Employee Guide
You control the timer. You review every screenshot. This guide explains how tracking, approvals, and privacy work in plain language.
Start tracking from your desktop
Tracking only begins when you click Start in the AllyTracker Desktop window. The web app shows a live mirror of your session, but control always happens on your machine.
While tracking, the desktop app captures a screenshot of your active window at the interval your admin set (usually every 10 minutes). The tray icon shows AllyTracker is running while a session is active.
Pause or end the session anytime from the app window. Pausing freezes the timer and stops captures. Ending saves the final tracked time.
Review screenshots before anyone sees them
Every capture lands in your private review tray first. Nothing is uploaded until you approve it.
Approve a screenshot to send it to your admin. They can view it, along with the time it represents.
Remove a screenshot to permanently delete it from your machine. Removed captures never reach your admin and their time is deducted from your paid hours.
Privacy exclusions pause the timer
You can set apps or windows that should never be captured — for example a personal browser, chat app, or password manager.
Add exclusion patterns in the desktop Settings panel. When AllyTracker sees you on an excluded app, the timer pauses automatically and no screenshots are taken. That time appears as Blocked in your web stats, separate from tracked and paid time.
Read your web dashboard
The /app page shows your current session status, a live timer, and a summary of today’s stats: Tracked, Payable, Blocked, and Approved counts.
Below the stats, the Sessions tab groups approved screenshots by session. Expand any session to see its duration, status, paused time, blocked time, and deductions.
The Approved tab shows every approved screenshot in the selected date range. Click one to view it full-size.
Common questions
Why is my timer paused? — You clicked Pause in the app window. Resume from the app window to continue.
Why are my paid hours lower than tracked hours? — Each removed screenshot deducts one capture interval from paid time. That deduction is shown before you confirm a removal.
Can my admin see removed screenshots? — No. Removed files are deleted locally and never uploaded.
Do I need to keep the browser open? — No. Tracking and approval happen in the desktop app. The web dashboard is read-only.