Help & FAQ

Work Counter is a time-tracking app for freelancers, employees, and small teams. You can clock in and out, log hours manually, manage projects, locations, and people, and generate timesheets and invoices — all in one app.

Tap the play button on the Clock In card on your home screen. The timer starts immediately. You can also clock in via Siri ("Hey Siri, clock me in on Work Counter"), from the Live Activity on your Lock Screen, or automatically when you arrive at a work location.

Tap the stop button on the Clock In card. You'll be taken to the Add Entry screen where you can review your times, add a project, location, person, or note, and then save the entry. You can also clock out from the Lock Screen Live Activity or via Siri.

Your clock-in session is saved and will continue running. When you reopen the app, the timer picks up exactly where it left off. The Live Activity on your Lock Screen also stays active.

Tap "Add Entry" at the bottom of the home screen. Choose between Simple mode (enter total hours) or Detailed mode (enter start and end times). You can add a project, location, person, break time, and notes to each entry.

Tap "Edit Homescreen" at the bottom of the home screen, or go to Settings > Appearance. You can add, remove, and reorder cards. There are also presets like Freelancer, Manager, and Time Tracker that configure your cards automatically.

Available cards include: Summary (hours, earnings, entries), Clock In/Out, Chart, Recent Entries, Projects Overview, Person Overview, Personal Goal, Overtime, Travel Expenses, Weekly Streak, Earnings Comparison, and Single Project. Some cards require a premium subscription.

Tap the period selector at the top of the home screen. You can choose Week, 4 Weeks, Month, Quarter, Year, or Open. Use the arrows to navigate to previous or next periods.

The Open period shows all unpaid hours since your last pay day. If you set pay cycles on your projects, each project calculates its own open period. This helps you see exactly how much you're owed.

Use the Open period. Select "Open" in the period picker at the top of the home screen. Tap the Summary card to open the Open Period settings. Here you can adjust the start date to your last pay day. The app calculates all your hours and earnings from that date. When you get paid, open the same settings and tap "Reset to today" to start the counter fresh. If you have different pay days per project, set a pay cycle on each project — the Open period combines them automatically.

Go to the Projects tab and tap the + button. Enter a name, choose a color, and optionally set an hourly rate, overtime settings, and a pay cycle. You can also add tasks to the project.

Tasks are subcategories within a project. For example, a "Website" project might have tasks like "Design" and "Development", each with their own rate. When logging hours, you can select a task to categorize your work.

Pay cycles track when you get paid. Set a cycle type (Weekly, 4-Weekly, Monthly) and a start date. The app calculates your current open amount — the hours and earnings since your last pay day. Tap "Set Pay Day" to reset the cycle when you get paid.

Swipe left on a project and tap Archive. Archived projects are hidden from the active list but all their entries are preserved. To permanently delete a project, first archive it, then swipe left on it in the Archived section and tap Delete. This permanently removes the project and all linked entries.

Yes. Each project can have its own hourly rate. When you log an entry for that project, its rate is used instead of your default rate. You can also override the rate per individual entry.

Go to Settings > Locations and tap +. Enter a name and address. Tap "Select on Map" to pin the exact location — this is required to use location reminders and automatic clock-in.

After pinning a location on the map, enable Location Reminders. For each direction (arrival and departure), choose between Off, Notification, or Automatic. Notification sends a reminder when you arrive or leave. Automatic clocks you in or out without any action needed.

Set a location's arrival or departure to Automatic. When you enter the geofence area, the app automatically starts your timer. When you leave, it stops the timer and saves the entry. You can also assign a default project so the entry is complete without any manual input. This feature requires a premium subscription.

Each location can include travel costs added to your entries. Choose between a fixed amount per trip or a rate per kilometer/mile. For per-distance compensation, enter the distance and rate — the total is calculated automatically. Enable "Round trip" to double the distance.

Location reminders require the "Always Allow" location permission. Go to your iPhone Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Work Counter and select "Always". Also make sure you've pinned the location on the map and set a geofence radius.

People let you track hours for different team members, employees, or clients. Each person can have their own hourly rate. When logging an entry, select a person to assign the hours to them. You can filter your history and exports by person.

Go to Settings > Persons and tap +. Enter a first name, optionally a last name, and set an hourly rate if it differs from your default.

Go to the History tab. Entries are grouped by month with total hours and earnings shown for each month. Tap an entry to view its details.

In History, tap an entry to open it, then tap Edit in the top right. You can change the times, project, location, person, hourly rate, break time, and notes.

