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u/tuanvuvn007

r/appledevelopers r/MacOSApps r/iOSAppsMarketing r/TimeTrackingSoftware r/SaaS r/macapps
▲ 2 r/iOSAppsMarketing

I made this in a week, just launch and got my first $100

I dont know if you can make an app in a week, in my case I ported my macOS version into iOS, the core logic is shareable that is why it only took me a week.

Coming from macOS I need to rework on the UI completely, especially UX because tiny screen of the iphone, so far so good.

It took me 11 days to got the app approval (apple review app quite slow these days)

For marketing I share the app very early, on the first day, first demo I share it on my social accounts (X, Threads) and got quite a lot of views

If you share your app recording on iphone, can take a look on my apps, if you have any suggestions please let me know in the comments

u/tuanvuvn007 — 1 day ago
▲ 47 r/macapps

[macOS] Chronoid - Automatic Time Tracking & Productivity - iCloud Sync + AI Connectors

Hey everyone,

I'm Vu, solo dev and freelancer. I've been building Chronoid, a native macOS time tracking app, for about a year and a half now. I last posted here in July.

Quick recap for anyone new. Chronoid tracks your time on your Mac automatically: apps, websites, documents, coding sessions. No start or stop timers. Everything stays in a local SQLite file on your machine. One-time payment, no subscription.

Since July I finally shipped the thing people have asked me for since my very first post here.

What's new

  • iCloud sync across your Macs. If you work on a desktop and a laptop, they finally show the same numbers. It goes through your own iCloud account, so I run no sync servers and I can't read your data. Your Macs don't need to be online at the same time. This took me about 3 months, and being honest, the first release shipped with a bug where nothing actually reached iCloud. Fixed in 1.0.93. There's also a re-upload option in Settings > Sync if two Macs ever drift apart.
  • Ask your own AI assistant about your time. Settings > Integrations gives you a personal connector URL. Paste it into claude.ai or ChatGPT. Read-only by default, each answer comes live from the app on your Mac, nothing gets uploaded.
  • Claude Code or Codex as your AI provider. If you already pay for a coding CLI, Chronoid's chat can run through it. No separate API key to buy.
  • Apple Intelligence is back as a provider. Runs fully on device, no account, no key. It's a small model so keep your questions short.
  • The database is about 63% smaller. This was the top complaint from long-term users. Some of you had a DB over 250MB.
  • Timeline redesign. Session cards with app icons, durations and window titles. Click one to turn it into a manual entry.
  • Rule editor rebuilt. One smart input, rules that read as plain sentences, and a preview of what a rule will match before you save it. There's also a "Resolve duplicates" button now. Dragging activities onto a project used to create one identical rule per matching entry, so a site you'd visited 300 times could leave 300 copies of the same rule. Sorry about that one.
  • Share cards. Turn any stats range into an image or a short video with a privacy-safe breakdown.
  • Website blocker pause. 5 minutes, or anything from 1 minute up to 24 hours.
  • Billing fixes. Sub-projects now count on invoices, exports follow the device filter, and the report heading, CSV, PDF and invoice all show the same total.
  • Arc and Dia website tracking work again.

About the app

  • Native Swift and AppKit, Mac only, macOS 14+
  • Automatic tracking, no timers to start or forget
  • Mac plus iPhone/iPad (Screen Time) activity in one timeline
  • iCloud sync across your Macs
  • Timeline editing, manual entries, calendar events
  • Web blocker, Pomodoro, break reminders
  • Invoicing and multi-currency billing reports
  • MCP server and AI connectors, with your own key or fully local
  • 100% local storage, no account required

Comparisons

vs Timing? Timing inspired a lot of this. I was a paying user and openly copied their drag and drop and their sidebar interactions. Differences: one-time payment instead of a subscription, a built-in website blocker and Pomodoro timer, AI and MCP with your own key or a local model, and much better rule editing. Timing's rule popup can't be resized, which drove me nuts. Timing still wins on maturity and has team features I dropped.

vs Timemator? Same automatic project tracking. I think Chronoid has better UX. Everything is in one place, you drag to assign, and holding Option while you drag creates a rule so all similar activity auto-assigns from then on.

vs Rize? Rize has more features and leans enterprise, with ClickUp integrations and so on. Chronoid is a trimmed down version aimed at individuals, and it's native rather than Electron.

vs RescueTime or Toggl? RescueTime is cloud based. Toggl needs you to click start and stop. Chronoid is local and passive.

vs macOS Screen Time? Screen Time only does websites in Safari, and it won't tell you which project a file belongs to. Chronoid does every browser, plus files, folders, projects and billing.

