Staff clock in app · iPhone, Android and web

A Clock In App That Replaces Every Clocking In Machine

Replace clocking-in machines, paper sign-in sheets, and manual shift logs with a phone-based clock in app. Employees clock in from their iPhone, Android phone or any browser, managers see who's in right now, and shifts flow automatically into timesheets for approval and payroll. No hardware, no fobs, no IT setup — just a simple app.

Used by hundreds of UK businesses

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Free staff apps
No card needed
£3 per employee a month

TimeTally clock in app before a shift: today's shift, the Wellington Street project, “You're at Leeds site” and the Start Shift button

The same screen clocked in: a 3h 23m timer, started 8:01 AM on Wellington Street, with Start Break and End Shift

Why Businesses Replace Clocking Machines With An App

The machine on the wall needed buying, fixing and queuing for. The app is already in everyone's pocket.

Zero hardware cost
Traditional clocking machines cost £200–£800 each. A clock in app costs nothing to install — just £3/employee/month
Accurate to the minute
Every clock-in is stamped with our server's time, not the phone's. No rounding to the nearest 15 minutes unless you choose it, and with strict clocking on, nobody can type over it
Works across all sites
Employees at different locations all clock in to the same system. One manager dashboard for all sites

On the phone

A shift on the clock, from the first tap to the last

Clocked in on the TimeTally app: the shift timer, started 8:01 AM, the project with “Tap to switch project”, Start Break and End Shift

After 9 hours it turns amber

Clock In, Clock Out — It Really Is That Simple

Employees open the app and tap Start Shift to clock in. They tap End Shift at the end of their shift. That's it — their hours are logged, breaks are tracked, and their timesheet is ready for submission. No complicated setup, no codes to remember, no terminal queues.

07:58
Pick the job
The card opens on today's rota shift and its project. If the project has a site, the line under it says whether they're there.
08:01
Start Shift
One tap. The time is recorded on our server, the ring starts filling, and they can tap the project to switch jobs mid-shift.
12:30
Start Break
Breaks pause the clock and come off the hours automatically, unless you pay breaks.
16:31
End Shift
The day lands on their week. On Friday they check it and tap Submit Week, and you approve it.

Instant Clock In/Out — one tap to start, one tap to stop. The exact time is recorded on the server
Break Logging — employees start and end a break from the same screen. Breaks are tracked separately and deducted automatically
Optional GPS Verification — give a project a location, and staff clocking into it must be on site

Forgot to clock out? After 9 hours the card turns amber and says “Still clocked in from…”, so they can end the shift and put the real finish time in. No reminders are sent: the app shows it the next time they open it.

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In the right place · optional, £1 extra

Clock in on site, not from the car park down the road

Pin a site on the map, set how far around it counts, and give it to a project. Anyone clocking into that project has to be inside the circle. More on the GPS clock in app.

On site the card says “You're at Leeds site · You can clock in and out here” and Start Shift is ready. From 1.3 km away it says “1.3km from Leeds site · Too far to clock in” and Start Shift is greyed out.

The site belongs to the jobA project with a location (its own or its parent's) is checked. A project without one, or no project at all, isn't.
Checked on our serversThe phone only reports where it is. A refused clock-in says which of three reasons it was: too far away, no location shared, or a GPS signal too weak to trust.
Only at clock in and outLocation is read when they tap Start Shift and End Shift. Nobody is tracked through the day.
Exceptions you setMark a rota shift “Clock in at: Anywhere”, or switch on “Skip location checks” for someone who works anywhere. A lenient site lets them in and shows you they were off site.

Clocked into a job the rota didn't give them?

Choose what happens when someone clocks into a project that isn't on their rota shift today.

Allow: Any project, no note.
Flag it: Allowed, and their timesheet shows “Not on rota”. The default.
Block it: Only the shift's projects are offered.

GPS works when clocking in is the only way to log hours, so nobody can type in what the geofence turned down. £1 per employee a month, free during the trial.

On your side

Every clock-in, with where it happened

Managers See Every Clock In As It Happens

The team calendar puts a ring round anyone who is clocked in right now, and turns it amber once they run past their shift. No more calling the site to check if everyone's in. At the end of the week, clock-in data becomes timesheets ready for approval, each day marked where it was clocked.

Where they clocked in — a GPS mark on each day, and the site and accuracy when you open it
Real-Time Attendance View — a ring on the team calendar for everyone on the clock, beside the day's rota shifts and leave. It refreshes every minute
Clock-Time Flags — analytics flag days with 12+ hours on site, no break or no clock-out, and show each person's usual start and finish
Attendance Analytics — reports on median start and finish times, overtime, and total hours per employee or team

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A manager's view of one employee's week: each day's clock-in and clock-out times with a GPS mark, Monday opened to show “Location verified · Leeds site”, and Thursday marked “Not on rota”

Combine Clock In Data With Your Team Calendar

Clock-in records feed into the employer calendar alongside leave, holidays, and absences. Managers get a complete picture of who's working and who's off — useful for scheduling, payroll, and Working Time Regulations compliance.

