Simple time tracking for freelancers on Android
Billable hours you forget to log are hours you are not paid for. A practical setup for tracking client work with SelfM and turning it into an invoice.
Read articleAlmost everyone who has tried a time tracker knows the pattern. Day one, every minute is logged. Day three, you notice the timer has been running “Work” through lunch. By day seven, the app is forgotten. The problem is not motivation — it is that a timer depends on you remembering to start and stop it.
Track at a moment you already have
You unlock your phone dozens of times a day. SelfM uses that moment. When lock screen tracking is on, it shows your activity tiles with a simple question: “What have you been up to for the last 15 minutes?” One tap and the time is logged. There is no app to open and nothing to remember.
Because the question comes to you, the gaps that ruin timer-based logs mostly disappear. And if you are in the middle of something, “Ask later” moves the question to your next unlock.
Short intervals, honest answers
It is hard to remember what you did three hours ago. It is easy to remember the last fifteen minutes. Short intervals make your log more accurate and make the answer quicker — you rarely need to think about it.
You can tune the interval in Settings. Fifteen minutes is a good starting point; if you want fewer prompts, try thirty.
Real life is multitasking
You might be on a bus and listening to a podcast, or working while on a call. In SelfM you can press and hold to select more than one activity, so your log reflects what actually happened.
Keep evenings quiet
Tracking should not follow you everywhere. Set the days and hours when SelfM may ask — for example Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 19:00 — and it stays silent the rest of the time.
Try it for one week
- Create five to eight activities that cover most of your day.
- Turn on lock screen tracking with a 15-minute frequency.
- Answer every prompt for seven days, without judging the results.
- At the end of the week, open Statistics and look at the monthly view.
Most people are surprised by at least one number. That surprise is the start of changing how you spend your time. See all SelfM features.