Who's actually using it

People ask me this every time I post, so here's what I see in comments, emails and Discord.

  • Freelancers and consultants. Track time per client without touching a timer, then generate the invoice PDF from the same data. The theme in my inbox is always under-billing. Someone here put it better than I can: you forget to track when you're deep in focus, and that's money gone.
  • Developers. It splits time by folder and file, so you can see which repo actually ate your week. Cursor and Xcode work out of the box.
  • Video, audio and 3D people. Long sessions in one app across many client projects. It picks up which project file you're in, so hourly billing stops being guesswork. Final Cut and Nuendo users have both turned up in past threads.
  • People with ADHD. This one honestly surprised me. It comes up in nearly every thread I post. Seeing time pass visually, plus the blocker, seems to help more than I expected when I was building it.
  • Students. Block distracting sites during study blocks, then compare where the hours went against where you thought they went. 50% off with a .edu email.
  • People who just want to know. Plenty of users aren't billing anyone. They want an honest picture of their week. Usually it's the phone Screen Time number that hurts.

Pricing

7-day free trial, no credit card.

  • $49 for 1 Mac
  • $79 for 2 Macs (adds iCloud sync and MCP)
  • $99 for 3 Macs

One-time payment. True lifetime license with updates, no subscription

Download 👉 chronoid.app Changelog: chronoid.app/changelog

Transparency: I'm Vu, solo dev. I'm also the guy behind smoothcapture.app ❤️

AI Disclaimer: Human Validated

u/tuanvuvn007 — 3 days ago
▲ 0 r/iOSAppsMarketing

I made a super easy way to create app demo videos

In the last few months I had develop a macOS app that let you record simulator or live iPhone via usb-cable.

This time around I also support using the recording file directly, or screenshot file all into one unify timeline.

The workflow is:

  1. Select input files (videos, photos) or record it live
  2. Select device color, 2d or 3d
  3. Add zooms, tilt the device, add background, music
  4. Export the file

Let me know if you want to try it!

u/tuanvuvn007 — 1 month ago
▲ 14 r/macapps

Chronoid - Automatic Time Tracking & Productivity - Summer Updates

https://reddit.com/link/1uvd8j9/video/s1vev6pd50dh1/player

Hey everyone,

I'm Vu, solo dev + freelancer. I've been building Chronoid, a native macOS time tracking app, for a bit over a year now and shared it here back in May.

Quick recap for anyone who missed it:

Chronoid automatically tracks your time on your Mac (apps, websites, docs, coding sessions), keeps everything 100% local, and there's no subscription.

I built it because I kept forgetting to start timers and it was literally costing me money as a freelancer.

Since the last post I've been focused on one thing: making Chronoid useful for the work that doesn't happen inside apps and browser tabs. That turned out to be the biggest gap.

What's new since May

  1. Calendar integration: your calendar events now show up directly in the timeline, and you can turn any event into a time entry
  2. Manual time entries: you can now add manual entries from the main screens (not just the timeline), assign them to projects, and handle overlapping tracked activity
  3. Per-project currency + invoicing: set a currency per project, so if you bill one client in USD and another in EUR the totals and invoices are right everywhere

You can ask questions about your day-to-day work. It’s pretty useful. I use it all the time. BYOK

Problem

Chronoid addresses several key pain points for freelancers, students, and professionals:

  • Human Error in Tracking: It solves the problem of "phantom sessions" (timers forgotten and left running) and "lost hours" (forgetting to start a timer) by logging everything passively
  • Privacy Vulnerabilities: By keeping 100% of data in a local SQLite database, it eliminates the need to upload sensitive activity logs to third-party cloud servers
  • Under billing: It ensures freelancers are paid correctly by providing a precise record of time spent on specific documents or projects
  • Productivity Fragmentation: It replaces the need for multiple separate apps for tracking, blocking, and Pomodoro by integrating them into one native utility.

Comparison

  • Timing App: Timing automatically tracks activities like Chronoid, but it lacks built-in distraction blockers, integrated Pomodoro timers, and native, local AI analysis features.
  • RescueTime: RescueTime focuses heavily on productivity scores and blocking, but it relies on cloud storage for your sensitive data and does not offer a minimalist macOS menu-bar-first interface.
  • Toggl Track: Toggl is excellent for multi-platform teams, but it requires high manual friction (clicking start/stop) and stores all timeline details on external servers.

