Record vertical, square or landscape video of yourself on a Mac
“Just me” is Qreata’s camera-only mode. It records you, not the screen, in a vertical, square or landscape frame, and adds captions from an on-device transcript unless you turn them off.
7-day trial · $49 once · no subscription · Apple Silicon · macOS 14+The short answer
Qreata’s “Just me” mode records camera-only video on a Mac in vertical 9:16, square 1:1 or landscape 16:9, at 720p or 1080p, with burned-in captions on by default. The frame is chosen before recording and can’t be changed afterwards. It needs no screen recording permission, and the captions come from an on-device transcript. Vertical is camera-only: Qreata cannot reframe a screen recording to 9:16. Export is MP4 at 30 fps, and the app costs $49 once.
Use it when
You want a talking-head clip from the Mac you are already sitting at.
- You post short vertical updates and would rather record at your desk camera than set up a phone.
- The clip will be watched muted, so captions need to be in the picture.
- You make a landscape intro or outro for a course and want it from the same app as your screen lessons.
- You want to tighten the take by cutting words in a transcript instead of scrubbing a timeline.
It won’t help when
The vertical video you need is of the screen, or needs styling.
- You want a vertical version of a screen recording. Reframing a screen recording is not possible in Qreata.
- You want captions in your own font, color or position, or want to correct a caption word. The style and text are fixed.
- You want music, transitions or text overlays. Qreata has none.
- You shot the video on a phone. Qreata doesn’t import video files and doesn’t capture an iPhone.
How to record a vertical video on a Mac
“Just me” records the camera and nothing from the screen, so macOS never asks for the screen recording permission in this mode. Camera and microphone access are enough.
- Open Qreata and choose “Just me”.
- Pick the frame: 9:16 for vertical, 1:1 for square, 16:9 for landscape. Choose it for the place you will post: the frame can’t be changed after recording.
- Pick the quality, 720p or 1080p, and check that the right camera and microphone are selected. Captions and the transcript tools need a Microphone track.
- Frame yourself for that shape. In 9:16 keep your eyes in the upper third and leave the bottom of the frame free: captions sit at the bottom centre.
- If you need a moment to settle, set the countdown to 3 or 5 seconds in Settings first; it is Off by default. Then record. You can pause and resume from the recording pill.
- Open the take in the editor. Captions are on by default; play through and read them once, product names especially.
- Tighten the take: “Remove silences” in the “Trim” tool takes out pauses from 0.8 seconds, and in the “Script” panel you can select words and “Cut” them.
- Export the MP4 and upload it to the platform yourself.
9:16, 1:1 or 16:9: which frame to choose
The three frames are the same recording mode with a different shape. Pick by destination.
| Frame | Shape | Typical destination |
|---|---|---|
| 9:16 | Vertical | Short-form feeds watched on a phone held upright |
| 1:1 | Square | In-feed posts where a square takes more of the screen than landscape |
| 16:9 | Landscape | A course intro, a channel video, a clip embedded on a web page |
Captions in a camera video: what you get
The captions come from a Whisper model that ships inside the app and runs on your Mac. It works offline and detects the spoken language automatically; there is no language picker. Nothing is uploaded to produce them.
They are burned into the picture in one fixed style: white text on a dark rounded box at the bottom centre, with the word being spoken highlighted. The text appears four words at a time. Because they are part of the image, they show everywhere the MP4 plays, including feeds that start muted. You can turn “Captions in video” off for a clean picture.
For speech in English or Russian, the “Remove filler words” button in the “Script” panel cuts clear hesitations such as “um” and “uh”. Words such as “like”, “actually” and “you know” are listed under “Needs review” in the “Trim” tool, with one checkbox per occurrence.
Example: a 45-second vertical product update
You want a 45-second vertical clip announcing a new export option. You choose “Just me”, 9:16 and 1080p, with the countdown set to 3 seconds in Settings. The first take runs 58 seconds because you paused twice and restarted one sentence.
In the “Trim” tool you click “Remove silences”. In the “Script” panel you select the abandoned half-sentence with Shift-click and press “Cut”, then click “Remove filler words”, which takes out three “um”s. The take is now 46 seconds, with captions already in the picture. You export the MP4 and upload it to your channel. There was no phone to mount, no file transfer and no separate caption tool.
If the screen has to appear in the story, record the product part as a normal screen recording and publish it in landscape. Qreata will not turn that screen recording into 9:16.
The free route on a Mac, and where it stops
The built-in recorder is a screen recorder: Shift-Command-5 offers Record Entire Screen and Record Selected Portion, with a microphone under Options, and Apple’s screen recording article describes no camera overlay. Record Selected Portion does let you drag a tall frame, so a vertical clip of part of your screen is possible for free, and that is something Qreata’s preset areas don’t do.
What the free route does not give you is the camera clip with captions drawn in. That is the specific job of “Just me”: face, frame shape and captions in one pass, edited by the word.
Limits of vertical video in Qreata
Vertical and square are camera-only. A screen recording keeps its own shape and can’t be reframed, and there is no crop tool. Captions have one style with no font, color or position choices, their text can’t be edited, and there is no SRT or VTT export, so a misheard product name can’t be retyped: “Refresh transcript” runs the transcription again, and a word you cut can still appear in its four-word caption group. The frame is fixed once recorded. There is no music, no transitions and no audio noise reduction.
Recording and export are 30 fps, in H.264 MP4, at 720p or 1080p in this mode. Qreata doesn’t import phone footage. A 10-minute test in the 7-day trial: record 30 seconds in 9:16, read the captions, cut one sentence in “Script”, export, and watch the file on your phone. The license is $49 once for 3 Macs, and recording needs no account.
Questions worth asking
Can I record a vertical video on a Mac?
Yes. Qreata’s “Just me” mode records your camera in 9:16 vertical, 1:1 square or 16:9 landscape, at 720p or 1080p, and exports an MP4. Pick the frame before recording; it can’t be changed later.
Can I convert a screen recording to vertical in Qreata?
No. Qreata does not reframe screen recordings to another aspect ratio. Vertical and square frames are available only for camera-only recordings.
Are captions added automatically?
Yes. In “Just me” mode captions are on by default. They are generated on your Mac, burned into the video with the active word highlighted, and can be turned off.
Can I change the caption font or position?
No. Captions have one fixed style: white text on a dark rounded box at the bottom centre. There is no caption editing and no SRT or VTT export.
Do I need to grant screen recording permission to record only the camera?
No. “Just me” records the camera and microphone only and needs no screen recording permission.
How much does it cost?
$49 once for the Personal license on 3 Macs, with all future updates and no subscription. The trial is 7 days with every feature.