Calendar View
Absence Tracking
Hours Summary
Payroll Export

Two minutes, start to finish

See the clock-in app in action

Build next week's rota, staff clock in against the shifts you assigned, and approved leave feeds straight back into the plan. One system, no re-keying between them.

Every time tracking scenario, handled

Select any feature for the detail.

Overtime that works itself out.
Two triggers: threshold overtime kicks in once an employee exceeds a set number of hours per day or week. Time-of-day overtime pays a premium for hours worked in a specific window (e.g. after 6pm or before 6am), regardless of total hours. Two pay methods: a rate multiplier (e.g. 1.5×) or a fixed hourly rate for overtime hours. Stack multiple rules, build tiers, and configure each employee independently.
Know exactly where the hours went.
Entirely optional — only enable it if you need it. When on, employees split their hours across projects when submitting (e.g. 3h on Client A, 4h on internal work). You can set project pay for the worker: an hourly rate on top of or instead of their usual rate, or a flat fee per entry (useful for callouts or site visits). Managers get a clear breakdown of where time is actually going.
Offer time off instead of overtime pay.
An optional alternative to paying overtime — enable it only if you want to offer time off in lieu instead of (or alongside) extra pay. Set a TOIL conversion rate (e.g. 1h overtime = 1.5h leave) and overtime hours automatically accrue as a TOIL balance — no manual tracking. TOIL is kept separate from annual leave so it never eats into holiday entitlement. Employees book it the same way they book any other leave.
Approve a whole week from your phone.
Managers approve or reject timesheets from any device — phone, tablet, or desktop. Rejections include a written reason so employees know exactly what needs fixing and can resubmit. Managers can see who has not submitted for the period, and are emailed as each timesheet comes in. Pay totals are calculated automatically from approved hours — no manual maths at payroll time.

Clock in, or fill in a form.
Two submission modes — employees use whichever fits their workflow. Clock-in mode starts a live timer the moment they begin their shift. The timer runs in the background even if the app is closed, so no hours are lost. Form mode lets them enter start time, end time, and breaks at the end of the day or week. Both work on mobile and desktop.
Every hour costed at the right rate.
Set each employee's own hourly rate and pay totals are calculated automatically from their approved hours. Scope managers to their department so they only ever see their own team's data. Want to keep salaries private? Hide pay rates and totals from managers entirely — they see hours, but never figures. Full control over who sees what.
Straight into Xero or QuickBooks.
Send approved timesheets to payroll in a few taps. Export to CSV, Xero, or QuickBooks — filter by date range, employee, or department, and choose exactly which columns to include. You can combine timesheet and leave data in a single export so your payroll software gets everything it needs in one file.

Loved by UK small businesses

Real reviews from TimeTally customers

The app is simple to use, reliable, and makes managing holidays, absences, and staff records straightforward. The system has saved us a significant amount of administration time.

Jordan IngoeCLI Manchester

Setup was dead simple and the team just got on with it. Got everyone up and running in an afternoon with no help needed. Does everything we need for timesheets and holidays without the faff.

S.M.

Has completely changed how I handle timesheets. Used to dread it every week — now it takes me minutes. Really easy to get around and my staff picked it up straight away.

J.T.

Started using it just for rotas but quickly realised it does loads more. The timesheets and leave management are great, and it even handles TOIL and overtime which I wasn't expecting. Use it for everything now.

R.K.

Replace Your Clocking Machine For Less

No hardware to buy, no maintenance contracts. Just a simple monthly subscription.

Your team12 people

£36a month for everything

14-day free trial, no card needed
Free iPhone and Android apps for your staff
Cancel any time

£3/employee/month

Billed monthly. Cancel anytime.

Clock in/out from any phone or browser

Optional GPS location verification

Who's on the clock, on the team calendar

Automatic timesheet generation from clock data

Break logging and overtime tracking

Leave and holiday management included

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Support that answers

A real person replies within 24 hours. No ticket queues, no bots.

UK GDPR compliant

A UK company, ICO regulated. Your data encrypted and never sold.

A Clock-In App That Works for Every Type of Business

From building sites to care homes, TimeTally's clock-in app adapts to where your team works — no hardware required.

Clock-in app for restaurants

Kitchen and front-of-house staff often don't have access to a desk or computer. TimeTally's mobile clock-in works on any phone — staff tap to start their shift, tap to end it, and managers see who's on the clock from the team calendar.

