How tracking works
Vetroscope tracks activity automatically. While it’s running, it checks which app is in front every 30 seconds and records what it finds. The app, and where it can, the breakdown you’re in (the project file, website, or document). Tracking can be paused, but tracking is enabled by default with no user input necessary.
Active and passive time
Section titled “Active and passive time”Active time is the app you’re actually using — the one in front while you’re at the computer. It’s the core time that is counted and what is the most accurate representation of your screen time.
Passive time is what happens in the background: music playing in Spotify or a YouTube video running in the browser on another screen that isn’t in focus. Vetroscope samples media every 15 seconds so background playback is captured even between regular 30 second polling intervals. Passive time is kept separate everywhere, it never inflates your active totals. This is Vetroscope’s parallel time tracking system at play.
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, configurable in settings), active tracking pauses until you start using your device again. Music and background media that plays even when you’re away will continue to be tracked so long as your screen does not lock. See Idle, locks, and meetings.
- You lock the screen. Nothing at all is recorded while locked, not even passive media.
- 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 machine and visible only to you in the app. See the FAQ for the full privacy picture.