Fix Loom Not Starting or Crashing on Record (Mac)

Loom’s button does nothing, the extension crashes, or the desktop app dies as soon as you start. Official troubleshooting starts with restart, reinstall, and extension conflicts.

TL;DR

When Loom will not start recording on Mac, the failure is often in the Chrome extension / desktop app / permission / upload-readiness stack — not in your script. Loom is built around cloud capture for share links, so process sprawl and network gates show up before a single frame lands. For polished Mac demos you need as a local MP4, ScreenKite’s native recorder is the stronger default once you have burned one session on reinstall loops.

What people are saying

This is not a niche edge case. Atlassian Community threads describe Loom videos stuck processing with no duration, uploads that never finish, and recordings that feel lost or unloadable. On Reddit, Mac users regularly look for Loom alternatives when they want less cloud dependency. Official docs then push Recovery Page / temp-folder workarounds — proof the happy path is upload-shaped.

Why this keeps biting you

Loom is good at async team video with a link. That product shape spreads across a desktop app, a browser extension, and cloud upload readiness. On Mac, any of those layers can refuse to start: missing Screen & System Audio Recording permission, a conflicting extension, an outdated desktop build, or an upload path that expects about 5 Mbps before cloud recording feels healthy.

This is not “Loom is useless.” It is a structural observation. A cloud-first recorder with extension surface area will fail more often at start than a single native app that writes to disk. Chrome process conflicts, dual installs, and permission prompts across Chrome versus Loom.app are common. For standup clips, that friction is tolerable. For weekly Mac product demos, it is the wrong default architecture.

Fixes in Loom

1. Restart Chrome and the Mac.
2. Remove and reinstall the Loom Chrome extension; disable other extensions that touch the tab or mic.
3. Update or reinstall the Loom desktop app — avoid running stale extension + new app together.
4. Confirm camera, microphone, and Screen & System Audio Recording permissions for both Chrome and Loom.
5. Verify about 5 Mbps upload if the app refuses to start cloud recording.
6. Test a 10-second capture before a client call; if start still fails twice, stop reinstalling and change tools for the real take.

Capture without the extension handshake

ScreenKite is a single native Mac app: ScreenCaptureKit in, Metal export out. No Chrome extension required to begin. Auto-zoom, timeline edit, and AI agent cleanup stay local. Share via Drive, Dropbox, or iCloud when you choose — after the file exists.

Stay or switch

Better deal for Loom teams: ScreenKite Enterprise

If your org stays on Loom for share links and per-seat cloud hosting, there is a stronger team path. ScreenKite Enterprise lets you purchase an enterprise server and run on‑prem / self-hosted recording infrastructure inside your own network — private storage (S3 or Cloudflare R2), secure link sharing, SAML SSO, MDM — or deploy managed in the public cloud. For many Loom-heavy teams that is a more affordable and more stable deal than betting every video on Atlassian’s upload + processing queue.

Individuals can keep using free local ScreenKite on Mac. Teams that need Loom-style links without Loom’s cloud failure modes should talk to [email protected].

The take

Clear permissions, kill conflicting extensions, and reinstall once. Recurring “won’t start” on Mac is a stack problem, not a you problem. For demos that must begin on time and end as files, ScreenKite is the calmer choice.

Download ScreenKite for Mac →

Also read: A/V lag while recording · Upload stuck