Tyme 3 - Time Tracking Ratings and Reviews

THE Best Time Tracking App

I've used quite a few time tracking apps over the years, but none of them have compared to this app. And now, with the advent of version 3 coming out, it's even better than before. Syncing on ALL platforms is seamless, and one of the best in the business. The interface is not just beautiful, but also very functional and intuitive. I will admit that I had to take a few minutes to learn how to start and stop tasks, along with the new interface, but it now works even better than before.

It now is my go-to app when I want to see at a glance just how much time I'm actually focused on tasks during the course of not just today, but on previous days. And, with a "hidden" feature in the Preferences area of taking breaks after whatever time you specify, it now sends you those notifications with no problems.

I HIGHLY recommend this app, and compared with so many other time tracking apps, this one is definitely worth the money!

Developer Response ,

Thank you. Mission accomplishes 👍

Simple, comprehensive cross-platform time tracking with excellent customer support

I settled on Tyme for tracking my billable hours after trying out multiple other time trackers. The cross-platform sync between iOS, Mac and apple watch work well and allow me to capture time wherever I may be. The interface takes a little time to get used to if you are coming from other time tracking apps, but that seems to me to be more the fault of other apps' clunky interfaces, in my experience. Since moving to Tyme 3, I've been happy with the additions in the export function. One of the best things about Tyme is the developer. I've been using Tyme for about 4 years and have had a few questions about Tyme during that time. I have always received a helpful response within 24 hours from the developer himself.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your nice words! 👍

Simple, sleak, with amazing extendability

I've used this app off-and-on for nearly 10 years: first as an independent videographer for a couple years, and then after a 3-year law school hiatus I picked it up again for tracking billable hours in my law practice. It's been a dependable workhorse, with beautiful and easy to use apps on MacOS, iOS, iPadOS, and WatchOS, each with excellent widgets/complications.

Lately I augment it with Timing for automatic timetracking whenever I'm at my computer. Unfortunately there isn't an official sync plugin for Timing to Tyme, but I was able to piece together Apple Shortcuts that keep Tyme in sync with Timing and Things. Big kudos for the robust Apple Shortcuts integration.

TL;DR: come for a simple dependable time tracking app, stay first for the gorgeous UI across all platforms with surprising extendability thanks to Shortcuts.

Detailed and Flexible Entry Methods

My work is project based. And the deadlines frequently shift. I'm also not always in a work mode where I can take the few seconds required to create an entry for many time-keeping apps that do not allow revisions. Typle 3 allows me to create a quick entry, add a note, and come back later to fill out the details. My work also requires that I can restructure the tasks within a project during management. Tyme 3 gives me all the control I need, without limiting my flexibility to use it for MY purposes. The app is easy to use and flexible to let me increase my sophistication with application use while I learn new techiques or wish to refine my entries. My most-preferred time-tracking app on Mac OS!

Developer Response ,

Thank you 🙏

Flawless design and function

I literally couldn't be happier with Tyme. I had no idea how useful a time tracking app could be with regards to actually making me more productive becuase now have such a clear idea of where my time is spent. I've used a number of other apps, but they were either over complicated or just kind of ugly. I keep a Tyme window up all day beacuse it's not only serving me up valuable information, but it's just gorgeous to look at. One massive plus is that the app enters calendar events in the past to show what you actually worked on – this has been really useful, such a cool idea. This app is gold, can't recommend it enough!

Unusable without a subscription

I had purchased Tyme 2. That application is discontinued; understandable but its iOS application was pulled from the store as well.

Tyme 3 requires a $36/year (in 2022) subscription to function. Otherwise, it sets itself in a read-only mode.

As a developer, I understand the maintenance burden of software and why the author most likely went this direction. However, this should be mentioned front and center in the description on the app store since it appears to be "free".

I would much rather pay for a "Tyme 2022" for $36 than setup some sort of recurring subscription. Everyone is trying to move towards this subscription model these days and it does nothing for end-users ... it only helps increase profit.

As a developer, I do not understand why the old software is described as not working in the newer versions of MacOS. It just worked fine on MacOS Ventura on an M1 CPU from what I could tell. I didn't do much with it but it didn't crash. Chaning Tyme 2 to heavily push for moving towards Tyme 3 and the subscription model is not cool.

This software is polished and I appreciate that. It is also created by an independent developer (as far as I can tell) which I also appreciate and want to support. However, there are a lot of dark patterns used that rubs me the wrong way.

In 2020, even clocks are subscriptions

As a user of Tyme 2 since 2018, I was excited to see the announcement that Tyme 3 had been released… until I learned that it's now a subscription. Why? The nature of the app doesn't warrant a change to a subscription model. There's no monthly updates to in-app content (because it isn't a content-based app), and there's nothing stored or running on the dev's servers to make it work.

By all means, make major versions paid updates, and let users decide if they want to upgrade. If they do, they can pay once for the new version and use it as long as they like. That's the way software releases have worked for decades. Too many developers are switching to subscription pricing just because they can.

For what it's worth, Tyme 2 still works just fine, so I guess I'll stick with it for now.

Very Good Time Management Tool

Tyme 3 is a very pleasant tool for tracking time, understanding what my priorities are, and whether I'm focused on the correct things.

Diagrams, charts, and exports are good. I use the app across multiple Macs, iPhones, an iPad, and an Apple Watch - it spans all of these well and sync has not been an issue. Lars, the developer, is very responsive and helpful.

There is a little bit of strangeness in how the time auto-populates when you start up a new task. The start time is prefilled with the end of your previously-completed task, which makes good, useful sense. But sometimes the finish time is populated with strange completion times - I think it's usually prefilling the end of your standard work time time (i.e., the time when you're scheduled to hit the end of your 8-hour workday). Sometimes this gets a little weird when it crosses the AM-PM threshhold too; I haven't completely figured that part out.

The time-fill-in thing is a minor quibble. I've tried a few other time-keeping tools and this one is my favorite.

So easy and intuitive!

I love using Tyme. It is easy and intuitive and helps me keep track of work for my clients down to the minute. I can sort projects by client, and each of my projects is broken down into subcategories so that I know exactly where and how my time is spent. Although they can be broken down separately, I can still look at the total time per project - and each project is color-coded, which helps to visually separate them. I am so grateful for this program!

doesn't work for all people

The one thing that kept me from using Tyme 2 was that every Project required Tasks. As a freelance designer, usually a Project is something like "design social media image about XYZ" for Category Client A. Being forced to create a Project called "design social media image for XYZ" and then add a Task called "design it" before I can track that time is extraordinarily redundant.

I like a lot about Tyme but until it lets me track projects as a whole item when they are whole items like "design social media image" instead of making me add tasks to something that IS the task itself (for reasons I can't possibly fathom) I'm cancelling the subscription I just bought, cause it doesn't work for me.