How tracking works
Vetroscope tracks your time automatically. While it’s running, it checks which app is in front every 30 seconds and records it — along with, where it can, the breakdown you’re in, like the project file, website, or document. Tracking is on from the start; there’s nothing to set up or remember to press. You can pause it whenever you like.
Active and background time
Section titled “Active and background time”Active time is the app you’re actually using — the one in front while you’re at the computer. It’s the main number Vetroscope shows you, and the most accurate picture of your screen time.
Background time is what plays while you’re doing something else: music in Spotify, or a YouTube video on another screen. Vetroscope checks for media every 15 seconds, so background playback is caught even between the regular 30-second checks. Background time is always shown separately — it never adds to your active total. (The Activity tab calls it passive time.)
When tracking stops on its own
Section titled “When tracking stops on its own”- You go idle. After no input for your Idle timeout (5 minutes by default, changeable in Settings), active tracking pauses until you start using your computer again. Music and videos that keep playing while you’re away are still tracked, as long as your screen isn’t locked. See Idle, locks, and meetings.
- You lock the screen. Nothing at all is recorded while locked, not even background music or video.
- You pause it. Settings → Activity Tracking → Pause tracking, or the pause button on the Home dashboard or Timeline.
What is never recorded
Section titled “What is never recorded”Vetroscope reads app names and window titles — that’s it. It does not record keystrokes, screenshots, clipboard contents, or file contents. Everything it tracks is stored on your computer and only you can see it. See the FAQ for the full privacy picture.