Pricing

7-day free trial, then

  • $49 lifetime for 1 device
  • $79 lifetime for 2 devices
  • $99 lifetime for 3 devices

One-time payment, true lifetime license with updates, no subscription

As usual, I offer 20% discount, use the code SUMMER apply at checkout

Download 👉 chronoid.app

Full change log: chronoid.app/changelog

Thank you all!

reddit.com
u/tuanvuvn007 — 1 month ago
▲ 1 r/TimeTrackingSoftware

[Lifetime] Chronoid - Automatic time tracking for Mac, fully local, no subscription

https://reddit.com/link/1uvcmco/video/ofxqpfaq70dh1/player

Hey everyone,

I’m Vu, the solo developer behind Chronoid.

I’ve been building this app for about a year, mostly because I wanted a time tracking app that worked the way I personally needed:

no manual start/stop timers
no subscription
no cloud account
no team/employee monitoring stuff
just a native Mac app that quietly shows where my time actually goes

I’m a freelancer/developer, and I kept running into the same problem:

I would work all day, switch between client projects, browser tabs, coding, meetings, random research, YouTube, Slack, etc.

Then at the end of the day I would ask myself:

what did I actually do?

And when invoice time came, I would usually undercount my hours because I forgot to track things properly.

So I built Chronoid.

What Chronoid does

Chronoid is an automatic time tracking and productivity app for macOS.

It runs in the background and tracks your active Mac usage:

  • apps
  • websites
  • browser tabs
  • window titles
  • documents/files
  • coding/editor activity
  • calendar events
  • manual time entries
  • iPhone/iPad Screen Time imports

The goal is not to spy on you.

The goal is to help you see your own work patterns clearly.

Privacy

This is the part I care about a lot.

Chronoid is local-first.

No account required.
No cloud sync required.
Your tracked activity stays on your Mac.
It does not record your screen.
It does not take screenshots.

It uses macOS Accessibility APIs to read the active app/window/tab, similar to how other automatic Mac time trackers work.

Why I made it

I tried other tools before.

Some were too manual.
Some were subscription-only.
Some felt too corporate/team focused.
Some gave me charts, but not enough practical control.

I wanted something closer to:

“Screen Time for serious Mac work”

but with projects, billing, timeline editing, rules, invoices, focus tools, and enough detail to actually understand my day.

Main features

  • Automatic Mac time tracking
  • Project/category assignment
  • Timeline view
  • Manual time entries
  • Calendar integration
  • iPhone/iPad Screen Time sync
  • Reports by app, website, file/path, project
  • Expand website rows to inspect URL paths
  • Web blocker for distractions
  • Pomodoro/focus timers
  • Invoice and billing reports
  • Compound rules + regex for categorization
  • MCP server for Claude/AI assistants
  • Apple Intelligence support

Who it is for

Chronoid is probably useful if you are:

  • a freelancer who forgets to track billable hours
  • a developer switching between projects
  • a student trying to understand where study time goes
  • someone with lots of browser-based work
  • someone who wants to reduce distractions
  • someone who likes quantified-self / personal analytics
  • someone who wants a local alternative to subscription time trackers

It is probably not for you if you need:

  • employee monitoring
  • team dashboards
  • web-based admin panels
  • cross-platform Windows/Linux tracking
  • cloud-first sync between many users

What makes it different

Compared to tools like Timing, Toggl, RescueTime, etc, Chronoid is focused on:

  • native macOS experience
  • local-first tracking
  • lifetime license
  • no subscription
  • automatic + manual tracking together
  • flexible project rules
  • calendar + Screen Time context
  • AI/MCP access to your own local time data

The AI part is optional.

You can use local models, Apple Intelligence, or your own provider. The point is that your time data becomes queryable, so you can ask things like:

“what is my optimal working day? how can I optimize it?”

“when is my most productive time, morning or noon?"

“how many hours I need to spend each day to meet my goal (share the goal) then suggest me how to do that”

Pricing

Chronoid is lifetime only.

  • $49 for 1 device
  • $79 for 3 devices
  • $99 for 3 devices
  • 7-days free trial
  • one-time payment
  • no subscription

Use code SUMMER for 20% off.

Website: https://chronoid.app

Thanks for reading.

Vu

reddit.com
u/tuanvuvn007 — 1 month ago
▲ 10 r/macapps

[macOS] SmoothCapture - Create polished demo in minutes - July Updates

Testing 3d device interaction

Hey everyone,

I've been building a macOS screen recording app, Smooth Capture, and wanted to share the July update.

