Updates

New embed customizations have landed. This round of updates brings button and display controls into embeds.

Change title card details

You now have finer controls over which details should appear before and during playback of story embeds. This includes things like narrators, publish date, and workspace. Keep in mind you can use different settings for each embed — just copy the configured embed code after toggling the options.

Embed a call to action

Stories with a call to action (CTA) can now include a button on embeds too. Previously CTAs were only available when viewing a story's share link. Use it to make next steps easy to find, wherever you publish updates.

Customize the play button

As a bonus, you can also now change the play button to display custom text instead of the default, video duration.

Find these options (and grab the updated embed code) via Share → Embed, when viewing a story.

This week, Rally escaped the browser. Rally for MacOS is a lightweight companion app that makes getting product clips into Rally easier, and gives you a few new presentation powers.

Native vs browser recording trade offs

Screen recording with the desktop app unlocks cursor tracking, including automatic zooming to interactions. This is useful for bringing attention to finer details of your product, and direct audience focus.

Beyond cursor upgrades, you’ll also find a handful of improved recording options which aren’t yet possible when recording from the browser. For example, the control overlay and webcam preview will stay hidden from final recording, even when capturing the entire screen.

Even with a desktop app, in-browser recording will always remain an option. When creating a new story in the web app, you'll find a new option to record in the browser or in the app. You can also jump straight into the desktop app to create a new story too.

The initial version is available for Apple Silicon for now. We plan to expand compatibility in the future, as well as adding more ways to capture product content beyond screen recording alone — but we'll leave that part for a future update, and some mystery.

Featuring an enhanced page for shared stories, timeline-based editing, and layout presets to get started fast.

Enhanced share page

Shared stories have some extra details available in the new layout:

• Transcripts. Navigate to specific timestamps in the story by clicking on the transcript line. Automatically generated closed captions in the video player.

• Table of contents and extended descriptions. This includes better publishing previews and with larger editor for story description.

  • Next up: Control over which chapters appear in the table of contents. Also flexibility additional resource links — similar to the existing CTA feature, but for support docs, blogs, or other related resources.

Timeline-based editing

The timeline editor shows both narrator and content tracks, so you can trim recordings or split a single card into smaller clips. Find it via "Show Timeline" toggle or the Trim option with a content or narrator layer selected.

Simplified layout presets

Simplified presets, with common layouts for arranging narration and content layers. Includes a new side-by-side layout for an unobstructed view of the presenter and presentation.

Improved

• Contextual editing controls when clicking on narrator and content layers. Builds on the control bar feature introduced last month, so you don’t have to search through a sidebar for basic changes.

• Simplified recording flow. Recording is now part of the editor instead of a separate workflow. It should feel more consistent, and a more honest preview of your recording.

• We'll now send a notification when your story is viewed for the first time, so you can celebrate accordingly.

• New authentication provider for faster login, extra security options for logging in, including passkey support.

• Added new backgrounds, including scenic views and options which resemble desktop backgrounds.

• Webcam video is now mirrored by default. You can change this from the menu after clicking on the narration bubble.

You can now add call to action (CTA) buttons when sharing a story in Rally. Use it to promote a clear next step for customers, like setting up the feature presented, or requesting a guided demo.

To add a CTA to your story, go to the editor and select +Button to set a URL and display text for the button.