T-i-i-i-ime is on my side… Yeah, right! These days it seems like people have less and less time, so my question is: where did it go? You spend a few minutes chatting with your neighbours or lounging on the sofa although you know that work beckons… And there it is: time. There's not a lot of it, but it’s still there. Time Recording Pro may not be able to magically conjure up more time but it will help you keep track of current projects and tasks. A definite must-have for freelancers!
3…2…1… Punch clock!
Punch in and punch out, minus the time card. Fred Flinstone might feel a bit baffled by Android phones but I’m sure he would appreciate how easy they can help make certain things in life. When you start working on something you punch in, so to speak, and punch out once you’re done or have to take a break. This allows you to keep track of how much time you’ve spent on a task, as well as – provided you’ve activated the function – how much you’ve earned.
Tasks—keeping an eye on things
The bottom line is that anything and everything can be labeled as a task. Whether it’s a project that you’re working on or simply that you have to mow your own front lawn, it’s up to you how you want to set things up. You can also add descriptions to tasks.
Breaks—pre-assign them, why don’t you?
Recurring things such as breaks or when you start a shift at work can be set up and allocated to certain times, as well as ascribed with descriptions.
Days, weeks, months—everything is right there in the palm of your hand
The app provides you with overviews which show you what took up the most of your time. A filter allows you to sift through your tasks and get rid of unimportant things, allowing you to set up an ideal and personalised overview. A task matrix shows you a detailed account of how much time (in percentages) you spent on specific things.
Exporting data—top notch… honestly!
Time Recording Pro’s data export is great. This tool allows you to install filters and adjust time frames, as well as print things out when you need to. The export options are .csv, .html and .xml-file. Combine your document with the Google Docs app so that you can save it online, edit it and print it out. Sending documents via email is also possible.
Professional settings for professional people
An efficiency tool such as Time Recorder Pro has to have a whole lot of configurations options so that the app can be adapted to suit different users‘ requirements. There are settings options for saving options using email or the SD card. The pro version also allows you to sync your tasks with your Google Calendar. Let me say this though: while syncing is an option, there’s nothing intuitive about having to suss out that an additional app is needed to be able to perform synchronization. And what’s worse is that there’s no link direction towards said app to be found in the FAQs or settings page. In the end I did a quick search of my own and found the TimeRec Utility Pack, downloaded it and have since been able to sync successfully. The developer recommends setting up a new calendar so that your already existing appointments won’t be overwritten due to the sync.
By creating a recurring entry for breaks you will find that all of a sudden you will no longer be able to avoid taking a well earned 5 every now and then. As far as calculating earnings goes, it works really well and there are a lot of different options, e.g. you can set an hourly fee and calculate overtime.
Widget—ariba, ariba!
Punching in and out is quick and easy thanks to the widget on the homescreen. Tap on it once and calculations will commence. Should you need to designate a project you can do so via the settings.
Bottom line and a few alternatives:
A few other good time management tools: Gleo TimeRecorder, Timesheet, Xpert-Timer Time Tracking and GetPaid:Freelancher. We tested Xpert-Timer Time Tracker for you a little while ago and gave it a very good score. Gleeo seems to be a decent app as well but not as functional as Time Recorder Pro.
Advantages
• Lots of settings options
• Fast set up thanks to the widget
• Detailed daily, weekly and monthly overviews
• Export function
• Google Calendar Sync after having installed TimeRec Utility Pack
Drawbacks
• Controls are not always intuitive
• The widget is small and does not contain a lot of information
Using it for months now on daily basis. Working great. No unnecessary permissions. Worth buying.