An app for clocking in from your phone: how it works and what it gives you
An app for clocking in from a phone lets your employees record their hours with one button, with geolocation and without hardware. We explain how it works, what it gives you and how to start free.
Published on
Cover photo: a close-up of a hand pressing the clock-in button in a phone app (landscape)
The most convenient and cheapest way to comply with time tracking is an app for clocking in from your phone: your employees mark their arrival and departure with one button, from their own phone, without buying anything. We explain how it works and why it is small companies' favourite option.
How an app for clocking in works
The employee installs the app on their phone (iOS or Android), signs in and, on arriving and leaving, presses a button. The app stores the exact time (and the location, if you turn it on) and sends it to the dashboard where you see it in real time. It also marks breaks, remote work and absences.
Advantages over a card or a terminal
📱 Why people like it so much
- No hardware: nothing to buy and nothing to install.
- Everyone carries their phone with them all the time.
- It allows remote work and mobile work.
- Reminders so that clocking in is not forgotten.
- It is set up in minutes.
When is it NOT the best? In a kitchen, on a site or in a warehouse, where a key fob or a terminal suits better. The good news: you can combine them.
What if they clock in from home without actually working?
That is what geolocation is for: the app checks that the employee is within the workplace's radius when they clock in. If they work remotely, they mark "remote work". Everything is kept distinct.
Note of 4 September 2026: Cairos and clocking in
As of today, 4 September 2026: when this article was written, you still could not see the team's hours in Cairos. Now you can, and it is worth spelling out exactly how, because it is not what people usually assume: Cairos does not clock anyone in. The working time record is kept by ficheo.app and Cairos reads it — read-only — to show those hours next to your invoices and split them by project. A clocking that needs correcting is corrected in ficheo, which is where the record the law requires lives. With your ficheo account connected, that module is not charged separately in Cairos.
See the plans and what they includeDoes an app for clocking in comply with the law?
Yes, provided it records the start and the end of the working day day by day, reliably and impossible to manipulate after the fact, keeps the records for four years and lets you show them when they are asked for. But the other side should be said too: the app is not compulsory. Article 34.9 of the Workers' Statute imposes no format and the Ministry of Labour's guide accepts paper. Anyone who sells you the app by saying the law requires digital is selling it to you dishonestly.
Three things you do have to look at before choosing one:
- No biometrics. If the app offers a fingerprint or facial recognition for clocking in, turn it off: the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos has concluded that such processing currently finds no basis in Spanish law.
- The provider is a data processor. You need the article 28 GDPR agreement with them, and you need to know where the data is stored.
- Give notice before switching anything on. If you also use geolocation, article 90 of Ley Orgánica 3/2018 requires you to inform the staff and their representatives beforehand and in writing.
How to start without spending anything
With an app: create the account, add the team and send them the link. Without an app: a signature sheet or a template, which also comply. We go into it in the time tracking template and in free time tracking.
And if the team is going to clock in with their personal phone, agree it or offer an alternative. There is no rule obliging a worker to put their phone to work, and for remote work Ley 10/2021 expressly requires the company to provide the means and cover the costs.
Frequently asked questions
Your hours, in the same program that invoices
Cairos does not clock anyone in: the working time record is kept by ficheo.app, and Cairos reads those hours to split them by project and keep them next to your invoices. With your ficheo account connected, the module is not charged separately.