Price/Platform: $0.99 (iOS)
Review Version: 2.1
Developer Website: http://www.angryaztec.com/nowthen.html
Features: Now Then Pro is a time tracking app and log book. It allows you to focus on how you are spending your time and then easily visualize it! The app maintains an easy to use interface while letting you use whatever workflow you choose! It accomplishes this by using a flexible interface- with a now tab focusing on what task your currently doing, a then tab for what you have done and a chart view which lets you easily visualize your task.
To get started with the app, you first have to go to the now tab and create some task. To create a task, just click on the plus sign on the upper right hand corner and fill in the details (Name of task, color, etc.) The task you first create is the parent task and you can create sub-task that will be grouped under the parent. All of your parent task will appear in a list, and to see your sub-task just click on the parent task it is grouped with. You can also adjust the location of items in the now view by holding on them and dragging them around. You can edit or delete task by left swiping on them.
Once all of your tasks are set up, you can start tracking them! The easiest way to start logging task is to just click on the task in the now view. It will automatically start recording the duration of the task and to stop the recording just tap the task again. You can also add past task by going to the Then view, pressing the plus sign and filling in the necessary details.
To see how you are actually spending your time (assuming you are accurately logging task!) you can either go to the then or chart view. The then view is a visual log of your task broken down by either the day, week or month. On the other hand, the chart view shows the proportion of time spent on each task. It can either be displayed in a pie chart or bar graph format, and can show the % for each task or for the parent task. You can further customize the view and settings of the chart and then views by going to the settings.
Finally the app allows for the easy export and sharing of data! You can easily share images of your charts and the underlying data (CSV) via the iOS share sheet. Your data can also be synced among your devices via iCloud and you can create and restore from backups for extra peace of mind.
Summary: Now Then Pro is an easy to use time tracking app that lets you quickly visualize how and what your time is spent on.
Pro:
- Has a logical and simple interface
- App allows multiple ways to visualize and filter your data
- You can set reminders for future events and add comments to logged task
Con:
- You can only record one task at a time
How I use it: I use Now Then Pro to track my daily activities and to analyze how I spend my time. I only use the app to track my “work” day (i.e. academic and important responsibilities) and on weekdays. I find this data to be valuable as it helps me plan my day out so that I use my energy as efficiently and effectively as I possibly can. Looking at historical data helps me plan my days, weeks and months ahead as I can reference how long certain task took in the past and plan accordingly! The app’s quick filtering tools also make this an easy task. Finally I also find this data helpful, as I have an addiction to data collection and analysis… So this app helps satisfy my data addiction, for NOW!
Trial/Free Version: The developer offers a free version of the app (Now Then Free), with limited functionality. It is definitely worth a look if your on the edge about buying.
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