# Can you use Toggl Track for personal time tracking? My setup, and where it hurts By František Hlinka (Solo developer of Nanominute) · Published October 19, 2026 · https://www.nanominuteapp.com/blog/toggl-for-personal-time-tracking > I'm the solo developer of Nanominute, so I'm not a neutral party here. I built it because I wanted it for myself, I use it every day, and I'm now sharing it with other people. There are no ads, and I never sell your time tracking data. **Summary** - Yes, Toggl Track can track personal time, but it is built for work: projects, clients and billable hours. - My setup needed three pieces (Toggl Track, the Timery app and an Apple Shortcut) plus a midnight workaround, because Toggl counts an entry that crosses midnight on the day it started. - It worked for a year, with real pain points: setup effort, a Timery subscription, Apple-only quick switching and a Shortcut that sometimes failed. Yes, you can use Toggl Track to track your personal time, and I did, for over a year. But Toggl is built for work, so I needed **Toggl Track plus an app called Timery plus an Apple Shortcut** to make it feel right. This post covers the exact setup, the midnight problem I had to work around, and where it hurt. ## How did I set up Toggl Track for personal time tracking? I turned Toggl's **projects** into my activity categories: Sleep, Work, Guitar, Exercise and so on. I also grouped projects under Toggl's "Clients", for example Guitar under Personal, though I rarely used that grouping for anything. I found **tags** not very useful, though they might be with a different setup. All of this data was the base for my [full year of tracking](https://www.nanominuteapp.com/blog/i-tracked-every-hour-of-2025). ## Why did I need the Timery app? Starting a timer in Toggl's own app means filling in project, client and tags every time. **Timery** is an iPhone app that connects to Toggl through its API and lets you save timers as templates. One tap starts a timer with everything already filled in. A Timery widget on my lock screen opened the list of saved timers, so switching activity took under two seconds. Timery is an Apple-only app, so that quick switching was never an option on Android. ## What is the Toggl midnight problem? Toggl counts a time entry that crosses midnight entirely on the day it started. A nine-hour sleep that starts at 11:30 pm is counted toward the first day, so that day looks too long and the next day looks shorter than 24 hours. Toggl staff have said this behaviour can't be changed (see [this thread in the Toggl community](https://community.toggl.com/t/time-entries-spanning-multiple-days-dont-show-up-properly-in-reports/438)). My workaround was an iOS Shortcut that ran at midnight every day. It stopped the running timer and immediately started a new one for the same activity, so every entry was split at midnight and each day added up to 24 hours. ## What were the pain points of this setup? It worked, and I used it for a year. But it had real pain points: 1. **Three pieces instead of one.** Toggl Track, Timery and a Shortcut all have to work together, and I had to set up and maintain each one. 2. **A Timery subscription.** Timery's free version is limited, and using it fully means a subscription on top of Toggl. Check the [App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/app/id1425368544) for current pricing. 3. **Apple only.** Timery and Shortcuts exist only on Apple devices, so no quick switching on Android. 4. **The Shortcut sometimes failed.** When it failed, the entry was not split and that day's numbers were off. In my experience it also did not work without a connection. Toggl's own apps do sync offline entries later, but my extra pieces were the weak link. 5. **Built for work, not for life.** Projects, clients and billable hours are the right ideas for freelancers and teams. For tracking sleep, friends and hobbies, I was bending the tool every day. ## Should you still use Toggl Track for personal time? If you already use Toggl for work and want a free way to start, yes. Toggl Track has a free plan and the setup above costs no money to try (apart from the Timery limits). It is a solid way to run a [personal time audit](https://www.nanominuteapp.com/blog/personal-time-audit) for a week. If you want to track your whole day, every day, the friction adds up. That is exactly why I built my own. ## What did I build instead? I built [Nanominute](https://www.nanominuteapp.com/) as a single app for this use case. I'm the solo developer, so take this as a disclosed bias: I made it for my own pain point, and I use it every day. - **One app, one timeline.** Your whole day is a continuous timeline and activities never overlap. - **One-tap switching.** Plus Lock Screen and Control Center widgets for starting a timer in two taps. - **Midnight handled for you.** An entry that crosses midnight stays one entry, and your daily stats split it per day, so there is no Shortcut to maintain. - **Offline.** Timers work without a connection and sync later. - **Everywhere.** iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Linux with one account. - **Goals and insights.** For example "exercise 3 hours a week", with a timeline and breakdown by day, week or month. It is not free forever: you can try it free for 2 weeks, and after that it costs $49.99 a year (US price, shown in your own currency in the app). There are no ads, and I never sell your time tracking data. For a fair side-by-side, see [Nanominute vs Toggl Track](https://www.nanominuteapp.com/blog/nanominute-vs-toggl-track), and for the wider landscape, [the tools I tried for tracking personal time](https://www.nanominuteapp.com/blog/best-personal-time-tracking-apps). ## FAQ **Can you use Toggl Track for personal use?** Yes. Toggl Track can log any activity, not only work, and it has a free plan. But its structure (projects, clients, billable hours, teams) is designed for work, so using it for personal time takes some adapting. **Does Toggl Track work offline?** Toggl's own help center says entries you create offline are synced when your connection returns. In my personal setup, the extra pieces (the Timery app and a midnight Shortcut) talk to Toggl's servers, and the midnight Shortcut did not run properly without a connection. **How does Toggl Track handle entries that cross midnight?** Toggl counts an entry that spans midnight entirely on the day it started. A 9-hour sleep that starts at 11:30 pm counts toward the first day, so the next day looks shorter than 24 hours in your stats. **Is there an alternative built for personal time tracking?** Yes. I built Nanominute for exactly this use case: one app, one continuous timeline of your whole day, one-tap switching, offline use and per-day stats that split entries at midnight. See the comparison page for details, and remember I'm the developer.