Free Time Tracking App for Windows 10 and 11

Setting up Sandtime.io on Windows

The Windows app comes from the Microsoft Store, which is the whole installation: open the Store, search for Sandtime.io, select Get, and sign in with your account. There is no installer to download, no setup wizard, and no administrator password to ask IT for. The Store keeps the app updated in the background, and removing it later works like any other Store app, from Windows Settings.

It runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11 on 64-bit (x64) PCs. The Store build is x64 only, so a Windows on ARM laptop runs it through emulation. If the Store is blocked on a work machine, nothing is lost: the same account works in any modern browser, and the Chrome Extension adds a timer to the toolbar.

Start the timer with Windows, stop it at shutdown

Two settings under Settings > Time tracking > Desktop app turn the working day into something you do not have to remember:

• Start tracking on startup starts a timer the moment the app opens. The entry takes the project and the Billable setting from your most recent activity, the same as the Start tracking button.
• Stop tracking on shutdown ends the running timer when you quit. Windows closes apps without warning when it shuts down, so while a timer runs the app notes once a minute that it is still going, and the next launch closes the leftover entry at the last minute the PC was on. It never adds time you did not work.

Sandtime.io does not add itself to your startup programs, so the first half needs one step in Windows. Press Windows key + R, type shell:startup, and put a Sandtime.io shortcut in the folder that opens. From then on, turning on the PC opens the app and the timer starts with it. The desktop tracking guide covers both settings in detail.

One thing to know: sleep, a closed lid, and a locked screen do not quit the app, so the timer keeps counting through them. Stop it first if you end the day by closing the lid. The shutdown recovery only steps in after a real shutdown, crash, or flat battery, when the next launch ends the leftover entry at the last minute the PC was on.

Working from the taskbar

The Sandtime.io icon sits in the notification area next to the clock, and it changes while a timer runs. Hover over it and the tooltip shows the elapsed time. Right-click it for Start tracking or Stop tracking, Settings, and Quit; a plain click brings the window back.

Closing the window hides the app rather than quitting it, so a running timer keeps running. Use Quit from the icon's menu when you want the app, and with Stop tracking on shutdown the timer, to end.

A day on Windows

Maria is a bookkeeper who works from a Windows laptop. At 8:55 AM she opens the lid, the app opens from the Startup folder, and a timer starts on yesterday's client. At 10:30 AM a call about a different client comes in, so she right-clicks the icon, stops the timer, opens the window, and starts one on the right project. When she forgets to switch after lunch, she fixes it in the afternoon by adding the entry after the fact with its start and end time. At 5:40 PM she shuts the laptop down; Stop tracking on shutdown closes the last entry, and on Friday she checks the week in Timesheets before she submits it for approval.

What it does not record

Sandtime.io records the hours people log, with the timer or by hand. It does not record which apps or websites are open, takes no screenshots, and logs no keystrokes, so it is not a screen time tracker. If you want to know how long you spent in each program, that is a different kind of tool; if you want hours per client or project that you can bill or report on, this is it. The Help Center explains why Sandtime.io is not employee monitoring software.

Alongside the browser and your phone

The Windows app signs in to the same account as the web app, the iPhone and iPad app, and the Android app. A timer started on the PC can be stopped from a phone on the way home, and entries logged anywhere show up in timesheets and reports everywhere else. For teams, timesheet approvals and reminders work the same on every device, and everyone you invite uses Sandtime.io free.

Notes for IT

• Installs from the Microsoft Store per user, without administrator rights or a driver.
• Updates arrive through the Store; there is no separate updater running in the background.
• The desktop settings are personal. An administrator cannot switch Start tracking on startup on for the team.
• The app loads your account from sandtime.io, so it needs an internet connection to open and save entries.