Zella Documentation

Animated diagram of the Zella workflow: Record, Edit, Ship

Zella is a native screen recorder and AI video editor for Mac and iPhone. Record your screen and camera, clean it up with one click, polish it like a pro, and ship it to any platform - all on your own device. No cloud. No subscription. Menu bar in, finished video out.

Two apps, one studio

	On the Mac	On iPhone
Where to start	Chapters 01-36 below	Chapters 40-47 below
Status	Coming to the Mac App Store	Coming to the App Store
Best for	Long-form and precision work on a big screen	Capturing in the moment and posting from one device
Free tier	Complete editor, all the AI, unlimited recording, watermark-free export up to 2 min at 1080p	Identical
Pro	One-time $89 Universal Purchase - unlocks Mac and iPhone together	The same one purchase

Neither is the lite version. Mac vs iPhone maps exactly what differs, and projects hand off in either direction as .zella files so you can start on one device and finish on the other.

Most Mac chapters carry an On iPhone section giving the touch steps for the same job, so you can land on any page from search and find your platform.

This documentation covers every tool and feature in Zella, with step-by-step instructions for where to find each control and how to use it, plus end-to-end workflows for real video goals (YouTube tutorial, TikTok/Reel, product demo, course lesson, bug report, and more).

How to read this guide

New to Zella on the Mac? Read chapters 01-07 in order, then jump to the workflow that matches your goal in chapter 23.
Here for the phone? Start at chapter 40 and read 40-47 in order. They stand on their own.
Looking for one tool? Use the table of contents below - every feature has its own section telling you exactly which panel, tab, and button to use, on both platforms.
Stuck? Chapter 25 (Troubleshooting) covers Mac and iPhone symptoms, and the keyboard reference in chapter 24 solves most Mac problems.

Throughout this guide:

Menu bar = the small Zella icon in the top-right of your macOS menu bar (Mac only).
Setup panel = the recording window that opens when you click the menu bar icon (Mac only).
Studio / Editor = the editing window that opens after a recording (or when you open a file).
Keyboard keys are shown like this: ⌘ ⇧ R. They are Mac only - see chapter 24 for the touch equivalents.
A section headed On iPhone gives the touch steps for whatever that page just described.

Format note: every page is written answer-first and chunkable - a short Quick answer (TL;DR), then self-contained sections (what it does · how to do it · where to use · when to use · impact when applied correctly), an annotated diagram, and an FAQ. This makes the guide easy for beginners to skim and easy for search engines and AI assistants to quote accurately.

Parts 1-8 are the Mac app. Part 9 is Zella for iPhone.

Part 1 - Get set up

Part 2 - Recording

Part 3 - The Editor

Zella Editor Overview - Where Every Tool Lives
Import Video, Images & Audio; Build a Project
Cut, Trim & Ripple-Delete on the Timeline
Remove Silences & Filler Words Automatically 10.5 The AI Assistant: Edit Your Video by Typing - free on every tier, on both platforms

Part 4 - Captions, motion & timing

Part 5 - Look & feel

Part 6 - Ship it

Part 7 - Put it all together

Part 8 - Deep dives & extras

Part 9 - Zella for iPhone

The mobile app is a full editor, not a companion viewer: it records, cuts, captions, grades, removes backgrounds and exports entirely on the device. It’s coming to the App Store - and one Zella Pro is a Universal Purchase that unlocks Mac and iPhone together.

Quick start on the Mac (60 seconds)

Click the Zella icon in your menu bar.
Choose a source - Screen, Camera, or both - and a region/preset.
Press ⌘ ⇧ R (or click Start Recording).
Do your thing. Press the Stop square in the floating toolbar when done.
The Editor opens automatically with your clip. Click AI Tools ▸ Remove Silences ▸ Apply, then Generate Captions.
Pick a platform on the left (e.g. YT Shorts), click Export, choose 1080p, and hit Export.

Quick start on iPhone (5 taps)

Open Zella and start a camera recording - front camera for a talking head, back for anything you’re pointing at. Set your live background first if you want one.
Tap record, do your thing, tap stop. The editor opens with your take ready to cut.
Tap Auto-Polish. It cuts the silences and fillers, captions the whole thing, polishes your voice, blends every join, and lays a music bed - in one tap. Tap Make it Viral instead for the bolder pass, with a colour pop and sound effects under the strongest cuts.
Tap Make Vertical for a face-aware 9:16 reframe.
Tap Export, pick the TikTok / Reels / Shorts preset, and post it. No watermark, ever.

That’s record → edit → ship, on either device. The rest of this guide goes deep on every step.

Documentation version: 2026-07. Applies to Zella on macOS 14 (Sonoma) and later (Apple Silicon and Intel), and Zella for iPhone on iOS 18 and later (on-device caption translation needs iOS 18).

Animated grid of Zella editor features

Getting the most from these docs

New on the Mac? Read What is Zella?, then Record your screen - that pair gets you to a first finished video fastest.
New on the phone? Read Zella for iPhone, then Recording on iPhone.
Every page opens with a one-line Quick answer and an On this page menu - skim those to jump straight to the step you need.
Landed here from search? Check for an On iPhone section on the page - most Mac chapters carry the touch steps for the same job.
Keyboard-driven? Keep Keyboard shortcuts open in a tab - most Mac edits have a one-key shortcut, and that page also maps each one to its touch gesture.
Stuck on anything? Troubleshooting lists the common snags on both platforms with one-line fixes.
Wondering which device to use? Mac vs iPhone lays it out side by side.