About the app

Smooth Capture is a native Mac app for making polished app demo videos.

You can record your Mac, iPhone/iPad over USB, or iOS Simulator, then add zooms, captions, cursor effects, webcam, music, annotations, and device frames in one timeline.

Problem

Making a good app demo still takes too many tools.

One app to record.
Another for mockups.
Another for captions or zooms.
Then more work to export for your website, docs, App Store, or launch post.

I’m trying to make that whole flow faster inside one Mac native app.

Comparison

Compared to tools like Screen Studio, Tella, Rotato, Camtasia, etc:

  • Native macOS app
  • One-time purchase, no subscription
  • Records Mac, iPhone/iPad, and iOS Simulator
  • Built-in 2D/3D device frames
  • More focused on app demos, tutorials, launch teasers, and App Store-style videos

July update

The biggest focus this month was export flexibility.

I added:

  • Transparent ProRes export for reusable website / launch videos
  • HEVC export for smaller high-quality files
  • Better 3D iPhone and MacBook frames
  • Drag-and-drop backgrounds
  • 3D environment scenes
  • Smoother zooms, cursor motion, click ripples, and framing
  • Faster 3D export with render FPS progress

Full changelog is here:
https://smoothcapture.app/changelog

Pricing

  • $29 for 1 device
  • $39/year for 3 devices

True lifetime license with updates.

Record and edit for free, unlock export when ready.

Feedback

I’m still trying to figure out where Smooth Capture should go next.

If you make app demos, tutorials, or launch videos, I’d love to hear what feels annoying in your current workflow.

Also be honest if this feels unnecessary, too niche, or if another tool already solves this well enough for you.

That kind of feedback is actually the most useful.

Transparency

I'm Vu, solo dev building this, you can find me at https://x.com/VuNguyenDev

Website:
https://smoothcapture.app

reddit.com
u/tuanvuvn007 — 2 months ago
▲ 2 r/MacOSApps

[Lifetime] Chronoid - Automatic time tracking for Mac, fully local, no subscription

https://preview.redd.it/dg19nx0c629h1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=6ed44cded8ba2bb6df81f3a9668c9243bb8dab39

Hey everyone,

I’m Vu, the solo developer behind Chronoid.

I’ve been building this app for about a year, mostly because I wanted a time tracking app that worked the way I personally needed:

no manual start/stop timers
no subscription
no cloud account
no team/employee monitoring stuff
just a native Mac app that quietly shows where my time actually goes

I’m a freelancer/developer, and I kept running into the same problem:

I would work all day, switch between client projects, browser tabs, coding, meetings, random research, YouTube, Slack, etc.

Then at the end of the day I would ask myself:

what did I actually do?

And when invoice time came, I would usually undercount my hours because I forgot to track things properly.

So I built Chronoid.

What Chronoid does

Chronoid is an automatic time tracking and productivity app for macOS.

It runs in the background and tracks your active Mac usage:

  • apps
  • websites
  • browser tabs
  • window titles
  • documents/files
  • coding/editor activity
  • calendar events
  • manual time entries
  • iPhone/iPad Screen Time imports

The goal is not to spy on you.

The goal is to help you see your own work patterns clearly.

Privacy

This is the part I care about a lot.

Chronoid is local-first.

No account required.
No cloud sync required.
Your tracked activity stays on your Mac.
Private browsing is ignored/protected.
It does not record your screen.
It does not take screenshots.

It uses macOS Accessibility APIs to read the active app/window/tab, similar to how other automatic Mac time trackers work.

Why I made it

I tried other tools before.

Some were too manual.
Some were subscription-only.
Some felt too corporate/team focused.
Some gave me charts, but not enough practical control.

I wanted something closer to:

“Screen Time for serious Mac work”

but with projects, billing, timeline editing, rules, invoices, focus tools, and enough detail to actually understand my day.

