Privacy & security

What Timeglass captures

Screenshots, app and window details, meetings, personal time, and your controls.

Timeglass captures enough activity to draft a timesheet, then gives each person review controls before release.

What’s captured

Screenshots: periodic snapshots of the displays you capture.
App and window details: the active app, window title, and browser address.
Meeting audio: only when a meeting is recorded under your meeting settings. Video of the meeting app’s window is recorded only when Record video is on.

If your workspace allows it, Metadata-only mode under Settings → Privacy → App & Website Capture in the desktop app turns screenshots off. Timeglass then captures only app names, window titles, and browser addresses.

What’s uploaded and kept

Screenshots and app details are uploaded to Timeglass’s cloud, where AI models analyze them to build your activities. The AI providers Timeglass uses are listed on the Sub-processors page. Once a screenshot uploads, it is removed from your computer.

If the analysis flags a screenshot as showing sensitive details, the whole screenshot is deleted after analysis. Text in screenshots isn’t blurred or removed before upload. Other screenshots are kept for your workspace’s retention period, then deleted. The retention setting never deletes activity data or timesheets. See Sensitive data and capture rules.

While screenshots are kept, people with access can view them again. Replay on the Timeline is set up for each workspace by Timeglass. When it is on, you can replay your own screenshots, and depending on the setup, owners, admins, and managers can also replay screenshots of the people they manage. Nothing can be replayed when retention is set to None.

Meetings and voices

Recorded meeting audio is uploaded and transcribed in the cloud. The recording, transcript, and report are kept until someone deletes the meeting, and anyone with a shared link can open a shared meeting until the link expires or is revoked.

To tell speakers apart, Timeglass compares voices within each meeting, and that voice data is deleted once the meeting is processed. Timeglass keeps a lasting voiceprint only for people who turn on Recognize my voice in the desktop app. Turning it off deletes the voiceprint. See Name speakers and voice recognition.

Personal time

Timeglass marks time it judges to be off task, such as a personal break, and places it in the Hidden section of your timesheet. You can hide anything else that’s personal. Hidden time doesn’t count toward any total or report.

Your controls

Pause capture anytime, or let it pause when you go idle.
Pause outside your working days and hours with Settings → Pausing → Work schedule.
Exclude apps and sites under Settings → Privacy → App & Website Capture.
Skip displays under Settings → Privacy → Displays.
Turn meeting recording off under Settings → Meetings.

Review and release

Workspace admins choose when timesheets are published to others: Only after submission, Automatically after a delay, or Right away. With Only after submission, other people can’t see your activities until you review and submit them, though managers can see how much time is waiting to be submitted each day.

Common questions

Does Timeglass capture screenshots?

Yes. The desktop app takes periodic screenshots of the displays you capture. If your workspace allows it, Metadata-only mode turns screenshots off and captures only app names, window titles, and browser addresses.

Is personal activity tracked?

Timeglass places time it judges to be off task in the Hidden section of your timesheet, and you can hide anything else that is personal. Hidden time doesn’t count toward any total or report. You can also pause capture or exclude apps and sites.

Is this employee surveillance?

Timeglass uses captured work to draft a timesheet, with no live screen feed. Workspace admins choose when timesheets are published. With Only after submission, others can’t see a member’s activities until they submit, though managers can see how much time is waiting to be submitted.

Are screenshots uploaded?

Yes. Screenshots are uploaded to Timeglass’s cloud and analyzed by AI to build your activities. They are kept for your workspace’s retention period, unless the analysis flags one as sensitive, in which case it is deleted after analysis.

Can I keep certain apps out of it entirely?

Yes. In the desktop app, choose All but these under Settings → Privacy → App & Website Capture and add them. You can also skip whole displays, pause anytime, or pause outside your work hours.