Video call and telephone tracking

SparkDirk

Hello, thanks for the great app, it would be great if the timer continues, even if you are in a video call, or you can call the Mac on the phone, or if you look a YouTube learning video, for example. If I don't move the mouse, the timer always stops. Thanks for the further development.

WorkingHours version: 2.12.8
Operating system: MacOS
Device model: MacbookPro

timo

Glad you like the app!
The idle detection is an optional feature and disabled by default. You can disable it in the app settings.

sni

Hello. Your response is not a solution to the problem, but rather a workaround that restricts the user’s capabilities. The function of tracking «idle time» is needed to avoid forgetting to pause the counter.

I believe that your implementation of «idle time» tracking is incorrect. There is absolutely no need to monitor mouse movement — instead, it is necessary to track the activation of the screen saver or sleep mode. Alternatively, you could add this functionality as an additional feature to mouse movement tracking.

Have a good day!

timo

sni I believe that your implementation of «idle time» tracking is incorrect.

On Windows, I did not implement the detection and I am not monitoring mouse events - Microsoft did in Windows. I am using the "UserAway" system event trigger: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/launch-resume/support-your-app-with-background-tasks#system-event-triggers

On macOS you can specify the idle duration in the app settings.

sni it is necessary to track the activation of the screen saver or sleep mode

Sleep detection was added (or will be added) in the latest update:
Timer stoppt nicht beim Zuklappen des MacBooks
Timer does not anymore on when W11 goes to Sleep.

SparkDirk

timo Yes, but with the Mac it's not the same with the idle time. I set it to 5 minutes in the settings. The annoying thing is that the total time is completely distorted. If I get up several times a day to get a coffee, go to the toilet, or do something else, the 5 minutes are always added. Which if you did it 10 times a day would be 50 minutes. It would be better if, for example, the screensaver came on or something like that, you could set it to 2 minutes or something like that. I make a lot of phone calls on my Mac to work, and if I don't move the mouse, the time isn't tracked, which is a bit annoying. Maybe you can find a good solution for this. Isn't there a function on the Mac that allows the timer to stop directly if there is no audio or no other activity running?

timo

SparkDirk I'm afraid I couldn't follow. When you use the "idle detection" on macOS, and it detects 5 min of idleness, the timer will be stopped at the time the idleness began, not after the 5 minutes.

SparkDirk

timo Thanks for the quick reply. Okay then it is perfect, when it doesn't count the idleness. Is there a way that the idle detection does not start when i in zoom call, or watching videos?

timo

SparkDirk No - even if it was possible to detect what other apps are running and what they are doing (which would require additional permissions and likely pretty difficult to implement), who decides if watching a video is idle or not? Is watching a YouTube video in Safari being "idle"? Could be an educational video, could be background music...