User guide

This guide covers Yap 0.1.6 (build 7), 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, 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 on the release page. To update an installed copy, choose Yap → Check for Updates… after finishing any active call.

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 Yap → Settings → Connections and choose Sign in to Zoom under Your meetings. 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.

The official installer includes Yap's sign-in configuration; no developer setup is needed. If you previously used a personal developer configuration, choose Developer configuration… → Use Yap sign-in in the Zoom connection settings to switch to Yap's bundled connection. See Privacy for connection modes and data handling.

During setup, choose Enable screen sharing to allow access in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording. Return to Yap and choose Check again if needed. You can choose Set up later; nothing is shared until you select content and choose Share.

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 new 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. Raise hand appears when other people are present; choose Lower hand when finished.
• 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.

Microphone, camera and meeting views

Use the Microphone, Speaker, and Camera menus in the Mac menu bar to choose devices. The audio menus also offer volume controls and audio tests. Turn off Automatically adjust microphone volume to set microphone volume yourself. Choose Refresh devices if a newly connected device is missing.

Open Yap → Settings → Camera, or Camera → Camera effects…, to choose None, Blur, or Photo, and enable Automatically frame me when available. Preview camera starts a local preview before a meeting; closing Camera settings stops it. During a meeting, check effects in your self-view. Background photos are copied to Yap's application support folder; moving the original does not remove the saved background. Choosing None stops the effect but does not delete the copied photo. Availability depends on Zoom, your camera and your Mac.

The meeting's layout menu changes the people view and offers Hide self view and Show non-video participants. Drag the corner self-view to another corner. Keep on Top keeps the call window above other windows.

Share content and take a group photo

Choose Share, select Screen or window, pick the content, then choose Share. To send sound without showing a screen, select Computer audio instead. Your microphone keeps its current state. Use Switch to select different content and Stop sharing to finish; switching between screen sharing and audio-only sharing may require stopping first.

When someone shares, use Show people or Show shared content to change your view. Nearby Zoom Room pairing remains experimental; if pairing is unavailable, join the room's meeting by link or ID before sharing.

Choose Take photo from the layout menu for a countdown and a collage of participants with cameras on. Keep the call window visible and still. The photo excludes names and camera-off tiles, and requires macOS screen-recording access. Groups larger than 49 cameras are captured in batches, so the result is not one simultaneous moment. A successful photo is saved automatically as a PNG in Downloads and stays there until you delete it.

Chat during a meeting

Open the chat pane and choose the audience in To: before sending. Available choices, including private participants or the waiting room, follow the meeting's permissions. Return sends; Shift-Return adds a line. Select text to format it or insert a link. Message actions include Reply, Copy, Quote, and Delete message for your own messages when permitted. Sent-message editing and per-message emoji reactions are not available in Yap.

Choose Attach file to send a file to the selected audience. Incoming files download only when you choose Save file and a destination. Transfers show progress, with Cancel transfer and Retry download when available. File types, sizes and recipients depend on Zoom's meeting settings.

Use Find in chat to search, or Chat options → Save Chat… to save the history currently retained in Yap as a text file. A saved chat includes file details, not the attachments themselves. Saved chats and attachments remain in the locations you choose after leaving the meeting or disconnecting; delete them separately when no longer needed.

Unread badges and temporary message bubbles appear when chat is closed. Set Yap → Settings → General → Message sound to choose a sound or None; the unread badge remains available without sound.

Add your calendar

Google Calendar is optional. Choose Connect Google Calendar in the agenda to start sign-in directly, or open Yap → Settings → Connections → Sign in with Google. The official app includes its 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. Google sign-in is in production but remains unverified, so Google's warning and user cap apply. Calendar can stay disconnected while using Zoom features. Calendar details.

The agenda shows upcoming events with supported Zoom links. Open Yap's schedule in the menu bar to see current and upcoming events, today and tomorrow, all-day events, and earlier meetings. Join an eligible Zoom meeting or open the event's day in Google Calendar. Matching meetings show the calendar title and time interval in Yap. 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 open Yap → Settings → Connections and choose Disconnect Zoom and Disconnect Google 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. Saved videos, transcripts, meeting chats, attachments, and group photos stay where they were saved until you delete them. Copied background photos also remain; to remove them after quitting Yap, use Finder's Go → Go to Folder… to open ~/Library/Application Support/Yap/Camera Backgrounds and delete the photos you no longer want. 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.