Everything you want to know

No. Everything is saved in a SQLite file on your Mac, in ~/Library/Application Support/Griotte/. Griotte has no server for your data and contains no analytics. The only network traffic is the daily update check (can be turned off; we count these checks with the version number only, to estimate the number of installs) and the licence renewal. Neither sends any activity data.

It is optional, off by default, and part of the Pro plan. Your time syncs between your Macs through your personal iCloud account, not through a Griotte server. Window titles, documents, sites, notes and client names are encrypted on your Mac before they are sent: Apple can’t read them, and neither can we. Erasing data on one Mac also erases it on the others.

The app in front with its start and end time. If you allow it: the window title and the path of the open document (Accessibility), the website name for the browsers you turn on (Automation), and the full address only if you tick the option. With advanced capture, each option turned on separately: the email subject and the domain of the other person (never their address or the content), the current Terminal folder, the conversation title in AI apps. Your clients, projects, rules, focus sessions and breaks. The “What Griotte records” panel in Settings sums it up.

Keystrokes, screenshots, the content of your documents or messages, private browsing windows. Password managers are excluded by default, and you can add your own exclusions (apps, websites, title words): the time still counts as “Private”, with no detail.

In Settings › Your data: “Export all my data” or “Erase…”. You can also simply delete Griotte’s folder. Turn on FileVault so your Mac’s disk is encrypted.

No. No cookies, no trackers, no font or script loaded from another site. We simply count, anonymously, visits, page views and clicks on the main buttons (Download, Subscribe): with no cookie, IP address or identifier, we know how many, never who. Your theme preference (light or dark) is stored in your browser and never sent to us.

macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. Classification and the day summary by Apple’s AI need macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence turned on; without it, your rules and window titles do all the work.

None is required. Accessibility is used to read the window title and the open document. Automation, granted browser by browser, gives the website visited. Calendar is only used to show your meetings if you turn it on. Notifications tell you when a focus session ends or a break is due. Griotte never asks for Screen Recording.

That is expected, once: since the version signed by Apple, macOS sees Griotte as a new app. In System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility, remove the old Griotte with the “−” button, then turn it on again; for each browser, accept the Automation request again. Relaunch Griotte. Your data is not affected.

Griotte is signed and notarized by Apple, so it should open normally. Make sure it is in your Applications folder (not run from the disk image) and that you have macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Otherwise, get in touch.

It is written in native Swift and reacts to app changes rather than polling all the time. The goal is less than 1 % CPU on average.

Three ways, your choice: you say what you are working on (“I’m working for…” in the menu bar, or the cherry switcher with ⌃⌥⌘C), you set rules (an app, a website, a folder, a title word), or you drag a timeline block onto the right project. Your manual corrections are never overwritten by a rule.

After a few minutes with no keyboard or mouse (5 by default), Griotte stops counting. When you are back, it asks whether that time was for a client (a call, a meeting) or a break. One click is enough.

No. Export your data as CSV from your old tool, then use “Import history…” in Griotte’s Settings › Your data. Columns are detected automatically (and adjustable for any CSV), you see a preview before importing, periods already tracked by Griotte are skipped, and every import can be undone. Still deciding? Read our Griotte vs Timing comparison.

One sentence per project describing your day, to review and then apply as the description in your reports and timesheets. On the Pro plan, it is written by Apple’s model, on your Mac (macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence). Otherwise, Griotte builds it from your window titles. Notes you wrote yourself are never replaced. Nothing is sent to an online AI.

At an hourly rate, or in days at a day rate (hours divided by the length of your working day, 7 hours by default), with the rounding chosen for each project: none, quarter hour or half day. Amounts are excluding tax.

Yes, through files: a CSV with stable columns, Excel, HTML and JSON exports on the Pro plan, or a PDF timesheet to attach to the invoice. There is no direct integration with invoicing software yet.

Yes. They are calculated on your Mac for France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Canada, the UK, the US and Germany, movable feasts included. Elsewhere, Griotte can use your Mac’s holiday calendar. Working days in reports take them into account.

No. Griotte has no admin console, no reporting to an employer and no screenshots. It is for tracking your own time. In a studio, everyone can export their own summary if they want to.

30 full days, every feature, no credit card and no account. The trial is counted by the app, on your Mac. It starts when you first open Griotte.

Tracking stops. Your data stays on your Mac, readable and exportable, with no time limit.

Essential (€7 / $7 per month billed yearly, €9 / $9 monthly, excluding VAT) covers tracking, the timeline, clients and projects, hourly and day rates, budgets, focus, breaks, CSV and PDF reports and backups, on 1 Mac. Pro (€10 / $10 or €12 / $12) adds billed / paid tracking, report templates and Excel, HTML and JSON exports, advanced rules, Apple’s on-device AI (classification and written day summary), the local MCP server for your AI agents, and end-to-end encrypted iCloud sync on 2 Macs. Importing from Toggl Track, Timing, Rize or a CSV is included in both plans. The 30-day trial gives access to everything.

Prices exclude VAT, in euros, or in US dollars for customers in the United States. Griotte is for professionals only: VAT is calculated at checkout from your country and VAT number. Businesses in France pay 20 % French VAT on top; businesses elsewhere in the European Union with a valid VAT number are invoiced excluding VAT (reverse charge); outside the EU, no VAT applies.

From the payment provider’s customer portal, linked in every invoice email and from Manage my subscription. The subscription stays active until the end of the paid period.

Yes, an invoice is emailed with every payment, in your company’s name and with your VAT number if you enter it at checkout. It shows the amounts excluding VAT, the VAT and the total.