Swipe left on an entry in History and tap Delete. To delete multiple entries at once, tap Select in the top right, choose the entries, and tap Delete.

Yes. Use the search bar at the top to search by note, project, person, or location name. You can also filter by project, location, or person using the filter options. Active filters are shown as chips above the list.

Go to Settings > Export & Share. Choose a file format (PDF, CSV, or JSON), select a date range, and optionally filter by project, location, or person. The generated file can be shared via email, messaging apps, or saved to Files.

Yes. In the export settings, you can choose which columns to include: date, start time, end time, duration, break, project, person, location, rate, earnings, task, overtime, travel costs, and notes.

Go to Settings > Export & Share and choose Invoice. Select a project and date range. The invoice is pre-filled with your hours and rates. Add your company details in Settings > Business Info (name, address, VAT ID, logo). Enter the client's details, set a due date, and optionally include a time specification attachment.

Go to Settings > Business Info. Enter your company name, address, phone, email, VAT ID, and upload a logo. This information is used for invoices.

Earnings are calculated as: (hours worked − break time) × hourly rate. If overtime is enabled, hours beyond your threshold are calculated at the overtime rate. Travel compensation from the location is added on top.

Go to Settings > General > Hourly Rate and enter your default rate. This applies to all entries unless overridden by a project, task, person, or individual entry.

Yes. In Settings > General > Hourly Rate, enable daily rates. You can set a different rate for each day of the week — for example, a higher rate on weekends.

Enable overtime in Settings > General > Overtime. Set your regular hour threshold and overtime rate. When you work beyond the threshold, extra hours are calculated at the overtime rate. You can also enable or disable overtime per project.

Work Counter offers home screen widgets (Summary, Overview, Heatmap), a Lock Screen Live Activity that shows your running timer, and a Control Center button (iOS 18+) for quick access to add entries.

When you clock in, a Live Activity automatically appears on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island (on supported devices). It shows your elapsed time and has a Clock Out button. The Live Activity stays active even when the app is closed.

You can say: "Clock me in", "Clock me out", "Toggle clock", "Am I clocked in?", "Hours this week", "Hours this month", "Earnings this week", "Earnings this month", and "Add time entry". Just add "on Work Counter" to any command.

Go to Settings > Siri & Shortcuts to see all available commands. You can also open the Shortcuts app to create custom automations — for example, automatically clock in when you connect to your office Wi-Fi.

The free version includes 20 time entries per month, 2 projects, 1 location, and 1 person. Clock-in/out, the home screen with basic cards, and location notifications are all free.

Premium gives you unlimited entries, projects, locations, and people. Plus: automatic clock-in/out, clock-out reminders, overtime tracking, all home screen cards, export (PDF, CSV, JSON), invoice generation, custom themes, and daily rates.

No. All your data stays on your device and in iCloud. Premium features are disabled, but your entries, projects, and locations remain accessible. If you re-subscribe, everything is restored.

Yes. As long as you're signed in with the same Apple ID, your subscription works on all your devices. Your data syncs automatically via iCloud.

Your data syncs automatically to iCloud when enabled on your device. All entries, projects, locations, and people are kept in sync across your iPhone and iPad. To check the status, go to Settings > Account.

Yes. You can clock in/out, log hours, and manage everything offline. Changes sync automatically when you reconnect to the internet.

Go to your iPhone Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Apps Using iCloud, and toggle Work Counter on or off.

Make sure iCloud is enabled for Work Counter on both devices (iPhone Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud). Both devices must be signed in with the same Apple ID. Sync may take a few minutes. Try opening the app on both devices to trigger a sync.

Make sure Live Activities are enabled in iPhone Settings > Work Counter > Live Activities. If the activity disappeared but you're still clocked in, reopen the app — it will restart the Live Activity automatically.

Automatic clock-in/out requires a premium subscription. If you have premium, make sure the location has a pin on the map — tap "Select on Map" in the location settings to place one.

Geofencing relies on iOS system events, which are not instant. Notifications may be delayed by a few minutes depending on device activity. Make sure the location permission is set to "Always" (not just "While Using"), and check that Do Not Disturb is off.

Unfortunately, deleted entries cannot be recovered. If you have iCloud enabled, the deletion syncs across all devices. We recommend exporting your data regularly as a backup.

The free version allows 20 entries per month. This resets on the first day of each month. Upgrade to Premium for unlimited entries, or wait for the next month.

Go to Settings > Help & Support > Suggestions. Tap the + button to submit a feature request or bug report. You can also upvote other users' suggestions.