User guide

This guide covers Yap 0.1.4 (build 5), the public early preview for Apple silicon Macs. The signed and notarized installer is available on GitHub Releases. Zoom Marketplace review and Google OAuth verification are separate from installer availability; account restrictions may still apply. Current availability.

Install and connect

Yap requires Apple silicon and macOS 26 or newer. Download Yap.dmg from GitHub Releases, open it, drag Yap.app to Applications, eject the disk image and launch Yap. Alternatively, expand Yap-macOS.zip and move Yap.app to Applications. Both downloads have matching SHA-256 files.

Quit any older app before switching to Yap. Keep it until you have verified the new app's account access; supported saved accounts and preferences can migrate through normal macOS permissions. See migration details. For the SDK-free sample interface and personal developer setup, see the source README.

Open Settings → Connections → Your meetings → Zoom → Sign in with Zoom. The browser opens Zoom's sign-in and consent page. Approve access with the account you want to use, and return to the app. The app does not ask for your Zoom password directly.

Builds with the managed connection already know the project's public client and authorization service. If a saved personal developer configuration is active, the developer menu offers Use Yap sign-in to switch to the bundled managed connection. A build that requires a configuration before sign-in needs the personal Zoom setup. The developer menu alone does not indicate which mode is active. Do not use another person's SDK secret. See Privacy for the two connection modes and their data flows.

Join or start a meeting

• Choose Join with a link…, paste your Zoom invitation, check your display name, and choose Join meeting. If an invitation contains several meeting links, choose the one you intend to join.
• Choose Start a meeting to create a meeting using the connected Zoom account. Hosting and admission remain subject to that account's Zoom permissions.
• Meetings begin with the microphone muted and camera off. Use the meeting controls to enable them when you are ready; macOS may request permission.
• Use the chat and participant controls to open their side panes. Choose Share to select the window or display you want to share, and use Stop sharing to finish.
• When you leave, the app stops your microphone, camera, and sharing. Hosts can separately choose End for everyone; that ends the call for the other participants too.

An optional setting lets the app handle Zoom's native meeting links. Unsupported link types offer an explicit option to open Zoom Workplace. Access to meetings outside the developer's account depends on the applicable Zoom approval and authorization.

Add your calendar

Google Calendar is optional. In Yap 0.1.4 or newer, open Settings → Connections → Sign in with Google. The official app includes its desktop client configuration; you do not need to create a Cloud project or import a JSON file. Choose your Google account in the browser, review the read-only permissions, complete consent, and select the calendars you want in Yap. The consent app is Yap. While Google's project is in Testing, only approved test users can connect and an unverified-app notice is expected. Calendar can stay disconnected while using Zoom features. Calendar details.

The agenda shows upcoming events with supported Zoom links. Join from the agenda or the menu bar. Calendar access is read-only: the app does not create events, invite people, or change your RSVP. You can deselect calendars or disconnect the account in Settings.

Find and watch a recording

Choose Recordings beside the window controls to open the library. Select a meeting to play an available video. Selecting the same row again keeps the current position. Double-click a recording to give it its own window; its video layout, speed, timestamp, and paused or playing state carry over.

Search by title or a date such as Aug 31, 8/31, or last Monday. Search covers the months already loaded. Choose Load earlier month to include older recordings. Reopening the library refreshes loaded months without restarting the selected video.

The layout menu changes among the video views supplied by Zoom. The speed menu changes playback speed without losing your place or starting a paused video. Use Copy link beside the title to copy Zoom's sharing page, or Save video… to save an MP4. The save sheet starts in Downloads and lets you choose another location. Existing Zoom sharing permissions still apply.

If streaming cannot start, Download to play can retrieve a temporary copy for playback. Cloud recordings require an account with cloud-recording access; computer-only recordings and audio-only files are not included in this player.

Read chat and transcripts

Open the right pane and choose Chat or Transcript. These tabs use the saved files attached to the Zoom recording, when available. They do not create a new transcript or a live chat conversation.

The pane highlights messages or passages as the recording plays. Scrolling manually pauses following; choose Follow playback to return to the current point. Click a chat timestamp, transcript passage, or transcript timestamp to seek without changing the video's paused or playing state.

Search the transcript to find words or speakers. The previous and next controls, or Return, move between matching passages and seek the video. Copy passage includes a timestamp and speaker. Copy transcript copies the whole transcript, and Download transcript saves UTF-8 TXT or WebVTT. Export includes all passages even when a search is active.

Some recordings have no saved chat or transcript. Cloud settings, completion of Zoom's processing, and account permissions determine which files exist. Pauses or edits inside a recorded video may also limit exact timing alignment.

Keyboard shortcuts

Left and Right skip ten seconds at a time. Recording shortcuts apply to the active player and leave search fields and text editing alone.

Disconnect or remove the app

Leave active calls, then use Settings → Disconnect Zoom and disconnect Calendar if connected. Disconnect removes the app's local authorization and clears associated app playback and caches; personal developer configuration can remain. To revoke the provider's server-side grant too, remove the app from Zoom's or Google's connected-app settings.

Quit the app and delete it from Applications to uninstall. Files you explicitly exported stay where you saved them until you delete them. Deleting the app does not remove every preference or SDK-owned item. The Privacy policy explains storage, retention, and deletion choices.

Troubleshooting

• Sign-in is unavailable: check the build's connection mode and the provider's approval or account restrictions. After a newly required permission is added, disconnect and sign in again so consent includes it.
• No recordings appear: confirm you signed into the recording host's account, that cloud recording is available, and that the relevant month is loaded. A co-host's recording normally belongs to the host's library.
• No chat or transcript appears: Zoom must have saved that attachment. The app shows an availability or retry message when the file is absent or cannot be loaded.
• Camera, microphone, or sharing fails: check the app's permissions in macOS System Settings and any meeting restrictions. Keep another way to join an important meeting during the preview.

For help with a reproducible problem, see Support. Send private account or security matters through the contact in the Privacy policy, rather than a public issue.

Published from the project’s source document.