# Time Tracking with Insightful (https://terac.com/docs/experts/working/time-tracking) Install Insightful and record your hours on an hourly study. Studies that pay by the hour track your time with [Insightful](https://app.insightful.io). The study's **Set up your time tracker** step walks you through three things: create an account, install the app, and run the timer once on the study's project. Each one ticks off on its own when you finish it, and the study moves on once your time has landed on its project. > On your computer the app is called **Workpuls**. Insightful is the company, > Workpuls is the app they ship. Same thing. ## Step 1: Create an account [#step-1-create-an-account] When you reach the step, we create your Insightful account, add you to the study's project, and Insightful sends you an invitation. The step shows the address it went to: the personal email on your Terac account. 1. Open the email **Welcome to Insightful!** from `support@insightful.io`. It can take a minute to arrive, so check spam or promotions too. 2. Click **Start using Insightful**. 3. Create a password and save it. You need it to sign in to the app in the next step. The step ticks off as soon as you open the link in the email. ## Step 2: Install and sign in [#step-2-install-and-sign-in] 1. Download **Workpuls** with the step's **Download** button and open it. The download page only works while you are signed in to Insightful in your browser, which you are after Step 1. 2. Sign in with the address the invitation went to and the password you created. ![The Workpuls sign-in screen, with the Email field marked as the email you signed up to Terac with, and the Forgot Password link marked](https://terac.com/docs/experts/insightful-signin.png) Forgot the password? Click **Forgot Password?** on the sign-in screen and enter that same address. On macOS, allow **Accessibility** and **Screen & System Audio Recording** when the app asks. It cannot record your time properly without them (see below). Windows 10 or later, macOS 11 or later, Linux in beta. The step ticks off as soon as you sign in. ## Screen recording permission [#screen-recording-permission] The app needs permission to capture your screen. Without it the timer still runs and your hours still count, so nothing looks broken, but the screenshots that back those hours up are missing, and most hourly studies expect them. The app takes screenshots only while your timer is running. It does not record video, and it takes no screenshots while you are idle. ### macOS [#macos] This is a Mac permission, not a setting inside the app. 1. Apple menu, then **System Settings** 2. **Privacy & Security** 3. **Screen & System Audio Recording** 4. Turn on **Workpuls**. Insightful ships the app under that name, so that is what you are looking for. 5. If it is not in the list, click **+** and add `Workpuls.app` from Applications 6. Quit the app completely and open it again. The permission does not take effect until you do. Workpuls needs a second permission alongside this one, and Apple changed it in macOS 27. On macOS 26 and earlier, turn Workpuls on under **Accessibility**. On macOS 27 and later, look for **Device Control & Data Access** instead: same Privacy & Security list, same app name. If you granted Accessibility by hand before updating to macOS 27, it carries over. You may see a one-time notification confirming it, and there is nothing for you to do. ### Windows [#windows] Nothing to grant by hand. If screenshots are still missing, your antivirus or a privacy tool is blocking the app, so allow Workpuls there. On a work laptop your employer's software can block screen capture outright, and in that case you will need a personal machine for study work. ### Confirm it worked [#confirm-it-worked] Press play on your task, work for a few minutes, then open **Open Dashboard** at the bottom of the app window. If you can see recent screenshots, it is working. If the timer is counting but nothing appears after a full session, the permission is usually still missing. Some projects switch screenshots off, and on those none appear even with the permission on. > **Warning** > > Turning the permission off mid-study is treated the same way as an inflated > timer: a quality issue rather than a payment dispute. See [Account > Standing](https://terac.com/docs/experts/policies/account-standing). ## Step 3: Start the timer, then stop it [#step-3-start-the-timer-then-stop-it] The step shows which project and task to pick. 1. In the app, open **Assigned Projects** and open the study's project. ![The Workpuls app showing Assigned Projects, with a project card named Terac Showcase marked](https://terac.com/docs/experts/insightful-projects.png) 2. Press **play** on its task to start the timer. ![The task list inside a project, with the play button on a task named Writing tasks marked, labelled press to start press again to stop](https://terac.com/docs/experts/insightful-task-play.png) 3. After a few seconds, press **stop**. It only counts once it is stopped. After you stop, the step checks that the time landed on the study's project. That takes about 20 seconds, then the study moves on by itself. If the time went to another project, the step says so: start the timer on the right project and task, then stop it again. > **Warning** > > Time you record outside the study's project never reaches the study, and it > cannot be moved there afterwards. If the project is not under **Assigned > Projects**, press the sync button at the bottom of the app. From then on, time counts only while the timer runs, and only inside the study's project. Nothing is recorded before you press play or after you stop. ## Already used Insightful? [#already-used-insightful] If you tracked time on an earlier study, you already have an account and the app, so the step shows only **Start the timer**. Open Workpuls, pick the new project and its task, start the timer, then stop it. Using a different computer than before? **Having trouble?