❓ FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

TimeISpent is an activity tracking app designed for freelancers, consultants, and employees who manage multiple projects every day.

It allows you to:

• Start a timer in 2 taps on any project
• Record work sequences with notes, images, and categories
• Export professional reports in PDF or CSV
• Track your activity from the lock screen with Live Activity

Your data stays on your device or is synced via iCloud — your choice.

TimeISpent is for anyone who needs to track time spent on projects:

• Freelancers billing by the hour
• Consultants managing multiple clients
• Developers working on several projects
• Employees producing timesheets
• Independent workers juggling multiple professional situations

Whether you work for one client or many, TimeISpent adapts to your workflow.

Requirements:

• iPhone with iOS 18.5 or later
• iPad with iPadOS 18.5 or later

Specific features:

• Dynamic Island: iPhone 14 Pro and later
• Interactive widget: all compatible iPhone/iPad
• Mac: compatible in iOS mode (HTML reporting instead of PDF)

TimeISpent is built with SwiftUI for a native and fluid experience.

Yes, your data is protected.

TimeISpent respects your privacy:

• Local storage: your data stays on your device by default
• Optional iCloud: encrypted sync via your Apple account
• No third-party servers: we never send data outside your Apple ecosystem
• No tracking: no analytics or advertising
• Secure backup: JSON export encrypted by iOS

You maintain full control over where your data lives.

TimeISpent is fully available in French and English.

The app automatically detects your device language. If your device is set to another language, English is used by default.

The free version is functional but limited in volume:

• 5 projects maximum
• 2 custom categories maximum
• 1 image per session maximum
• 30-day history
• 7-day calendar
• 7-day planning horizon
• CSV export only (UTF-8)

It's enough to discover the app and manage a few simple projects.

The Pro version removes all limits:

• Unlimited projects
• Unlimited categories with colors and icons
• Unlimited images per session
• Full history (no time limit)
• Full calendar (daily, weekly, monthly)
• Professional PDF export with company branding
• Multi-encoding CSV export with international formats
• Backup & Restore in JSON format
• Advanced project switching with 3 modes
• Configurable widget favorites
• Fullscreen image viewer

Yes! TimeISpent offers a free 7-day trial of all Pro features.

How to start:

• At installation, choose "Try Pro" in the setup assistant
• Or go to Settings > Subscription

Terms:

• No credit card required
• No commitment
• Automatic return to free version after 7 days
• Data created during the trial remains accessible

Two subscription options are available:

• Pro Monthly: $2.99/month
• Pro Yearly: $24/year (i.e. $2/month, 30% savings)

The subscription is managed by Apple via the App Store. You can cancel at any time from your Apple account settings.

To cancel your subscription:

On iPhone/iPad:
1. Settings → [Your name] → Subscriptions
2. Select TimeISpent
3. Tap "Cancel Subscription"

You keep Pro access until the end of the paid period. After expiration, you switch back to the free version.

Important: Data created in Pro remains accessible. Only creation beyond free limits is blocked.

Your data is preserved. TimeISpent's philosophy is "limit access, not content":

• All your projects remain visible and accessible
• All your work sequences remain accessible
• Your custom categories remain displayed

What's limited:

• You can no longer create beyond free limits (5 projects, 2 categories, etc.)
• PDF export is no longer available
• Backup/restore is no longer accessible
• History is limited to 30 days

To create a project:
1. From the Projects tab, tap the + button
2. Enter the project name (required)
3. Add a description and planned dates (optional)
4. Confirm

You must have at least one project before you can record a work sequence.

Free version: limited to 5 projects.

Several ways to start a timer:

From the app:

• Live Session tab → select a project → Start
• Projects tab → tap the timer button on a project

From the widget:

• Tap one of your 4 favorite projects to start

From Apple Shortcuts:

• Use the "Start a session" action in the Shortcuts app

Only one live session can be active at a time.

During a live session, you can:

• Pause: tap the pause button to stop the timer
• Resume: tap again to continue

Pause time is calculated automatically and displayed separately. Your session's effective duration = total time - pause time.

You can see the pause time in each work sequence's details.

TimeISpent offers 3 switch modes:

• Save and start new: saves the current session and starts a new one on another project
• Change project: transfers the current session to another project without interruption
• Pause and save interruption: pauses the current project and saves the interruption on another project

Accessible from the switch button in the live session or from the widget.

Categories let you qualify your work sequences:

• Each category has a name, a color, and an SF Symbol icon
• 5 default categories: Analysis, Development, Meeting, Documentation, Support
• You can create your own categories
• A session can have multiple categories
• Filter history by category

Free version: limited to 2 custom categories.

Yes. If you forgot to start the timer, you can add a sequence manually:
1. From a project, tap Add a sequence
2. Enter the date, start time, and end time
3. Add notes, images, and categories
4. Confirm

You can also retroactively edit the start time of a live session if you forgot to launch it on time.

You can configure an end-of-day time in settings. If a live session is still active at that time, it will be automatically stopped and saved.

This prevents forgetting to stop the timer at the end of the day.

Configuration: Settings → Timer → Automatic stop

Profiles let you manage multiple professional contexts from the same app:

• A freelance profile for your direct clients
• A company profile for your employer
• A profile for each company if you work for several

Each profile has its own set of projects, work sequences, and preferences. Data is completely isolated between profiles.

To create a profile:
1. Go to Settings → Profile
2. Tap Add a profile
3. Enter the name, email, and optionally the company information
4. Confirm

Profile information is used in PDF report headers.

To switch profiles:
1. Go to Settings → Profile
2. Select the desired profile

The switch is immediate. All displayed projects and data correspond to the active profile. Settings (timer, export, etc.) are also isolated per profile.

