Start with the metric strip
The first row is designed for a quick read before you investigate details. It uses the active date range and granularity, so changing from Day to Week, Month, or Year immediately changes the numbers everywhere on the screen.
Total time
The total tracked screen time in the current period. Use this as the baseline for every percentage, top-app row, and comparison badge on the page.
Daily average
The normalized pace for the selected range. On a week or month, it helps separate one heavy day from an actually heavier routine.
Peak hour
The hour with the most recorded activity. Pair it with the timeline to see whether the peak came from focused work, meetings, browsing, or context switching.
Apps used
The count of distinct apps seen in the period. A rising count often means fragmented work, especially when Details also shows more context switches.
When there is enough previous-period data, Overview shows an up or down percentage near the title or cards. Down is usually good for distracting apps, but not always: read it alongside the top app and project context.
Read the app and session timeline
The timeline turns a day into a horizontal 24-hour strip. Colored blocks represent app activity. Longer blocks mean more time in that hour; color groups the blocks by app.
Hour labels
Labels every few hours anchor the day from midnight to night. Look for clusters around your peak hour, lunch break, or end-of-day drift.
Legend focus
The legend highlights the biggest apps in the timeline. Hover or select an app in the app view to dim unrelated blocks and isolate one app's footprint.
Session shape
Dense, repeated slices suggest frequent switching. One long, uninterrupted band suggests a focused block or a long-running meeting.
No data state
If the timeline is empty, confirm the date range, active filters, and macOS Full Disk Access. The app can only show periods it can read or has recorded.
Use Top Apps to explain the total
The Top Apps section ranks the apps that contributed most to the selected period. Each row combines the app name, duration, session count where available, percentage of the total, and a progress bar for scale.
| Column | What it means | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Time | Total recorded time for that app in the active period. | Compare the first few rows to see whether one app dominates or time is spread across many tools. |
| Sessions | The number of separate usage blocks for an app. | High time with low sessions means long focus. Lower time with many sessions often means interruption. |
| Percent | The app's share of the current total time. | Use it to compare days of different lengths without being fooled by raw hours. |
Let filters and insights choose the next question
Overview is wired to the global time filters. The same date range, granularity, app filters, category filters, weekday filters, time-of-day filters, and duration filters carry into Review, Details, Projects, and Reports.
Choose granularity
Use Day for hour-by-hour behavior, Week for work rhythm, Month for habit changes, and Year for long-term direction.
Scan the insight ticker
The ticker calls out useful observations such as unusually high usage, peak hours, top apps, or shifts from the previous period.
Click through
Use Review for charts and heatmaps, Details for raw sessions, Projects for category rollups, and Reports when you need a shareable summary.
A practical Overview workflow
- Start on Today and note Total Time, Daily Average, Peak Hour, and Apps Used.
- Look at the timeline to identify the busiest block of the day.
- Check Top Apps to see which apps explain that block.
- Switch to Week or Month to see whether the same pattern repeats.
- Open Details if you need the exact sessions, or Review if you need a visual breakdown.