RescueTime

Tool Infobox
Related topics	Productivity Tracking, Time Tracking
Linked pages on this wiki	Projects (10), People (2)

RescueTime is a freemium tool that records your digital device use and how much time you spend in different applications and websites. It works on most computer operating systems and is also available for mobile phones (iOS & Android). Additionally it classifies all time spent into productive and distracted time. The paid premium version of RescueTime also allows to record offline events, set goals and allows to enter Focus Time, which blocks access to distracting applications/websites.

Basic functionality

RescueTime works by installing the RescueTime application on your computer and/or mobile phone. While RescueTime is running in the background it automatically collects data on when and for how long you are using different applications and automatically classifies them into (very) productive or distracting If the default classifications are not appropriate for you (e.g. you're a social media manager but social media is classified as distracting by default), you can manually change the default classifications on the RescueTime website.

In the premium version the website also enables to manually log offline time and allows to additionally annotate tasks you did during the day.

Including events from Google Calendar

In addition to manually logging offline meetings, RescueTime can also be filled from a Google Calendar by using IFTTT, if you pay for the premium version.

Exporting data

RescueTime provides a way to download a full archive of all logged time through the website. Additionally, users that pay for a premium account can use APIs to export the data automatically to third-party tools. For example, Bastian Greshake Tzovaras provides an integration for Open Humans to automatically create an archive of all time logged by RescueTime.

Projects that used RescueTime

• Madison Lukaczyk used RescueTime to investigate how work distractions affected her focus
• Michael Lim and Alex Truong used RescueTime in multivariate analyses, combining it with other variables such as sugar consumption
• Kyrill Popatov used RescueTime to collect data on personal growth and linked it to the growing of a plant
• Paula Leonova used RescueTime together with Fitbit, to understand how the COVID-19 lockdowns changed her behaviour
• Bastian Greshake Tzovaras used RescueTime to
  • understand his productivity during the final writing of his PhD thesis
  • understand how different applications stress him by combining RescueTime with heart rate data from Apple Watch.
  • combine it with location data from Overland and activity/sleep data from Oura Ring to understand the COVID-19 lockdown effects on himself

Linked content on this wiki

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We talked about this tool in the following meetings
2022-02-10 Self-Research Chat, 2022-11-03 Self-Research Chat, 2022-12-15 Self-Research Chat