HYPERSTEP / DRAWCAM / PRIVACY

DrawCam privacy policy

How DrawCam, Hyperstep’s Mac app for on-screen drawing, presenter camera and lecture recording, handles your screen, camera, microphone and files.

Overview

DrawCam works entirely on your Mac. It has no account, advertising, analytics or crash-reporting SDK, and no cloud upload. DrawCam does not send your screen, camera, microphone, audio, drawings, handwriting or face-analysis data to Hyperstep or to any third party, and Hyperstep does not collect or store this data. Opening the Hyperstep website or emailing support from DrawCam’s menus takes place in your browser or mail app and is covered by the Hyperstep privacy policy.

Screen recording: features that use it

DrawCam uses the macOS Screen Recording permission for three features only. Video recording saves the display you choose as an MP4 video, including the pointer, your drawings and the camera overlay, and, if you choose, system audio and the microphone you select. Screenshot saves the display you choose as a PNG image. Smart Focus shows a magnified live view of part of your screen while it is turned on. Drawing and typing text on the screen do not require Screen Recording access.

Screen recording: what is captured

While one of these features is active, DrawCam reads what is shown on the selected display. This can include any window, document, notification or personal information visible on that display, so close or hide anything you do not want recorded before you start. DrawCam’s own windows, such as the toolbar, appear in recordings and screenshots by default; turn on Settings → Capture → “Hide DrawCam windows from captures” to leave them out. Smart Focus always leaves out DrawCam’s windows. DrawCam does not read the screen when none of these features is active, and macOS shows its screen recording indicator while it does.

Screen recording: how it is used

Screen content is used only to create the recording or screenshot you request and to display the Smart Focus magnified view. It is processed on your Mac. DrawCam does not analyze screen content to identify people, recognize text or build a profile, and does not use it for advertising, analytics or model training.

Screen recording: sharing and disclosure

DrawCam does not transmit screen content, recordings or screenshots over the network. Hyperstep never receives them, and they are not sold, shared or disclosed to third parties. A file leaves your Mac only if you move, upload or share it yourself, or save it to a folder that a service such as iCloud Drive synchronizes; that copy is then handled by the service you chose under its own terms.

Screen recording: storage and retention

Recordings and screenshots are saved only to the folders you authorize with the macOS folder picker (DrawCam suggests Movies/DrawCam for videos and Desktop for screenshots), with names such as draw_cam_20261013_142500.mp4. While a video is recording, DrawCam writes it to a .mov file with the same name in that folder, saved in segments so that a crash or power loss keeps what was recorded; when you stop, it becomes the .mp4 and the .mov is removed. If that step cannot finish, the .mov stays as your recording. Files are written directly to that folder and remain there until you delete them in Finder; DrawCam does not delete, upload or back them up. Smart Focus frames are held only in memory, replaced continuously and released when Smart Focus turns off or DrawCam quits; they are never written to disk. Hyperstep keeps no copy and cannot retrieve or delete files on your Mac. Backups of your Mac, such as Time Machine, may keep their own copies.

Screen recording: your controls

macOS asks for your consent before DrawCam can read the screen. You can turn access off at any time in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording (Screen & System Audio Recording on macOS 15 and later). Without it, recording, screenshots and Smart Focus are unavailable, and other features keep working. You can stop a recording or turn off Smart Focus at any time, choose other save folders in Settings → Capture, and delete saved files in Finder.

Camera, microphone and files

Camera access supplies the optional presenter camera overlay; microphone access records the microphone you select. Each permission is requested only for the feature that needs it and can be revoked in System Settings → Privacy & Security. Save folders and background images are opened through macOS file panels, and a local security-scoped bookmark remembers access to the folders you chose.

Face effects and handwriting

When enabled, face effects analyze camera frames on your Mac to position cosmetic adjustments and animate an avatar. Temporary face landmarks and person or background masks are held in memory, are not used to identify you, and are not stored as a biometric profile or shared. The masks come from Apple’s on-device Vision framework; no third-party model is bundled for them and nothing is sent anywhere. Handwriting recognition also runs on your Mac. Your content is not used to train a remote model. A saved recording may contain the camera image or avatar you chose, but contains no separate face-landmark data.

Other local data and deletion

Drawings and text are kept for the current session. Preferences, favorite colors and folder bookmarks are stored locally in DrawCam’s app container on your Mac. Recordings and screenshots you saved stay in their folders until you delete them, even after DrawCam is removed.

Changes and contact

If DrawCam’s data practices change, we update this page and the date below before the change ships. For privacy questions, email contact@hyperstep.net.