Record anything on your screen effortlessly

Run the installer. If Windows SmartScreen asks you to confirm, choose More info, then Run anyway.

If macOS says it cannot verify the app, open System Settings, then Privacy and Security, and choose Open Anyway.

The first time you record, allow Scrim under Screen Recording, and under Accessibility so cursor effects can follow your mouse.

Make the AppImage executable with chmod +x and run it, or install the deb package with your package manager. The deb also sets up the sandbox permission that Ubuntu 24.04 asks for.

On Ubuntu 24.04 an AppImage needs one more step before it starts, because Ubuntu restricts the sandbox that Scrim keeps on. The commands are in the Linux help on the website.

On X11 you get everything. On Wayland, auto zoom and cursor effects are off, because Wayland does not let apps watch the mouse. Recording goes through the system screen sharing portal, so your desktop asks which screen to share.

Run the AppImage. In a terminal, in the folder you downloaded it to:

chmod +x Scrim-*-linux-*.AppImage
./Scrim-*-linux-*.AppImage

AppImage on Ubuntu 24.04. If Scrim stops with a sandbox error, Ubuntu is blocking the user namespaces that the Chromium sandbox needs. The sandbox stays on. The safest fix allows the namespaces for Scrim alone, with the same small AppArmor profile that the deb installs. First unpack the AppImage into a fixed folder, because a profile cannot name the temporary folder an AppImage normally runs from:

./Scrim-*-linux-*.AppImage --appimage-extract
sudo mv squashfs-root /opt/Scrim-appimage

Then write the profile and load it:

sudo tee /etc/apparmor.d/scrim-appimage > /dev/null <<'EOF'
abi <abi/4.0>,
include <tunables/global>

profile scrim-appimage /opt/Scrim-appimage/scrim flags=(unconfined) {
  userns,

  include if exists <local/scrim-appimage>
}
EOF
sudo apparmor_parser -r /etc/apparmor.d/scrim-appimage

Start Scrim from the unpacked folder:

/opt/Scrim-appimage/scrim

An unpacked copy does not update itself. To update, download the new AppImage and repeat these steps. To remove all of it:

sudo apparmor_parser -R /etc/apparmor.d/scrim-appimage
sudo rm /etc/apparmor.d/scrim-appimage
sudo rm -r /opt/Scrim-appimage

Or, for the whole computer. This setting is simpler but wider: it lets every program create user namespaces, which Ubuntu 24.04 limits on purpose. To allow them until you restart:

sudo sysctl -w kernel.apparmor_restrict_unprivileged_userns=0

To keep that setting after a restart:

echo 'kernel.apparmor_restrict_unprivileged_userns=0' | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/60-scrim-userns.conf

To put the limit back:

sudo rm /etc/sysctl.d/60-scrim-userns.conf && sudo sysctl -w kernel.apparmor_restrict_unprivileged_userns=1

The deb package avoids this: it adds a small AppArmor profile that allows the namespaces for Scrim alone.

Every Linux file on the release page has a signature next to it, a file that ends in .asc. Download the key and the signature of your file, then run these two commands:

gpg --import scrim-release-key.asc
gpg --verify <file>.asc <file>

Get the public key (opens in a new tab). gpg should say Good signature. Replace <file> with the name of the file you downloaded.

To read the fingerprint of the key file from the repository, run:

gpg --show-keys --fingerprint scrim-release-key.asc