How to record a bug after it already happened on Mac.
Some bugs happen once and never again. By the time you open a recorder, the moment has gone. A rolling buffer fixes that: it keeps the last few minutes of your screen and throws the rest away, so you can save the bug after you have seen it.
Why starting to record is too late
Intermittent bugs, flickers, layout glitches and one-off errors rarely repeat on demand. Trying to reproduce them while recording wastes time, and a written description loses the detail that made the bug a bug.
Three ways to catch it
- Record everything. You will have the moment, and also hours of video to store, search and keep private.
- Try to reproduce it. Sometimes it works. Often it does not.
- Keep a rolling buffer. The recorder runs, but it only keeps the last few minutes in memory and overwrites the oldest seconds. When the bug appears, you save what it kept.
How to do it with Bugback
- Download Bugback and open it. It starts paused: nothing is recorded until you press Start recording.
- Allow Screen Recording when macOS asks.
- Choose how much to keep. The free plan keeps 10 or 30 seconds. Pro keeps 1 to 10 minutes.
- Work as normal. When the bug appears, press ⇧⌘H.
- The review window opens on the clip. Trim it to the part that matters, add notes, and save it or send it to Jira.
Bugback needs macOS 13 or newer on an Apple Silicon Mac.
Keeping it private
A screen recording can show passwords, messages and other people's data. Bugback keeps the buffer in memory, encrypted. The longest buffers also use an encrypted temporary file, which is deleted when you pause or quit. Nothing leaves your Mac unless you send it. You can hide apps such as a password manager from clips, and you can trim a clip before you send it. Check your employer's rules and the law where you are before you record a screen that shows other people's information. The Control page lists exactly what is kept and where it can go.
Download Bugback for macOS, or see pricing.