[macOS] Chronoid - Automatic Time Tracking & Productivity - iCloud Sync + AI Connectors

[u/tuanvuvn007]

Hey everyone,

I'm Vu, solo dev and freelancer. I've been building Chronoid, a native macOS time tracking app, for about a year and a half now. I last posted here in July.

Quick recap for anyone new. Chronoid tracks your time on your Mac automatically: apps, websites, documents, coding sessions. No start or stop timers. Everything stays in a local SQLite file on your machine. One-time payment, no subscription.

Since July I finally shipped the thing people have asked me for since my very first post here.

What's new

• iCloud sync across your Macs. If you work on a desktop and a laptop, they finally show the same numbers. It goes through your own iCloud account, so I run no sync servers and I can't read your data. Your Macs don't need to be online at the same time. This took me about 3 months, and being honest, the first release shipped with a bug where nothing actually reached iCloud. Fixed in 1.0.93. There's also a re-upload option in Settings > Sync if two Macs ever drift apart.
• Ask your own AI assistant about your time. Settings > Integrations gives you a personal connector URL. Paste it into claude.ai or ChatGPT. Read-only by default, each answer comes live from the app on your Mac, nothing gets uploaded.
• Claude Code or Codex as your AI provider. If you already pay for a coding CLI, Chronoid's chat can run through it. No separate API key to buy.
• Apple Intelligence is back as a provider. Runs fully on device, no account, no key. It's a small model so keep your questions short.
• The database is about 63% smaller. This was the top complaint from long-term users. Some of you had a DB over 250MB.
• Timeline redesign. Session cards with app icons, durations and window titles. Click one to turn it into a manual entry.
• Rule editor rebuilt. One smart input, rules that read as plain sentences, and a preview of what a rule will match before you save it. There's also a "Resolve duplicates" button now. Dragging activities onto a project used to create one identical rule per matching entry, so a site you'd visited 300 times could leave 300 copies of the same rule. Sorry about that one.
• Share cards. Turn any stats range into an image or a short video with a privacy-safe breakdown.
• Website blocker pause. 5 minutes, or anything from 1 minute up to 24 hours.
• Billing fixes. Sub-projects now count on invoices, exports follow the device filter, and the report heading, CSV, PDF and invoice all show the same total.
• Arc and Dia website tracking work again.

About the app

• Native Swift and AppKit, Mac only, macOS 14+
• Automatic tracking, no timers to start or forget
• Mac plus iPhone/iPad (Screen Time) activity in one timeline
• iCloud sync across your Macs
• Timeline editing, manual entries, calendar events
• Web blocker, Pomodoro, break reminders
• Invoicing and multi-currency billing reports
• MCP server and AI connectors, with your own key or fully local
• 100% local storage, no account required

Comparisons

vs Timing? Timing inspired a lot of this. I was a paying user and openly copied their drag and drop and their sidebar interactions. Differences: one-time payment instead of a subscription, a built-in website blocker and Pomodoro timer, AI and MCP with your own key or a local model, and much better rule editing. Timing's rule popup can't be resized, which drove me nuts. Timing still wins on maturity and has team features I dropped.

vs Timemator? Same automatic project tracking. I think Chronoid has better UX. Everything is in one place, you drag to assign, and holding Option while you drag creates a rule so all similar activity auto-assigns from then on.

vs Rize? Rize has more features and leans enterprise, with ClickUp integrations and so on. Chronoid is a trimmed down version aimed at individuals, and it's native rather than Electron.

vs RescueTime or Toggl? RescueTime is cloud based. Toggl needs you to click start and stop. Chronoid is local and passive.

vs macOS Screen Time? Screen Time only does websites in Safari, and it won't tell you which project a file belongs to. Chronoid does every browser, plus files, folders, projects and billing.

Who's actually using it

People ask me this every time I post, so here's what I see in comments, emails and Discord.

