Apps

Clockify Help Center Apps Mac app (AppStore version)

Mac app (AppStore version)

11 min read

Clockify Desktop app for Mac is a native OSX application that enables you to track time right from your desktop, without having to open Clockify in a browser.

Download Clockify for Mac →
Supports Mac OS 12.0 and higher

You can also download Clockify for Mac directly from the Clockify’s website. This version includes the Idle detection and Auto tracker features. Please note that due to recent changes in the App Store’s policies, these features are not available in the App Store version.

Log in

To use Clockify Desktop app for Mac, you first have to log in to your Clockify account:

  • Enter your Clockify account email and choose Continue with Email

or

  • Click Continue with Google if you’ve associated your Clockify account with your Google account

You’ll receive an email with a verification code. To proceed, enter verification code in the verification screen.

If you don’t have a Clockify account yet, you can create it by clicking the Sign up button.

Custom domain and subdomain login

Users on custom domain or subdomain can also use the Mac desktop app.

To log in:

  1. Launch the app and enter your Clockify account email
  2. Choose the workspace associated with your subdomain/custom domain
  3. You’ll be automatically redirected to the subdomain/custom domain in question
  4. Click Continue with email
  5. You’ll receive an email with a verification code
  6. Follow the instructions to verify your email by entering the code

Log in with Apple login

You can use Apple login to sign up and log in to the Clockify desktop app for Mac.

If you choose the Continue with Apple option:

  1. You’ll be prompted to enter your AppleID
  2. After your ID is verified, you’ll be able to Create your account 
  3. You’ll go through the login process via Google or Apple login
  4. After the process is successfully completed, a Sign up screen will appear 
  5. Check CAKE.com Terms and Conditions 
  6. Create your account

Google and Apple login don’t require an email verification. 

Since the web browser version does not support Apple login, make sure to use the Apple ID you were assigned to log in to the web app.

Apple login on Mac is only available if you downloaded Clockify from the AppStore.

If you go through the Apple login process but don’t have a Clockify account yet, before getting access to the app, you’ll get a Signup screen where you’ll need to agree with CAKE.com Terms of Use and click Create account.

Track time using a timer

The main purpose of the desktop app is to make time tracking faster and more convenient.

To start tracking time:

  1. Describe what you’re working on in the What are you working on? field
  2. Start the timer by clicking the blue play button
  3. After you’re finished, click the red stop button and the time entry will be added to your list
  4. You can add a project, task, tags, and billability status to the time entry when you edit it in the popup window

You can also start the timer without the description, and then fill in the details later.

Add time entry manually

In addition to using the timer, you can also add time entries for past work manually:

  1. Click the icon with three lines (it’s next to the play button and beneath the clock icon) to enter manual mode
  2. Click the blue plus icon
  3. A popup window appears where you can enter start and end time, as well as all other details

Time format on the Mac desktop app is related to the time format settings set in your Clockify Profile settings on the web version. For example, if you set your time settings to 24h format on the web, the desktop app will show hours in the same format as well.

Autocomplete

There’s an autocomplete option available when you click on an entry and start typing a description or when you click on the down arrow ( v ).

Edit time entry

  1. Click on an existing time entry in the list
  2. A pop-up appears where you can edit all the data you want
  3. Click Save to save changes

Continue time entry

If you’ve already worked on some task, you can start a new timer for it with one click.

Simply find the time entry you wish to continue tracking time for and click the blue play button next to it. All the data of that time entry will be duplicated, and the time will start ticking again.

Delete time entry

To delete a time entry, click on the three dots menu and choose the Delete option.

or

  1. Click on the time entry
  2. Time entry details window appears
  3. Click Delete button at the bottom left corner
  4. Click OK in the confirmation window to complete the process

Time entry list

The time entry list shows you your most recent time entries. The list is organized by days, and each day contains the time entries you’ve made that day.

Each time entry shows the project, description, duration with tags and billability status (if any).

Duration format on the Mac desktop app depends on the duration format set in the Clockify workspace settings on the web version. For example, if you set the duration format to decimal on the web (e.g. 4.00), the desktop app will display the duration of tracker time in the same format, as well.

Create new project, task or tag

You can quickly create a new project in the Time Entry Details popup window, by clicking Create new project; then you can add the project name, the name of the client, and choose the project color.

After you add the project, you can then add a new task. When you click Create new task, a new input field appears, where you can enter the name of the task, estimate, and choose an assignee.

You can add tags in the Time Entry Details popup window, by clicking Create new tag.

Don’t forget to click Save to save the added project/task/tag.