Main features

  • Automatic Mac time tracking
  • Project/category assignment
  • Timeline view
  • Manual time entries
  • Calendar integration
  • iPhone/iPad Screen Time sync
  • Reports by app, website, file/path, project
  • Expand website rows to inspect URL paths
  • Web blocker for distractions
  • Pomodoro/focus timers
  • Invoice and billing reports
  • Compound rules + regex for categorization
  • MCP server for Claude/AI assistants
  • Apple Intelligence support
  • Global shortcuts and Shortcuts app support

Who it is for

Chronoid is probably useful if you are:

  • a freelancer who forgets to track billable hours
  • a developer switching between projects
  • a student trying to understand where study time goes
  • someone with lots of browser-based work
  • someone who wants to reduce distractions
  • someone who likes quantified-self / personal analytics
  • someone who wants a local alternative to subscription time trackers

It is probably not for you if you need:

  • employee monitoring
  • team dashboards
  • web-based admin panels
  • cross-platform Windows/Linux tracking
  • cloud-first sync between many users

What makes it different

Compared to tools like Timing, Toggl, RescueTime, etc, Chronoid is focused on:

  • native macOS experience
  • local-first tracking
  • lifetime license
  • no subscription
  • automatic + manual tracking together
  • flexible project rules
  • calendar + Screen Time context
  • AI/MCP access to your own local time data

The AI part is optional.

You can use local models, Apple Intelligence, or your own provider. The point is that your time data becomes queryable, so you can ask things like:

“what distracted me most this week?”

“how much time did I spend on client work yesterday?”

“summarize my day”

“which project took the most time this month?”

Pricing

Chronoid is lifetime only.

  • $49 for 1 device
  • $99 for 3 devices
  • 7-days free trial
  • one-time payment
  • no subscription

Use code CAL20 for 20% off.

Website: https://chronoid.app

Thanks for reading.

Vu

reddit.com
u/tuanvuvn007 — 2 months ago
▲ 31 r/iOSAppsMarketing+1 crossposts

App demo video question

Hey guys, I’ve been developing a macOS app that can record simulator or real device for app demo

Right now I am experiment with 3d environment perspective and wanted to hear your feedbacks

Is it something cool or ugly?

Will you use something like this for your app demo?

u/tuanvuvn007 — 2 months ago
▲ 8 r/iOSAppsMarketing

App demo video question

Hey guys, I’ve been developing a macOS app that can record simulator or real device for app demo

Right now I am experiment with 3d environment perspective and wanted to hear your feedbacks

Is it something cool or ugly?

Will you use something like this for your app demo?

u/tuanvuvn007 — 3 months ago
▲ 21 r/macapps

[macOS] Chronoid - Automatic Time Tracking & Productivity - May Updates

Hey everyone,

I've been building a macOS time tracking app, Chronoid, over the past year and wanted to share where it's at right now.

I first shared it here a couple months ago.

Back then it was mostly focused on automatic Mac tracking.

Since then I've been using it daily for my own freelance/dev work and kept improving it based on all the little frustrations I kept running into.

One of the biggest requests after the last post was actually: “can it combine Mac + iPhone/iPad activity together?”

So I just released Screen Time sync in the latest update.

About the app

  • Native Swift macOS app built exclusively for Mac
  • Automatic tracking for apps, websites, docs, coding sessions
  • Import iPhone/iPad Screen Time into Chronoid
  • Timeline editing + manual time entries
  • Web blocker + Pomodoro
  • Invoice + billing reports
  • Fully local tracking (no cloud, no account)
  • MCP server + Apple Intelligence support

Problem

Most time trackers still depend too much on manual timers.

You either forget to start them, forget to stop them, or spend more time organizing the tracking than actually working.

And honestly, a huge amount of distraction/productivity now happens across both Mac + phone.

So only seeing desktop activity never felt complete to me.

Comparison

Compared to tools like Timing, RescueTime, Toggl, etc:

  • Fully local-first
  • No subscription
  • Mac + iPhone/iPad activity in one timeline
  • Built-in MCP support for AI assistants
  • More focus on understanding actual work patterns/distractions
  • More flexible categorization with compound rules + regex

Recent things added since my last post here:

  • Screen Time sync for iPhone/iPad
  • Multi-project reports
  • Smarter MCP + AI assistant tools
  • Global tracking shortcut
  • Better fullscreen game + browser tracking

Pricing:

$49 for 1 device

$99 for 3 devices

True lifetime license with updates.

https://chronoid.app/pricing

Not gonna lie, productivity/time-tracking apps are a pretty crowded space now.

And adding Screen Time support made me realize how fragmented our attention really is between devices all day.

Sometimes I think I had a “productive” day on my Mac until I see 2+ hours disappeared on my phone 😅

What I'm trying to figure out

If you've used time trackers before:

  • What still feels missing today?
  • What annoys you the most?
  • Would mobile activity integration actually matter to you?
  • Or do you prefer desktop-only tracking?

Transparency

I'm Vu, solo dev building this.

I also the guy behind smoothcapture.app ❤️

u/tuanvuvn007 — 3 months ago