Have you ever started something and said, “Self, I will finish this given task within the hour and then I’m going to go on and do this, this, and this.” But for some reason, you spend multiple hours sort of working on your task and sort of not working on it at all. When nighttime rolls around, all those other activities you had planned for the day sort of got swept under the rug.
Been there, done that, right? We all have. Sidetracked by other items or caught up in the task at hand, time gets the best of us and 24 hours suddenly doesn’t seem like very much time at all. But, luckily… there’s an app for that.
Solve your time conundrum with these four ridiculously insightful time-tracking apps.
RescueTime
If what you have is an addiction to blogging and social media, then RescueTime is the app for you. For free, you can track all the time you spend on websites and applications with daily monitoring and weekly reports. With RescueTime, you can finally see the big picture with a breakdown of how long you spent on online timewasters, which is further broken down by type, category, and site (like social media, news publications, and business functions). Set goals for yourself to limit distractions and get time back in your corner. For $9 a month, you’ll receive additional features such as goal alerts, website blocking, and detailed filters and reports.
Toggle
Break it down and all you’ll have is a traditional stopwatch. But that’s the beauty of Toggle. For up to five users, Toggle is free, and allows users to track time, schedule projects, and view insightful time reports. But if you decide to go ahead and spend some money every month, you’ll benefit from features such as team reminders, billable rates, auditing, and unlimited team additions. Toggle’s claim to fame is professional reporting and time tracking to the decimal, making this a go-to app for lawyers of all shapes and sizes.
Timely
Start timers, schedule meetings, tag team members, and log hours all simultaneously. View your calendar (as well as your team members) for what it really is—too full or a little too light—and auto-import meetings and events from other calendars from sources like Microsoft, Apple, and Google. Download Timely for yourself at no cost and use it on your phone, web, or smartwatch. You can also integrate Timely within a team setting for $14 a month, which will give you and your team members unlimited access to projects and scheduling.
Hours
Available on Apple devices, this aesthetically pleasing time tracker allows you to create common tasks and activities and to easily start and stop time. View your day on a timeline, color-coded by each separate activity, and easily adjust your timeline to account for any mistakes, like if you forgot to track an activity or if you forgot to switch to a different activity. Hours supplies you with a comprehensive report of where your time went and how much time you typically spend on things like sales calls, coding, or administrative tasks. Currently, the Hours team is working on creating a web software integration so it can be applied to team functions in a business setting.