No hardware — works on any smartphone
Clock in from table or kitchen
See who's on the clock on the team calendar

Clock-in app for care homes

Accurate shift records are essential for CQC inspections and safe staffing evidence. TimeTally's care home clock-in captures exact start and finish times, maintains a full audit trail of who worked each shift and for how long.

Exact shift times recorded
Full audit trail for CQC
Complete shift attendance records

Clock-in app for retail

Retail staff often work variable hours across multiple shifts. TimeTally's retail clock-in lets staff check in on shared devices (each with their own login) or their own phones, with hours taken straight from clock-in times and automatic overtime calculation when shifts run long.

Shared device or personal phone
Hours straight from clock-ins
Automatic overtime flagging

Clock-in app for construction sites

Site workers often start and finish at different times across multiple locations. TimeTally's construction clock-in works offline and syncs when signal is restored — ideal for rural sites (offline clock-ins are refused for a job with a GPS location). Managers see attendance across all active sites from one dashboard.

Retains data offline, syncs when signal returns
Multi-site attendance tracking
Accurate hours for contractor payroll

Clock-in app for remote workers

Home-working teams need a simple, trusted way to log their hours without surveillance. TimeTally gives remote staff a one-tap clock-in from their phone or browser, with hours automatically tallied and submitted for manager approval each week.

Browser and mobile app
Weekly timesheet auto-filled
No screen monitoring — just hours logged

Clock-in app for cleaning companies

Cleaning staff work across multiple client sites with no fixed desk. TimeTally's mobile clock-in lets cleaners log their arrival and departure at each location, giving supervisors proof of attendance and accurate hours for invoicing and payroll.

Site-by-site attendance logging
Proof of attendance for clients
Accurate hours across multiple locations

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In short

What is a clock in app?

A clock in app replaces the machine on the wall: employees tap once on their own phone to start a shift and once to end it, the exact times are recorded on the server, breaks are logged, and the week assembles itself into a timesheet for a manager to approve. TimeTally's clock in app works on iPhone, Android and in any browser, needs no hardware, fobs or IT setup, shows managers who is clocked in right now, and costs £3 per employee a month — with location-checked clocking available as a £1 extra for sites where people have to be on the premises.

Price: £3 per employee a month
Hardware: None — phone or browser
Records: Server time, breaks
Managers see: Who is in, right now
Optional: GPS check, £1 extra

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a clock in app?

A clock in app is a mobile or web-based system that lets employees start and stop tracking their working time from their phone or computer. Employees tap a button when they arrive at work and tap again when they leave. The app records the exact time, calculates hours worked, logs any breaks, and generates a timesheet automatically. TimeTally is a clock in app that also handles timesheet approvals, leave management, and payroll export.

Do employees need their own phone to use a clock in app?

Ideally yes — each employee uses their own phone to clock in, which also verifies who is doing the clocking in. However, TimeTally can also be used on a shared tablet or computer if employees don't have personal phones. Each employee logs in with their own credentials, so records remain accurate and individual.

Can a clock in app prevent buddy punching?

It makes it much harder. When employees clock in from their own phone, only they can initiate that clock-in — unlike physical fob systems where one person can swipe for another. With the optional GPS verification feature enabled, TimeTally also records the location at clock-in, providing an additional layer of verification that the employee was physically at the right site.

How does a clock in app create timesheets automatically?

Each time an employee clocks in and out, TimeTally records the start and end time. Over the course of a week, these clock-in/out records are assembled into a complete timesheet showing each day's hours, total weekly hours, and any overtime. The employee reviews and submits this auto-generated timesheet at the end of the week, and the manager approves it.

What happens if an employee forgets to clock out?

When a shift has been open for more than 9 hours, the clock-in screen turns amber and shows when the employee clocked in, so they can clock out and correct the finish time the next time they open the app. Managers can also see who is still clocked in on the team calendar. If an employee genuinely forgot to clock out, their manager can adjust the clock-out time, and the change is recorded in the audit trail.

Does the clock in app work for employees in multiple locations?

Yes. Because TimeTally is cloud-based, employees at different sites all clock into the same system. Managers can see the whole team's attendance regardless of location. GPS verification lets you confirm each employee is at the correct site when they clock in, which is particularly useful for care workers, cleaning staff, or other mobile workers.

Is a mobile clock in app compliant with UK employment law?

Yes. Mobile clock-in apps create more robust employment records than paper sign-in sheets or manual time tracking. Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, employers must keep adequate records of working time. Timestamped clock-in records with a full audit trail are ideal for this purpose. TimeTally keeps every week's hours, so you have the records to check the 48-hour weekly average and the working time opt-out rules.

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Replace Your Clocking System With A Better App

Your team can start clocking in from their phones today.

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