Which apps had your attention

The problem

Apple's Screen Time on the Mac is buried in System Settings and vague about what it counts. Third-party trackers usually ask for Accessibility access before they show you anything.

How Screen Time works

Screen Time watches which app is in front and for how long, and shows it with the app's real icon. Today is broken down hour by hour; the week is daily bars, and you can filter both to a single app.

It needs no permissions because the frontmost app is something macOS tells every app. Nothing inside the app is read: not window titles, not tabs, not content.

Counting stops after three minutes without input, and whenever the Mac sleeps or locks, so a browser left open over lunch doesn't count as two hours of browsing.

Tips

• Time only counts while an app is running in front. Background music apps don't accumulate.
• Browser tabs aren't tracked, just the browser.

Questions

Why doesn't it ask for any permission?

The name of the frontmost app is public information on macOS. NotchMan only needs that, so it never asks for Accessibility or Screen Recording.

Can I exclude an app?

Not yet. Everything in front gets counted; use the filter to look at one app at a time.

Why do my numbers differ from Apple's Screen Time?

Apple counts differently across devices and includes background categories. NotchMan counts only foreground time on this Mac, while you're active.

Goes well with

• Hours

  Press play on a category. Press play on another to switch. The donut fills in.

• Timers

  Pomodoro, countdown and stopwatch, without a window for a number.