Each profile can have its own company information:

• Company name
• Logo
• Branding colors
• Contact information

This information appears in the header of exported PDF reports, allowing you to share a customized activity report for each professional context.

To export as PDF:
1. From the History tab, select the desired period
2. Tap the Export button
3. Choose the PDF format
4. Customize options (columns, branding, report type)
5. Preview then share

Report types:

• Work sessions only
• Daily consumption only
• Full export

Customization:

• Table columns (project, duration, notes, categories...)
• Company logo and colors
• Header and footer

Note: PDF export is a Pro feature.

To export as CSV:
1. From the History tab, select the period
2. Tap Export → CSV
3. Choose the encoding and format

Available encodings:

• UTF-8 (universal, free version)
• UTF-8 BOM (Excel compatible)
• ISO 8859-1 (legacy European format)

Separator formats:

• Semicolon (FR)
• Comma (EN)
• Tab

The CSV file can be opened in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers, or any spreadsheet app.

On Mac (in iOS compatibility mode), TimeISpent generates an HTML file instead of a PDF.

This HTML file:

• Contains the same data as a PDF report
• Opens in any web browser
• Can be printed or converted to PDF from the browser
• Retains the layout and branding

This approach is necessary because native PDF generation uses iOS-specific APIs not available in Mac compatibility mode.

You can export your data for:

• By day: export a specific day
• By week: weekly export
• By month: monthly export
• By year: yearly export
• Custom period: choose start and end dates

The period is selectable from the History tab.

Free version: history limited to 30 days.

Yes, PDF reports are fully customizable:

Content:

• Choose displayed columns (project, date, duration, notes, categories, pause)
• Report type (sequences, daily consumption, full)
• Filter by project or category

Branding:

• Company logo
• Custom colors (header, tables)
• Company information in header
• Enable/disable header and footer

Customization is configured in Settings → PDF Export.

On first launch, TimeISpent asks you to choose:

Local storage:

• Data only on this device
• No internet connection required
• Full control over your data

iCloud storage:

• Automatic sync between all your Apple devices (same Apple ID)
• Automatic backup in Apple's cloud
• Data encrypted by Apple

You can change this choice later in settings.

With iCloud enabled:

• Your projects, work sequences, categories, and images sync automatically
• Sync happens in the background
• Works between iPhone, iPad, and Mac
• Changes propagate to all devices connected to the same Apple ID

Important: All devices must have the same storage setting (all on iCloud) for sync to work.

TimeISpent offers a complete backup system:

Backup:
1. Settings → Backup & Restore → Create a backup
2. Choose a name for the file
3. The `.timeispent` file is created
4. Share it or save it wherever you want

Restore:
1. Settings → Backup & Restore → Restore
2. Select the `.timeispent` file
3. Confirm the restoration

The backup includes: projects, work sequences, categories, images, profiles.

Use case: Perfect for transferring data between devices with different Apple IDs.

Yes, but with caution:
1. Go to Settings → iCloud section
2. Change your choice

From local to iCloud: your local data will be uploaded to iCloud.
From iCloud to local: your data stays local on this device but will no longer sync.

Tip: Make a backup before any storage mode change.

If you have devices with different Apple IDs, iCloud sync won't work between them.

Solution: use Backup & Restore
1. On the source device: create a backup (`.timeispent` file)
2. Transfer the file (AirDrop, email, cloud, USB drive...)
3. On the target device: restore the backup

The `.timeispent` file is a portable JSON format containing all your data.

Two solutions:

Option 1 — Edit the start time:
If you started the session late, you can retroactively edit the start time from the live session.

Option 2 — Add manually:
From the relevant project, tap "Add a sequence" and enter the times manually.

In both cases, the duration will be recalculated automatically.

If the widget doesn't reflect the current state:

1. Check configuration: Settings → Widget to verify your favorite projects
2. Restart the app: close and reopen TimeISpent
3. Remove and re-add the widget: long press on the home screen → edit
4. Restart the device if the problem persists

The widget refreshes automatically every few seconds when a session is active.

The Live Activity can disappear if:

• The app was force-quit by the system (low memory)
• The device restarted

Solution:
1. Open TimeISpent
2. If a session was in progress, the app attempts to restore it automatically
3. Check in Settings → Live Activity that the feature is enabled

Note: Live Activity is available on iPhone 14 Pro and later (Dynamic Island) and on all iPhones with iOS 16.1+ (lock screen).

If PDF export fails:

1. Check your subscription: PDF export requires the Pro version
2. Check there's data for the selected period
3. Disk space: make sure you have enough space
4. Restart the app and try again

If the problem persists, contact support with the error details.

Don't panic, your data is probably still there:

1. Check the active profile: you might be on a different profile (Settings → Profile)
2. Check filters: history may be filtered by project or category
3. Check the period: widen the date range in history
4. Storage mode: if you switched from local to iCloud (or vice versa), data from the old mode may no longer be visible

Last resort: If you have a backup, restore it from Settings → Backup & Restore.

TimeISpent is integrated with Apple's Shortcuts app.

Available actions:

• Start a session on a project
• Pause / resume
• Stop the current session

Automation examples:

• Automatically start the timer when you arrive at the office (with geolocation)
• Stop the session at a specific time
• Launch a session from a custom Shortcuts widget

Setup: Open the Shortcuts app → New Automation → search for "TimeISpent".

For any question or issue:

Email: timeispent@bd2db.app

Before contacting us:

• Check this FAQ
• Make sure your app is up to date (App Store → Updates)
• Restart the application

Useful information to include:

• TimeISpent version (visible in Settings → About)
• Device model and iOS version
• Problem description
• Screenshots if relevant