Hours Time Tracking Reviews

Update: Still a great app and improvements made!! I think the only thing that is needed is for more information to be explained on the subscriptions on HoursTimeTracking Store and also online. The “personal (yearly)” subscription is perfectly priced!! Great features for a freelancer! (Should just call it “Freelancer”) and the pro “Team” and some description. Props for making this incredible app!

Previous Review: So far this has almost all the main features needed to be a great solution to time management and reporting, but there are some things that can be improved, namely UI. I’ve made these suggestions and their staff has been quick to communicate. Using paid version now.

With my phone and old watch, this was a 5-star app; with my only slight disappointment being the lack of ability to set overtime rules. But that’s easy enough to deal with myself after I export my CSV.

BUT: The complication no longer works on the Apple Watch. I upgraded to the Series 4 yesterday, and the Hours complication will not let me add it to new faces. HoursTimeTracking synced over, and it works when I launch it manually. The complication even works still on my legacy faces that transferred over when I switched. But I can’t add it to the new faces I’ve been trying to set up. This a problem for me, given my workflow and my unpredictable need for time tracking. My work is fairly interrupt driven and only certain clients and projects need to be tracked. So the ability to switch time tracking with just a couple of taps to the wrist was a godsend.

So, tl;dr, this is a 5-star app on old hardware. But I guess the devs have abandoned it on the meantime, and if you have current hardware, you’re unsupported moving forward. So minus 2-stars on current gear.

Suddenly you can’t use HoursTimeTracking anymore without logging into an account. I didn’t have an account and don’t want one. This shouldn’t be allowed to be marked as a “free app with in-app purchases” if you literally can’t use it without purchasing anything. And don’t tell me the account is free, because there’s no bozo-level which costs nothing — there’s only a 30 day free trial. This is complete garbage too because if I only use HoursTimeTracking on one device, no infrastructure or services are needed on their end for syncing (i.e. because I’m not syncing anything). I used to have a fully functioning piece of software on my phone, which wasn’t synced with anything and which therefore did not require any account— now I don’t have access to any of my timers or past information or anything. This is really garbage, highway robbery at its finest. Thanks for destroying my perfectly good app with your unnecessary update, and thanks for robbing me of access to a bunch of my personal data which i spent hours creating (pun intended). Seriously though the people who pushed out that upgrade that forces users to have an account— terrible people.

I installed HoursTimeTracking to track my time through out the day.
When I first opened HoursTimeTracking , I wanted to add that I woke up at 9:07AM. So, I set a time slot for wake up time at 9:07AM. (It was currently 10:40AM). So, HoursTimeTracking automatically setup a 1 hour and 40min window for waking up. When I tried to adjust the wake up time; I had to use a 2nd time slot for what I was doing from 9:07AM until 10:40AM. That was difficult to do. During the process of trying to figure out how to add another time slot; I realized that you only get THREE FREE TIME SLOTS and you have to PURCHASE additional time slots! How can you test HoursTimeTracking with only three free time slots? HoursTimeTracking also signed me up as part of a TEAM when I had selected tracking time for individual productivity. Then, somewhere in-between uninstalling and reinstalling-HoursTimeTracking ; ( I had uninstalled then reinstalled in order to rate HoursTimeTracking ), it said that my password was incorrect and I needed to create a new password....it was a big mess from there and I have now WASTED more than 2HOURS trying to add a productivity app that did not work!!!🤨🤯

I had used HoursTimeTracking for a few years to track my productivity and project hours for billing. That is until they suddenly updated and put everything behind a subscription paywall without warning. It was forcing me to create yet another account and select which version, none of which are free, and in fact are a fairly high cost when compared with other comparable apps. What upsets me most is the lack of consideration for the existing user base with the sudden change in business model. It would have been understandable if they put new features behind the paywall and kept a free version, but they completely squashed any free use of HoursTimeTracking . If they lack respect for their current users now, what will stop them from sudden changes in costs and package features in the future. This company has completely destroyed any trust I had towards them. I would never recommend them or their products now. The happy ending is that I’ve already found another app that does just as much, if not more, and is free.

I’ve tried quite a few time tracking apps to record time I work on different projects and HoursTimeTracking handles multiple tasks/projects the best. I can work on something for half hour, jump to a different project/client and do that for an hour, jump back to the previous project and as long as I remember to start the timers it works very well.

Additionally, the timeline is super easy to use and it’s simple to adjust time blocks of work as you’re working throughout the day. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s remarkable how many other apps don’t nail a basic necessity like this.

