Compared honestly
Quarter Past vs Tyme
Tyme is the polished Apple-ecosystem timer, ten years in. It will remind you to start the timer. Quarter Past takes the timer out of the question.
Prices and facts checked 18 September 2026 · Quarter Past 2.3.9 · They change; tell us if one has
What Tyme is
Tyme is a time tracker for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch from Unit Numberfive in Hamburg, actively developed for over ten years, used by more than 50,000 people and rated 4.7 on the App Store. You start and stop timers; it reminds you when you forget, when a deadline is near, or when you have hit your hours, and it can clock you in and out based on where you are. It adds budgets, hourly rates, deadlines, team roles, a calendar view, and exports a timesheet that satisfies the German Working Hours Act. Invoices go out through GrandTotal, sevdesk or Lexware Office.
Since 7 September 2026 it also has an MCP server, so Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini can read and write your Tyme data directly and answer questions about it.
What Tyme does better than Quarter Past:
- Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, in sync, on one subscription.
- Team roles, budgets, hourly rates and a workload view.
- Invoicing through GrandTotal, sevdesk and Lexware Office.
- Ten years of development, 50,000 users and a 4.7 rating.
- An MCP server that lets an assistant read and write your data live.
Side by side
| Tyme | Quarter Past | |
|---|---|---|
| How it tracks | A timer you start and stop on any Apple device, with reminders when you forget and optional clock-in and clock-out by location | Asks what you have been doing every 5 to 60 minutes; one tap logs the interval that just passed, to the minute, with a start and an end |
| Reads your screen | No. It does not read documents or web addresses. It can use your location to clock you in | Never. No screen-recording or accessibility permissions |
| Where your data lives | On your Apple devices, kept in sync by Tyme; a web app is in beta | A file on your Mac. No account, no server, no sync |
| Platforms | macOS 13.5 or later, plus iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch | macOS 10.15 or later, Apple silicon and Intel |
| Price | Subscription. £4.16 a month billed annually (£49.99 a year), or £5.99 billed monthly | £54, once |
| Cost over five years | £249.95 paying annually | £54 |
| Trial | 14 days | 14 days, no card |
| Says how each entry was captured | No. A timer records what you started, whether or not you were doing it | Yes: every entry says whether it was measured live or recalled later |
| Plan against actual | Budgets, planned times and deadlines, rather than a weekly plan set against the record | Yes: a weekly plan set against the record, difference shown, nothing scored |
| What an AI gets | An MCP server, since 7 September 2026: Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini can read and write your Tyme data. It answers questions about the record; the record does not say how much of itself was recalled | A written brief you read before you send it: the fortnight, the plan against the record, and how much of it was measured rather than recalled. You choose the assistant and the moment |
| Export | PDF, CSV and JSON, including an ArbZG-compliant timesheet; CSV import | CSV, and a full backup file |
| Teams | Yes, with admin and member roles | No. One person, one Mac |
Prices from tyme-app.com's pricing page shown in GBP and from the Mac App Store listing; mechanism and the MCP announcement from tyme-app.com. Quarter Past facts from this site. Subscriptions are judged forwards: five years is what you will actually have paid.
Which one, honestly
Choose Tyme if
- You want it on your iPhone, iPad and Watch as well as your Mac.
- You bill clients and want invoices out through GrandTotal, sevdesk or Lexware Office.
- You work in a team and need budgets, rates and a workload view.
- You do press the timer, and a reminder is enough to keep you honest.
Choose Quarter Past if
- Reminders have not worked for you, and you have proved it.
- You want each entry to say whether it was measured live or filled in afterwards.
- You would rather pay £54 once than £49.99 every year.
- You want the week you planned beside the week you had.
What Quarter Past does not do
So that this page is worth trusting:
- Mac only. No Windows, no phone, no web version yet.
- One person. No team view, no shared projects, no manager reports.
- No invoicing, no integrations, no Zapier. It exports a CSV and stops there.
- Not on the Mac App Store, by choice; it is signed and notarised with Apple and downloaded from this site.
Try it for a fortnight. Decide then.
Free for fourteen days, no card and no account. If it earns its place, it is £54 once, paid from inside the app. If not, nothing to cancel.
Version 2.3.10 · 7 MB · macOS 10.15 or later, Apple silicon and Intel · Checked by Apple