RescueTime Reviews 12

This program is ultra complicated and difficult. It turned into a big time waster instead of saving me time. I bought the premium version, and when I deleted it I felt such relief. There are simpler better programs like Freedom.

I've been using RescueTime for over a decade and they have amazingly kept all my data for me despite me cancelling my subscription for years at a time.

I don't like all the UI/UX decisions they've made more recently, but the application is solid and I feel safe having RT put some friction in my distracting activities.

Couldn't login with any email I had. It just gave a generic error on black screen. Assumed I have no account and subscription as I haven't used this for most of a year. Then I see a charge to my card for an annual subscription. Now the login to the account portal works and I see I've been charged. So I click Contact Support. But it says I need to give access to data to contract support. But no way to do anything to fix that (it's their own site - what can't they access??). And can't find any other way to contact them!

RescueTime had my initial mixed experience, but I found it takes you a while to get adapted to it.

So, I have asked an AI what tools an ADHD person could leverage and it proposed RescueTime. So I was of course going up and down with the experience, but at the end, I found a yearly discount online and compared to what it does/did, it was worth it.

It is not exactly a blocking app (i used freedom before), as it is more a monitoring app. But with time it kind of gets the hang of it and blocks stuff out that you probably shouldn't be doing. But compared to Freedom, you can bypass it by saying you want it anyway.

The use of statistic is sometimes a bit tricky, but can be usefull.

I am also using it as a reminder I was very productive yesterday (if integrated, it shows you on the previous day google calendar).

So why not 5 stars:
- You kind of get the impression, you would get a better AI developed insight, which you don't get to see, the AI just gets trained on what you do and what you should focus on and on what not. Perhaps it is one thing still to come?

The other thing - that can be confusing from some of the reviews - there is a mobile app and a desktop app. This mobile however (so support for apple phones) does not sum up/combine/aggregate with the desktop version, due to Apple privacy policies.

And while I do find IOS RescueTime quite useless without this aggregation (sorry), I do think the overall product (desktop) deserves at least a 4 star review nonetheless.

For those trying it on the trial.
1) No, just as many (85% of the apps), they do not "warn" you again the day before the trial is up. So mark your 1 day before date on the calendar.
2) Make use of the whole trial. It does take a little bit of time to truly see the potential benefits of the app (=wait and if you don't like it use it till the end of the trial and cancel the day before). I did not like it that much at the start, then i kind of liked then not again, just before the end I decided it is usefull.

this app is most disapointing an doesn't document much more than what you can find yourself on your device activity function, complet waste of time and money

"Misleading 'Free' Trial and Privacy Concerns"

I'm extremely disappointed with RescueTime's approach to their so-called "free" offering. When I visited their website, I was initially intrigued by the promise of a free version. However, it quickly became apparent that their definition of "free" is actually just a 14-day trial period.

What's more concerning is the lack of transparency about this on their main page. They prominently display "Try For Free" and "Get your 14 day free trial" without clearly stating that there's no ongoing free tier after this period. This feels deceptive and leaves a bad taste.

Additionally, I'm not comfortable with the idea of giving away my personal data and activity information just to test out a service for two weeks. The nature of time-tracking software means it collects a significant amount of personal data about your computer usage and habits. It feels invasive to hand over this data for such a short trial period, especially when there's no real free option afterward.

RescueTime should be more upfront about their pricing model and the temporary nature of their "free" offering. They should also consider providing a genuine free tier with limited features for users who aren't ready to commit to a paid plan or share extensive personal data.

In its current state, I cannot recommend this service due to its misleading marketing and data privacy concerns.

My two cents here.
Rescuetime is not an "app blocking" app. This is not what it's made for.
It's an app that can help you in understanding how you spend your time and makes you find time to do some "deep focus". Overall: it's used to improve your productivity.
In addition, they have tools like the one that blocks distracting website.

Unfortunately I had to request a refund because currently they don't track correctly subdomains, and this is a crucial feature for me.

However, I appreciated the responsiveness, clarity and availability of their customer service. And the app itself is very nice: you install it, configure your job shift, integrate your calendar, and it works out of the box.

Absolutely recommended.

If you are subscribing to RescueTime's free trial, be aware that they will charge you once your trial ends without any prior reminders or warnings. They also have not sent me the terms and conditions of my subscription, so I was unaware that I am on a subscription plan and how much it costs. I don't know if this information was given to me when I was providing my payment details or not. Fortunately, upon contacting the company, I was refunded, and I appreciate their attitude.

The paid for service to block distracting websites simply doesn't work. Just press the back button a few times and I can continue to browse distracting websites. I've installed both the desktop client and browser plugin (which was last updated 3 years ago?!)
On a Mac the free and open source alternative 'SelfControl' works far better.

I'm one of those people who loves data. My first favorite job was as a database Administrator at Guardian Life Insurance in New York in my late twenties. I loved being able to manipulate data to find actionable information.

I'm no different in my own life. Who doesn't have a Fitbit or other health device strapped on some part of the body? The thing is, how do we make that information actionable?

I've been using RescueTime for 2 years now. I KNOW when I'm most productive, I KNOW where I really spend my time.

During the pandemic I was diagnosed with bipolar 1 disorder. I've also lived with chronic insomnia since I was a kid. So between manic incidents with bipolar disorder and being awake with chronic insomnia at times, I wanted to know exactly what it was I was doing when I'm "thinking" I'm busy.

Well, I have the receipts, as Wendy Williams would say!

I was stressing to get my website content into play and now when I say, I spent DAYS working on it, I know I did. You can't argue with the data.

Having RescueTime has helped me navigate my most productive hours, and it halts me when I am being distracted by sites like... well, social media platforms that I shouldn't be on when I'm focusing.

I consider RescueTime a cost of living application. I can't see not using it at any point any time soon. It's valuable information for me to be my most productive professional self.

If you've never tracked your time or progress before with another application, your first time setup instructions may be daunting. Don't worry! It's easy to set up and once you do it, RescueTime intuitively knows what sites are your productive sites and which ones help you slack off.

*I read a review here on Trustpilot saying that there's an issue with RescueTime not blocking APPS. That's not RescueTime's fault; it's the permissions of the apps. Don't blame RescueTime for the data it can't access. That's just not fair.

This is a deceptive business. On their website it states that you can "set daily limits on websites AND apps". I bought the premium version and it is clear that you CANNOT block apps. I spoke to a customer service agent and her words exactly: "Our distraction blocker prevents you from accessing distracting websites, but not apps yet."

This review is to warn other customers of their false advertising and lack of transparency. I would not trust this company with your data nor do business with them.

RescueTime is an awesome product that helped me to get my number.

Where I spent time?
Time was productive or not?

This is the must recommended app for time management.