Help & features

The first time you open ZeitStift, you choose your German federal state. The app uses this to account for school holidays and public holidays. You do not need an account.

On the home screen, choose a category and tap “START”. “Pause” interrupts tracking, and “Weiter” (continue) resumes it. “Stopp” finishes the entry.

The three-dot menu takes you to “Auswertungen” (reports), “Kategorien” (categories), “Klassen und Projekte” (classes and projects), “Back-up und Daten” (backup and data), and other features.

Choose a category or subcategory above the start button. You can also switch categories while tracking is running.

Tap “START” to begin. ZeitStift shows your elapsed work time while tracking is running. Use “Beginn ändern” (change start time) to correct when you began.

“Pause” means time when you are actually not working. A school break spent supervising pupils, photocopying or having work-related conversations is still work time. “Weiter” (continue) resumes tracking. “Stopp” or “Erfassung beenden” (finish tracking) completes the entry.

Open “Kategorien” (categories) from the three-dot menu. The preset categories cover lessons, preparation and follow-up, marking and assessment, communication and meetings.

Use the plus button to create your own categories and subcategories. A name, colour and parent category help you organise them to suit your work.

You can reorder and hide categories. Hidden categories remain in existing entries and reports. Read the app's confirmation message before deleting a category.

Open “Klassen und Projekte” (classes and projects) and select “Klassen” (classes). Use the plus button to add a class or course. You can choose a colour, assign a school year and, if needed, set a custom date range.

When recording or editing an entry, you can select the relevant class or course. This is optional and does not change the work time recorded.

You can archive classes you no longer need. Their existing entries are kept.

Open “Klassen und Projekte” (classes and projects) and select “Projekte” (projects). You might create a project for a school trip or school event, then assign the related activities to it.

Projects can be assigned to a school year and given their own date range. You can archive projects that are no longer active.

When exporting data, you can filter by project to include just the relevant entries.

Use “Wiederkehrende Einträge” (recurring entries) to set up regular lessons or meetings. Choose the day of the week, start time, end time and category. You can optionally assign classes and projects.

The entries appear as suggestions on the relevant day. They only count as work time once you confirm them. Open a suggestion, make any changes you need and save it.

You can pause, reactivate or delete recurring entries.

ZeitStift provides iOS controls for tracking time and pausing. Add the ZeitStift controls you want by editing your iOS Control Centre.

The ZeitStift control starts and stops tracking. The pause control pauses an active tracking session and resumes it. These controls are available from iOS 18 onwards.

The app and its controls use the same local work data on your iPhone.

Select the day you want on the home screen. Use “Nachtragen” (add an entry) to record time manually. Tap an existing entry to edit it.

You can change the category, start time, end time and break, as well as the optional class or project. The end must be after the start, and the break must be shorter than the full time span. Breaks are deducted from work time.

You can split entries into sections with different categories. Choose the split point and the category for the second section. Your changes are only saved when you tap “Übernehmen” (apply).

ZeitStift shows a notice if entries overlap. Check the details before choosing to save anyway.

“Auswertungen” (reports) shows your work time by week, month, calendar year, school year or a custom period. The reports show how your time is divided between activities and how it changes from week to week.

Teaching-related work includes lessons, preparation and follow-up, and marking and assessment.

A working week runs from Monday to Sunday. All weekend work is included; the weekly total is divided by five regular working days. Public holidays and sick days reduce this divisor. “Mit Ferien” (including school holidays) treats school holiday dates as regular weekdays; “ohne Ferien” (excluding school holidays) removes them from the divisor.

Under “Berechnungszeitraum” (calculation period), you can choose whether averages begin with your first records or the saved start date of regular lessons, and which school years to include.

Open “Back-up und Daten” (backup and data). Under “Bericht erstellen” (create report), choose a school year or set a custom date range.

If needed, filter by activity type, class, course or project. The app shows how many entries are selected and their total work time.

“PDF-Bericht teilen” (share PDF report) creates a readable report. “CSV teilen” (share CSV) creates a file you can work with in a spreadsheet. Use the iOS share sheet to choose where the file goes.

A report is not a substitute for a full backup.

Open “Back-up und Daten” (backup and data), then “Lokale Sicherung (Back-up)” (local backup). “Vollständige Sicherung teilen” (share full backup) creates a backup file containing times, categories, school years, classes and projects. Save it somewhere you can find it again.

Use “Sicherung wiederherstellen” (restore backup) to select a previously exported backup file. Before restoring it, ZeitStift shows a preview with the number of entries and assignments it contains.

Important: restoring a backup replaces your current data. Back up your current data first if you need to keep it. The backup file is intended for restoring data and is not a readable report.

ZeitStift does not provide its own cloud sync. Depending on your device settings, app data may be included in an Apple device backup or iCloud backup.

Select the relevant day on the home screen. Use the calendar icon next to the entries to mark it as a sick day or school holiday, or to remove the marking.

Your selected German federal state provides the basis for public holidays and school holidays. You can manually mark additional school holiday dates set by your school or local area.

These markings are taken into account when calculating averages. When school holidays are excluded, weeks that consist entirely of school holidays do not count as regular school weeks.

In “Klassen und Projekte” (classes and projects), open “Schuljahre” (school years) to create and edit your own reporting periods with a start and end date. You can assign classes and projects to these school years.

The saved start date of regular lessons determines when the “Ø Schulwoche” (average school week) calculation begins. Work recorded before that date is still included in the total time and exports. You can archive school years you no longer need.

Use the colour scheme selector to change the app's appearance. The available schemes are Salbei, Nordlicht, Hygge, Studio, Mitternacht, Dynamisch, Ozean and Beere. Your choice is saved locally on your device.

You can find test mode under “Back-up und Daten” (backup and data). “Demo-Datensatz hinzufügen” (add demo dataset) adds sample data so you can try out the reports. Your existing data is kept.

Use “Nur Testdaten löschen” (delete test data only) to remove the demo entries again. Your own entries, categories, classes and projects are kept.