** on the step links to the download again. ## How tracked time becomes payment [#how-tracked-time-becomes-payment] Only tracked hours are paid, and they are reviewed before they are paid rather than approved automatically. Each project pays on its own schedule, shown on its **Payout** tab, and some projects pay only for time spent on the apps and sites the work requires. **How payable hours work**, in **Tracked** on the opportunity's **Time** tab, shows which of your time is paid. See [Project-Based Work](https://terac.com/docs/experts/working/projects). We look at tracked time alongside the work you produced. If a session shows hours with no work behind them, we may ask you about it before paying it. Honest mistakes happen, and we would rather hear about them from you than find them ourselves. In practice: * Start the timer when you begin and stop it when you finish. * Do not leave it running while you are away from the work. * If you forget to stop it, tell us the same day and we will correct it. Leaving the timer running while you are not working is treated as a quality issue rather than a payment dispute. See [Account Standing](https://terac.com/docs/experts/policies/account-standing). ## Invitations and signing in [#invitations-and-signing-in] ### I never got an invitation email Check spam and promotions for **Welcome to Insightful!** from `support@insightful.io`. It goes to the personal address on your Terac account, which may not be the one you use for work. The step shows which address it went to. Still nothing after a few minutes? [Contact us](https://terac.com/docs/experts/support/contact). ### My invitation link expired Links expire after 48 hours. Go to [app.insightful.io](https://app.insightful.io), click **Forgot Password?** with the address the invitation went to, and set a password from the email it sends. Then carry on with Step 2: the first two steps tick off together once you sign in to the app. ### Which email should I use? **The one you signed up to Terac with.** Not a work address, and not a second address you own, unless that is the address on your Terac account. If you changed it recently, try the original one. ### Sign-in says 'user not found' You are using a different address than the one your account was created with, or you have not reached the study's time-tracker step yet. Try the address you signed up to Terac with, then [contact us](https://terac.com/docs/experts/support/contact) if neither works. ## Projects and tracking [#projects-and-tracking] ### I signed in but Assigned Projects is empty Press the sync button at the bottom of the app. We add you to the project when you reach the study's time-tracker step, and the app picks it up on its next sync. If it is still empty, [contact us](https://terac.com/docs/experts/support/contact) with the address you signed in with. ### I already used Insightful on another study Then you already have an account and no new invitation is sent. The step shows only **Start the timer**: sign in with the same address as before, pick the new project, start the timer and stop it. ### I stopped the timer but the step has not moved on Checking takes about 20 seconds after you stop. If the step says your time went to another project, start the timer on the project and task the step names, then stop it again. If the timer is still counting in the app, it was not stopped. ### The step says it needs help Something on our side needs fixing first: your account is deactivated, you have not been added to the project yet, or the invitation could not be sent. [Contact us](https://terac.com/docs/experts/support/contact) and we will sort it out. ### I see a project I am no longer working on Press the sync button at the bottom left. When you leave or are removed from a study, we take you off its project, and the app catches up on its next sync. ### Where do I see a breakdown of my hours? On terac.com, open the study from Home, select its **Time** tab, then **Tracked**. It shows your time by week or by day, counted in your own time zone, and new hours appear within about an hour. In the app, **Open Dashboard** at the bottom of the window shows the same time. ### I worked but forgot to start the timer Tell whoever runs your study as soon as you notice. Do not make it up by leaving the timer running while you are not working: untracked time is handled case by case, an inflated timer is a quality problem (see [Account Standing](https://terac.com/docs/experts/policies/account-standing)). ## Devices and connection [#devices-and-connection] ### Which devices are supported? Windows 10 or later, macOS 11 or later, Linux in beta. Chromebooks, tablets and phones are not supported. You can install it on more than one computer, but track on only one at a time. ### Do I need to be online? Yes. The app needs a connection to record your time, and time tracked offline may not sync.