FOR STUDENTS AND YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

Know where your day actually went

Say your day out loud and it becomes a checklist. Start a task and the clock sits in your menu bar, out of the way, until you stop.

It’s a Mac app, so it won’t run on a phone or tablet. Open wheredidmytimego.org on your Mac to download it.

Download for Mac

Free · 58 MB · macOS 11.0 or later · Intel and Apple Silicon

I built this for myself and I use it every day. It is early — if you try it, I’d genuinely like to know what breaks.

NotesFileEditViewWindowHelp0:42:15100%Wed 10:41
Essay draft
Revise chapter 4
00:42:15
Started 9:58 AM
HOW THE MORNING STARTS

Start the day by saying what you’re going to do

Open the laptop, tap the icon in your menu bar, and just talk — “I need to write the essay, then revise chapter four, and after that I want to go to the gym.” One button turns that into three things you can tick off. That is the whole morning: open, say it, start.

Talking uses your Mac’s own dictation — press Fn twice and speak. Would rather type? Type the same sentence and it works the same way. Either way the list is made on your own Mac, by plain rules, and your words are never sent anywhere.

Where Did My Time Go
TODAY’S PLAN
I need to write the essay, then revise chapter four,and after that I want to go to the gym
Make my listOr press Fn twice to say it
TODAY’S PLAN1 of 3 done
Write the essay
Revise chapter 4
The gym
ONE TAP

Then get on with it

Press play on a line and that task starts timing. The clock sits in the menu bar where the battery is — no Dock icon, nothing covering your work. Click it and a small widget drops down; click away and it tucks itself back. Pause for a break and the time freezes rather than being lost.

NotesFileEditViewWindowHelp0:42:15100%Wed 10:41
Revise chapter 4
00:42:15
Started 9:58 AM
IT ADDS UP

A month you can actually look at

Every day you track fills in a calendar built from your own work, not from invitations. Analytics opens with a sentence rather than a wall of charts — how long you focused this week, and whether that’s more or less than last week.

Where Did My Time Go
September 2026‹Today›

19h 17m focused across 8 days  ·  Mondays are your longest days

MON
TUE
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
SUN
31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
3h
15
4h
16
17
18
2h 20m
19
20
21
3h
22
1h 52m
232
40m
241
25
2h 5m
26
27
28
4h 35m
29
30
1
2
3
4

Green bar: time focused  ·  blue number: applications sent  ·  dot: something on that day

Monday 28 Septembertoday

So far today you focused 4h 35m across 3 sessions and finished 2 of 4 planned things.

WHAT YOU DID
09:40 – 11:20Write the essay1h 40m
13:05 – 14:30Revise chapter 41h 25m
15:10 – 16:40Portfolio site1h 30m
BEFORE YOU START

macOS will warn you. Here’s why, and what to do.

Your Mac can only vouch for apps signed through Apple’s paid developer programme, and this one isn’t signed yet. So the first time you open it, macOS stops you. Four clicks, once, and you never see it again.

  1. 1Open it and let it refuseDouble-click the app. macOS blocks it. Press Done — this step is what makes the button in step 2 appear.
  2. 2System Settings › Privacy & SecurityScroll down to the Security section. There’s a line naming the app, with Open Anyway beside it. It stays for about an hour; if it’s gone, open the app again.
  3. 3Press Open AnywayConfirm with your password or Touch ID.
  4. 4Look at your menu barThere’s no Dock icon — that’s deliberate, and it’s the only way a window can sit over a full-screen app. The clock is up beside your battery.

These are Apple’s own steps. Apple explains them, and why the warning exists, in Open a Mac app from an unknown developer.

Would rather check first? Fair enough. The download page publishes a SHA-256 so you can confirm the file is the one I built, and the app makes no network connections at all — point a firewall at it and watch it never ask.

THE PROMISE

It never talks to the internet

No account. No server. No sync. No subscription. No AI. Not one network call. Everything you track lives in a single file on your Mac, and deleting the app leaves it exactly where it was.

Don’t take my word for itInstall the free, open-source firewall LuLu and watch it. The app never asks to connect, because there is nothing in it that can.
Pull the plugTurn your wifi off and use it for a day. It behaves identically, because it was never using the network in the first place.
Look where it livesOne database at ~/time_tracker.db and two marker files. That is the whole footprint. Back it up by copying that one file.
Quitting means quittingPress the × on the widget, or Quit from the full view. Nothing restarts it, nothing runs at login, and dragging the app to the Trash removes it.
QUESTIONS

Things people ask

Is it actually free, or free for now?Free. Not a trial, not a teaser, and there is no price list — I built it for myself and it costs me nothing to hand over. If it ever grows into something a company wants to use, that is the part I would charge for, and I would say so here first.
Why isn’t it on the App Store?Apple’s developer programme is a paid yearly subscription, and this is one person’s project. That is the whole reason macOS warns you, and why the four steps above exist. Signing removes the warning entirely, and it is what I would buy first if this turns out to be worth it.
Can you see what I track?No, and not as a policy — as a fact about the code. The app contains no networking of any kind, so there is no mechanism by which anything could reach me. Watch it with a firewall if you like; it never asks to connect.
Is the source public?Not at the moment. It is one person’s project and I would like to keep it mine for now. I know that means you are taking my word about the privacy, which is why the section above tells you how to check without it.
Does it work offline?Entirely. Nothing about it needs a connection, on the first run or ever.
How do I get my data out, or delete it?Everything is one SQLite file at ~/time_tracker.db. Copy it to back it up, open it with any SQLite tool, or delete it to erase everything. A proper export button is on the list, and is not built yet.
Will there be a Windows version?Not soon, honestly. The parts you can see are built on macOS’s own menu bar, so Windows means rewriting the whole interface. If enough people ask, that changes.
WHO MADE THIS

One person, no company

I’m Dhruval. I built this because I kept reaching Friday without an honest answer to where the week had gone — and because every time tracker I tried wanted me to stop working in order to use it. So this one lives in the menu bar and asks almost nothing of you.

There is no company behind it, no investors, and nothing to upsell you. It is free because it costs me nothing to give away: there is no server to run, since the app never connects to one. I build it in the evenings, and I read everything anyone sends me.

If it is useful, tell me. If it is broken, tell me that too — [email protected].