The developers have done an outstanding job and I have but one singular gripe: the color palette 🎨 It could really use some punch! I’m sorry for being picky but pastel isn’t my thing 😩 If you guys could allow us to assign our own colors to projects that would be awesome! Thanks!!

Overall it is a decent app, and I don’t mind paying for a subscription for something like this since it allows me to create invoices. That said, the web and app functionality are not unified. You are unable to invoice from HoursTimeTracking , and can only get certain report views from one or the other.

My biggest complaint though is that when I create a report from HoursTimeTracking to attach to the invoice I create on the web, there is a rounding error on one, and the total time does not match. I’ve even isolated this down too the specific days it happens on and reported this to them, but their solution was to manually correct it on their end. This is a very reproducible bug, and a big deal to not send invoices to your customers where the math doesn’t add up, and contacting them every month to correct the issue on the backend (it happens 2-3 days a month where the total time is off by a minute) is just not an acceptable solution.

I use HoursTimeTracking daily to track how I spend my time. I have separate timers for work, sleep, routine, todo list etc. I love that you can add a note to time blocks. I start a new time block every time I switch tasks at work and use the note to state what I plan to work on. It helps me be more intentional about what I spend my time on and how long I spend on a task.

One feature idea I would love would be the ability to “plan” future time blocks for a day which you could then try to match. Often, part way through the day I find myself looking at my timers so far and thinking about how I can fit in X more hours of work etc into the day.

I've been using the free stuff for awhile because the interface is quick and initiative. So I have lots of data in HoursTimeTracking on my phone (no online account). When I saw they revamped their service levels I feared the worst... But other than being compelled to finally create an online account I didn't suffer any data lose, nor has my past data been disabled (even though I'm well past the allowed three timers for free service tier). Thank you. PS if you had an all you can eat device-only tier (no web) for $12/year I think you'd get more sales from people like me.

HoursTimeTracking has many great features and I used it for quite some time - that is until one day the vendor put most of the capabilities behind an overpriced paywall without telling anyone, basically “bricking” much of what I relied upon prior to that. I couldn’t even edit the pre-existing material.

I was torn by this, however I am a firm believer that regardless of product quality, service orientation is paramount, and dare I say this seems to be a diminishing asset in many industries. I complained but it didn’t matter to them. Maybe if I was paying customer my complaints would have held water. But probably not. Company can do what it wants. Well, I can too - and I voted with my feet and now use another fantastic product.

Don’t get me wrong - this is a highly featured product but you will have to pay to get it. The irony: I’d actually pay a flat one-time fee to operate HoursTimeTracking locally, or a much, much smaller subscription fee.

On more than several occasions the timer never stopped and ran into multiple days despite having stopped it. Furthermore, the crossover into different interface (starting timer in iPad then turning off in iPhone) lead
to multiple timers errors that had to be reviewed before any billing hours could be exported. This just isn’t reliable enough for professional use. What broke the back was they stopped allowing more than one free timer (they began with three, then two, and finally only one.) The cost of subscription at that unreliability and is simply not worth it. But as a free timer and with willingness to check for errors at the end of billing cycle, I was grateful for the time being. Thanks.

HoursTimeTracking is okay works fine, the only thing that i would change apart from ipad app doesn’t exist is could put some sound when the activity that i am doing past one hour or something like that
The perfection would be that you have another when you set up your proyect and could choose some minute in specific where you could put an alarm with the sound of your library music. That would be perfect.
But something that i don’t understand is why when you look the advertising about pro features of monthly payment appears an ipad running hours app.... where is the ipad app? Because in HoursTimeTracking store doesn’t. I think that if they solve this 2 cons of HoursTimeTracking, could be a solid 5 stars and put ahead of rivals apps.

I have used HoursTimeTracking for about two years, and love the simplicity of the user interface! I also love the timeline which makes it easy to see how the day was spent. Very easy to be switch between tasks.
There are a few things I could wish for, but no need to even mention them, because I will not be upgrading my old version. The reason: because of the exorbitant subscription fees!!! Who would pay such monthly fees!?🤯
I still use the older version of HoursTimeTracking and love it, but I know that when I get a new phone, I will need to change to a different app(Because I refuse to pay the crazy subscription fees)! So I am checking out others right now!
HoursTimeTracking will be missed. Sorry to see it go the way it is going. It seems the developers are greedy, but I believe they are actually cutting their own throats. 🤑🤑🤑

Overall:
The concept of Hours is great! I love how easy it is to use and convenient it is to “tap the clock”! The price is very reasonable. I love the versatility of adding projects, tasks, clients, etc. The export to cvs is another benefit!! All very good things!! There are just a couple of things that unfortunately are pretty big things and the reasons I can’t continue to use Hours.

