Project and task management decision
Timing
A basic automatic tracker and simple AI summaries are feasible for an experienced developer, but reproducing Timing's native macOS polish, unique Screen Time import, years of UX refinements and packaged integrations would require substantial additional time and product effort.
Visit website↗Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need - the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship. All Timing alternatives, with the arithmetic →
What a replacement has to do
- Record app/document/website usage on macOS, group activity into time entries, sync/selectively upload data to a backend, generate AI activity summaries, export reports / integrate with calendars and billing tools.
What it still won’t have
- macOS-native polish and deep OS-level integrations (idle detection, file paths, window titles)
- the unique Screen Time import experience Timing advertises
- years of product refinements, rules engine and UX for effortless grouping and corrections
- robust cross-device sync and backup handled by vendor
- out-of-the-box integrations (ClickUp, Linear, Clio, GrandTotal) and Zapier connector
What remains hard
- Integration maintenance
Timing is the only third-party solution for viewing Screen Time data in this way.
- Execution quality
Native macOS Application
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 3 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a minimal automatic macOS time-tracker: macOS agent in Swift that logs active app, window title, document path and visited URLs; a local SQLite-backed timeline UI in SwiftUI to view/merge/edit activity blocks and create time entries; a small Node.js + Postgres sync server with user auth (JWT) and per-user encrypted event storage; calendar-reading and basic call/meeting-end heuristics; an AI summarization worker that posts activity batches to an LLM (OpenAI-compatible) and stores summaries; CSV/JSON export and a small Web API endpoint for Zapier. Out of scope: mobile SDKs, multi-user team admin dashboards, two-way sync with external apps beyond simple API. Include error handling, retries for network failures, and automated tests for agent logging, sync endpoints, and summarization correctness.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- An open-source build was found+5
- 5 cited sources+3
- 3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
- Evidence score64
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 5
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productTiming official product
- official pricingTiming pricing
- official docsTiming features
- open sourceActivityWatch/activitywatch
- open sourceJerryZLiu/Dayflow
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
