While I love remote work, I’m the first to admit that I get distracted incredibly quickly. Maybe it’s a bit too much caffeine before logging in for the day, but I find myself getting sidetracked and looking at everything that I shouldn’t be. It was time to make a change, and ActivityWatch helped me do just that.
I’ve always enjoyed seeing how much time I dedicate to specific things, whether it’s browsing my Steam library to see how many days of my life I’ve spent on a particular game. However, I never thought about tracking what I do daily. After downloading and testing out ActivityWatch for just a few days, I’ve already seen a fair bit of improvement in my productivity and areas I can continue to improve on in the future.
ActivityWatch breaks things down simply
Graphs and charts are ready for your viewing pleasure
Simple breakdowns are a blessing in disguise, giving you a quick way to glance and see exactly what you were up to for the majority of the day. For remote workers, ActivityWatch may be exactly what you need if you find yourself getting caught up in the constant cycle of doomscrolling while you’re working. Seeing exactly how much time you spend in a specific program or window can be a major eye-opener.
ActivityWatch also breaks down everything into easy-to-understand categories, while allowing users to build their own categories via keywords. This program offers a lot to beginner users and lets power users build their own custom databases to monitor nearly everything they do on their devices.
- OS
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Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android
- Price model
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Free
It can also get much more in-depth
Want a moment-by-moment guide of what you do? ActivityWatch has your back.
The Timeline feature is, in my opinion, the highlight of ActivityWatch. Seeing as I’m using this tool to help with my overall productivity, just like I did with DualMonitorTools, getting an in-depth breakdown of everything I’ve done over a specific period of time is incredibly helpful. Regardless, if I’m browsing the web for a bit while waiting for inspiration to strike, or spending an absurd amount of time watching YouTube videos in my free time, I can see exactly what I’ve been getting up to.
Hovering over any of the individual pieces of the timeline will bring up additional information, showing exactly what was on your screen at the time you selected. Breaking down my trouble points and highlighting them for myself in the future is important, especially if I want to devote as much time as I can to my work or play.
ActivityWatch is almost everywhere
Monitor what you’re doing, regardless of where you are
I’ll be the first to diagnose myself as “Chronically Online,” and it’s not only on my PC. I spend far too much time on my phone, especially during the latter part of the day. While my Samsung S23 FE sends me notifications at the end of the week detailing how much time I’ve spent on my device, I don’t really pay much attention to them. They’re not the most detailed, and just remind me that I have a horrible issue with being on TikTok and my brain is actively rotting. But, to be fair, the TikTok shop has introduced me to some great gadgets, so I should be thanking them for showing me the mouse I’ve been using for a while now.
No matter if you’re on Mac, Linux, Windows, or Android, you can monitor your activity across all of your devices. Sorry, iPhone fans, there’s no app for you just yet. Users on multiple devices can also manually sync data so it appears on any device, but there is no automatic syncing available for this app just yet.
The most popular macOS app just arrived on Windows — and it’s already changing how I work
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It’s a niche solution to a problem
This isn’t going to have the same effects for everyone
One of the first steps to solving a problem is admitting that you have a problem, and I know that being distracted can often be a major problem, especially when working from home. But especially when it comes to mobile users, they may be wondering why this application should even be installed, especially when most devices have a fairly in-depth monitor built in.
My biggest reason is knowing exactly what sites or applications I’m wasting the most time on while I’m on my mobile device. While the Samsung battery meter does a great job of telling me that “Chrome” is using up a lot of my battery, I want to find out what I’ve been doing on Chrome while I’ve been brainlessly scrolling for an admittedly embarrassing amount of time. The only place I can go from here is up, I suppose.
ActivityWatch is non-invasive and informative
No obnoxious pop-ups to tell me to check what I’ve been doing
It doesn’t matter if I’m obsessing about what I’ve been doing lately on my vertical side screen, or if I just wanted to check in after a few days of usage to see if I’ve started kicking some bad habits. ActivityWatch is a great way to see how much time I spend in front of a screen every day.
Finding a proper balance between work and life is important, and I’m hoping that ActivityWatch can help me accomplish that. That, and help me eliminate some of the time I spend on social media, YouTube, and other apps while I’m working. This is a great first step, and as long as I remember to keep checking it out, I’ll be a productivity machine in no time.
