks and typing for zooms and steps.
Clevera has two recorders: the desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux, and the Chrome extension. Both upload to your Clevera workspace, where you make the same videos, guides and articles. The extension is the simple one: it records the picture and sound, like uploading a video, plus your microphone and camera, in one click from Chrome. The desktop app also captures your clicks and typing, which give your videos automatic zooms and steps.
At a glance
| Chrome extension | Desktop app | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | Chrome 116 or later on Mac, Windows, Linux and ChromeOS | Mac (macOS 12.3+), Windows 10 and 11, Linux |
| Install | Add it to Chrome. No system permissions for a tab. | Install an app and grant its permissions. |
| What you record | This tab, a Window or a Screen | A display, a window, an area or an app; an iPhone or iPad over USB (Mac) |
| What's captured | The picture and sound, like an uploaded video | The picture and sound, plus cursor, clicks, scrolling and the app you're in |
| Clicks and typing | Not captured | Clicks always; keys and typed text, partly masked, never in password fields |
| Zooms and steps from your clicks | No | Yes |
| Microphone and camera | Yes. Camera preview in the popup; the camera is recorded as its own video. | Yes, each as its own track |
| Other sound | Tab audio; Computer audio for Screen on Windows and ChromeOS | System audio (on a Mac, macOS 13 or later) |
| Controls while recording | The Clevera icon in Chrome's toolbar and shortcuts; never in a tab recording | Recording bar, menu bar or notification area, and shortcuts |
| Speaker notes | No | Yes |
| Longest recording | 60 minutes | 60 minutes |
| If something goes wrong | Kept in Chrome until uploaded; you choose Upload or Delete | Kept on your computer until uploaded; you choose Upload or Delete |
How the extension's recordings work
To Clevera, a recording from the Chrome extension is like a video you upload: the AI works from what it sees and hears. What the extension adds is your microphone and camera, and the simplicity of starting from Chrome's toolbar with nothing to install. Zooms and steps that follow your clicks, and steps named after what you typed, need the desktop app.
Choose the Chrome extension when
- You show a web app, a website or anything that lives in a browser tab.
- You can't or don't want to install apps, for example on a work laptop or a Chromebook.
- You want a recording that captures one tab and nothing else on your screen.
Start here: add Clevera to Chrome from the Chrome Web Store, then see Install the Clevera Chrome extension.
Choose the desktop app when
- You record a desktop app, several apps, or a part of your screen.
- You want zooms that follow your clicks, and steps built from your clicks and typing.
- You want the richest how-to videos: the app you're in and what you do shape the narration.
- You want speaker notes, or to record an iPhone or iPad.
Start here: Install the Clevera desktop app. For what it captures, see Understand what the desktop app captures.
You can use both with the same account. Recordings from either one land in the same workspace.