Regular (non-admin) team members aren’t able to create clients, projects, and tags if they are not granted these permissions. To give them such permissions, you will need to log in via Web browser and set Who can create projects and clients and Who can create tags to Anyone in the Workspace settings.

Settings

The settings are located in the top right corner.

There you can:

  • Change the workspace
  • Go to reports in the web version
  • Manage projects in the web version
  • Adjust preferences
  • Visit Help articles
  • Log out 

Preferences

In your Clockify MacOS desktop preferences, you can choose:

  • To show the app hotkey
  • Hide in dock
  • Show timer and/or project in Status bar
  • Select theme (Light or Dark)
  • Set default project
  • Set a custom global shortcut
  • Change timer settings
  • Show project color in Status bar

Auto-stop and start timer

If you sometimes forget to stop the timer when you go on a break or are finished working, Mac desktop app can stop the running timer for you.

Mac app can also start the timer for you when you come back to work later so you don’t have to worry about managing timers.

In Preferences > Timer, you can choose in which cases Clockify should automatically start and/or stop the timer:

  • When Mac goes to sleep, powers off, or when you close the lid (screen lock)
  • When Mac wakes up, unlocks, or when app starts

Pomodoro Timer

With the Pomodoro Timer, you can set up notifications that will let you know when it’s time to take a break.

Clockify Desktop app will send you a notification when you reach the end of your current Pomodoro interval to let you know you should take a break.

After the break, you can continue tracking time on the latest task by clicking on that entry’s play icon, or start a brand new timer.

You can set just the Pomodoro Timer (when to stop the timer and give you a notification), and you can also set breaks.

When Pomodoro break is enabled, and you reach the end of your Pomodoro time, Clockify will let you know with a notification to stop the timer for the current task. After that, a  new timer starts, with the description “Pomodoro break”. After it ends, the timer will stop, and you can start a new timer for anything you want.

You can start the timer for break directly from the notification by clicking Start break in the notification.

You can enable Pomodoro Timer and set your preferred Pomodoro and break intervals in Preferences > Timer tab.

Default project

If you work on the same project every day, set a default project. Then, all you have to do is type what you’re working on and start the timer, and the project will be selected automatically.

You can select:

  • Fixed project, which will be always used when you start a timer for an entry without a project (until you change the default project)
  • Last used project, and timer will pick up the most recently used available project from your list of time entries

You can enable default project in the app’s Settings > General tab.

Keyboard shortcuts

When you’re focused on the Clockify window, you can use a keyboard shortcut to quickly perform some action:

  • Cmd+S – Start the timer
  • Cmd+T – Stop the timer
  • Cmd+N – Enter manual time entry mode
  • Cmd + Shift + S – Save time entry when editing
  • Cmd+D – Discard the timer
  • Cmd+Y – Sync data
  • Cmd+L – Log out

You can also define your own custom global shortcut for start/stop timer and hide/show app in Settings > Preferences > General.

Offline support

You can track time in Clockify on your Mac even offline.

You can regularly create time entries manually or start/stop the timer, and newly created time entries will be saved locally on your computer. When you get back online, the app will automatically sync all time entries.

When you’re offline, you will only be able to see information loaded while you were online (time entries, projects, tasks, tags, etc.). So projects, tasks, and tags are available for selection if they were loaded before you went offline.

It’s not possible to create new projects, tasks, tags, and clients while offline.

The app stores data locally, and syncs with the web version once you’re online again. If you want, you can also perform a manual sync by clicking the refresh icon.

If you are using the app in the offline mode, please make sure you’ve synced your time entries with the cloud prior to logging out. If you fail to do that, all the data that is not synced at the moment of logging out, will be lost.

Open Clockify on system startup

If you use Clockify every day you can set it up so it starts automatically on startup. To enable this:

  1. Go to System preferences > Users and Groups
  2. Open Login items tab
  3. Add the desired app to the list

To open the app on the same page it was when you closed it just leave the Close windows when quitting an app unchecked. To do this go to System preferences > General.

If you forget to manually start the timer, Clockify can automatically start the timer for you when your Mac is unlocked, awakes, or is booted. Or, if you forget to manually stop the timer, Clockify can automatically stop the timer for you when your Mac is locked, goes to sleep, or is shut down. Auto-start and stop can be enabled in Preferences > Timer.

Change language

By default, app will be displayed on your operating system’s language (if Clockify supports that language).

To use Clockify in a language that’s different from your operating system’s:

  1. Go to System Preferences
  2. Select Language
  3. Go to App tab
  4. Add Clockify
  5. Select language

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