Bug Report:
The reason I can’t continue to use HoursTimeTracking is it doesn’t sync consistently between web browser, apple watch, and iPhone. Throughout the day I find myself manually entering data because time was running after I started it.
It seems like after every weekend, I get a notification on Monday or Tuesday saying I didn’t stop a timer from the week before. Most often, the timer is from Thursday. I know I tracked time Friday, so it isn’t possible I have one running from Thursday. AND now all my data is lost from Friday.
:-( <>

Feature Request:
I have one feature request: integrate with outlook. I don’t like tracking meeting hours. It seems redundant to re-enter what’s already on my calendar.

Great design. Simple and easy to use. Does exactly what I need, no more and no less. Was on the verge of trying to design and build my own time tracking app before I found Hours. Have been using it for a few years now with no complaints.

If I were to suggest a feature, it would be to notify you when the timer has been running for longer than a certain threshold. Right now if you accidentally leave a timer running, it will keep going forever until the next time you launch HoursTimeTracking .

This is a good app, especially since it’s free. I use it every day. However, there are some flaws. One of the features is that you can change the beginning and end time of the timer if you forgot to shut it off. Unfortunately, though, it doesn’t always accept your input. Another feature is the ability to re-organize your tasks and projects in the list. However, moving those around will often cause HoursTimeTracking to lock up or not respond to input. The only way out of it is to restart HoursTimeTracking .
Again, it’s a very useful app. But, there are some flaws. And, to be honest, they are minor. I hope things like this have been corrected in the pay version.

I’ve been using the Hours app for years - both as an independent contractor with multiple clients and projects, and as a regular person out in the world. I absolutely love it. It’s worth it to pay the $20 each year, as I can easily track everything I need to make my invoicing simple. It’s also nice to know how much time I’ve spent in practicing meditation, being by the ocean, and singing. It’s up to you what you track. I bet you’ll enjoy the lovely colors they have to choose from for each category!

HoursTimeTracking has saved me time and effort from my day-to-day routine at work. I used to write down all my tasks in a note book everyday and had to do all the math and my own rounding in order to keep track of what I was doing everyday. I got HoursTimeTracking during my third week of work and I have not been disappointed since then. Super simple, easy to use and navigate.

My only “complaints” are the lacking amount of colors to choose from for each project and that I there’s no “sort by” feature for the timer list.

Other than those two things, I’m very happy with HoursTimeTracking, even the free version is just fine for what I’m doing.

The feedback worked and I’m back to using HoursTimeTracking. Not overly impressed by the time it took to hear back nor the way they changed without telling us. BUT it’s a good app and I will continue to use it.

Original: HoursTimeTracking WAS easy and useful - I had even upgraded to a paid version for $5 or so. Then I got kicked off and can’t get logged back in because my version of HoursTimeTracking no longer exists and only more expensive versions are now available. I lost over a year of data and can’t get anyone to contact me to help. Ironically - I would have been willing to pay for it - but not now that I can’t access my account.

It’s a trap.

HoursTimeTracking is great for always having something open to track time spent on different tasks. I use it for work since it’s important for us to know how much time is spent on a project but I get interrupted by phones, emails, quick team meetings, etc. and it saves time when I can just do a quick tap to change a timer and enter everything in Quickbooks at the end of the day.

I would totally give HoursTimeTracking 5 stars if it weren’t for the fact that I accidentally click on the giant “upgrade to pro” button at least 5 times a day, and today it was while I was going to switch to a different app so my thumb hit the home button before I could even see the purchase screen pop up and there goes $8 on features that I will literally never use.

I know it’s my fault for having Touch ID enabled but of all of the other apps I use on a daily basis that have ads for in-app purchases, this is the only one I’ve ever actually made that mistake with and I’ve had it the shortest time (and only use it while I’m awake and clearheaded)!

I bought HoursTimeTracking years ago because it was featured in HoursTimeTracking Store. It was a disappointment then but after learning the non-intuitive interface it worked well enough I didn’t want to switch as I only use it twice a year to track freelance projects.

Tonight I fired it up to - you guessed it - track some work and instead I got an on boarding screen for new users and no way to get in without creating an account. I’d at least like my old data, so I wasted time creating a login and signing up for a trial to get to it. What a horrible user experience for an app that ostensibly exists to aid productivity! As I said, HoursTimeTracking was never more than OK, so I guess this was the excuse I needed to find something better. ☹️

Save your money, and more importantly your time.