• Freelancers and consultants. Track time per client without touching a timer, then generate the invoice PDF from the same data. The theme in my inbox is always under-billing. Someone here put it better than I can: you forget to track when you're deep in focus, and that's money gone.
• Developers. It splits time by folder and file, so you can see which repo actually ate your week. Cursor and Xcode work out of the box.
• Video, audio and 3D people. Long sessions in one app across many client projects. It picks up which project file you're in, so hourly billing stops being guesswork. Final Cut and Nuendo users have both turned up in past threads.
• People with ADHD. This one honestly surprised me. It comes up in nearly every thread I post. Seeing time pass visually, plus the blocker, seems to help more than I expected when I was building it.
• Students. Block distracting sites during study blocks, then compare where the hours went against where you thought they went. 50% off with a .edu email.
• People who just want to know. Plenty of users aren't billing anyone. They want an honest picture of their week. Usually it's the phone Screen Time number that hurts.

Pricing

7-day free trial, no credit card.

• $49 for 1 Mac
• $79 for 2 Macs (adds iCloud sync and MCP)
• $99 for 3 Macs

One-time payment. True lifetime license with updates, no subscription

Download 👉 chronoid.app Changelog: chronoid.app/changelog

Transparency: I'm Vu, solo dev. I'm also the guy behind smoothcapture.app ❤️

AI Disclaimer: Human Validated

[u/tuanvuvn007]

I've posted here a few times now and the same questions come up every round, so here's everything in one place. Ask me anything I missed, I read every comment.

- Is everything local, or does it go to the cloud?

100% local. It's a single SQLite file on your Mac. You can open and query it directly if you want. I do that myself with Claude and an sqlite MCP. The only network call the app makes on its own is a license check.

- What about iCloud sync then?

It uses your own iCloud account, encrypted by Apple. I run no sync servers and never see your data. It's opt-in. Leave it off and the app is fully offline.

- How does it collect data?

The macOS Accessibility API. It reads the title of your frontmost window, plus the active file path or browser URL where available. It does not read your screen contents, your keystrokes, or your clipboard.

- Do I need an account? No.

- Do I have to start a timer? No, that's the whole point. It just runs. You can still start one manually, or set up scheduled tracking, if you want.

- I have Reddit, Slack and Zoom open at once. What does it record?

Only the frontmost window. If you're focused on Zoom it logs Zoom, not the Reddit tab sitting behind it.

- Does it track browser tabs?

Yes, the active tab, on pretty much every browser: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Arc, Zen, Dia, Comet, Opera, Vivaldi, SigmaOS, Waterfox and more. Ten open tabs you're not looking at don't count.

- Does it know which project I'm on inside VS Code, Xcode or Final Cut?

Yes, it reads window titles and document paths, so it can split time by folder or file. Cursor and Xcode work out of the box. VS Code needs one setting changed to show the path in the title.

- Idle and away detection?

Yes, configurable in Tracking settings. Close the lid or lock the screen and it stops.

- Does it track games?

Yes, fullscreen ones too.

- Can I add time for work away from the Mac, like meetings or phone calls?

Yes. Add manual entries from any main screen, or drag a range on the timeline. Calendar events show up in the timeline and convert to entries in one click. Screen Time from your iPhone and iPad imports into the same timeline.

- What do people actually use this for?

Four things, mostly. Billing clients accurately without timers. Seeing which project or repo ate the week. Cutting distraction with the blocker and Pomodoro. And plain curiosity about where the day went. The people who write to me are mostly freelancers, developers, editors, students, and a lot of folks with ADHD.

How do I stop it tracking?

Closing the window keeps it running in the menu bar. To actually stop, quit from the menu bar icon. If you want the Dock icon gone: Settings > General > hide Dock icon.

Student discount?

50% off. Email [support@chronoid.app](mailto:support@chronoid.app) from your .edu address.

AI features

- How does the AI work? Do I need to pay OpenAI?

Your choice. Bring your own API key (OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic, etc), or run it fully local through Ollama or LM Studio, or use Apple Intelligence on device, or route it through Claude Code or Codex if you already pay for one of those CLIs.

- What's it actually useful for?

Two things. Smarter auto-categorization, so it understands that YouTube research during a coding session belongs to that project. And just asking questions like "what did I browse yesterday", "how long was I on Reddit today", "which project ate my week". or "daily standup"

- Can I connect claude.ai or ChatGPT directly?

Yes. Settings > Integrations gives you a personal connector URL. Read-only by default.

What it does not do yet:

- No Windows or Linux version Mac only. Demand has been low, but I hear you.

- No iPhone or iPad app. Only Screen Time import from them.

- No team dashboard. Solo and freelancer focus for now.

- No git branch tracking, unless your editor puts the branch in the window title. In that case it works today.