Choose a Timer Entry: Find What Feels Easiest

Time tracking often gets stuck at the moment of starting.

If every record requires unlocking your phone, finding the app, opening the right page, and choosing a tag, many small moments will disappear before they are captured. Knoself’s quick tracking entry points are designed to make “start” as light as possible.

You can start first, then add a title, note, tag, or photo later. Tracking should not interrupt the moment. It only needs to gently hold this stretch of time for you.

Choose the Entry Point That Fits

Different entry points work best in different situations:

Entry point	Best for
In-app start button	You are already in the app and want to start a normal timer
Action Button	Your phone is in your hand and you do not want to find the app
Home Screen widgets	Frequent activities such as work, reading, or exercise
Reminders / system calendar	A plan already exists and you want to capture real effort
Lock Screen / Live Activity	A timer is already running and you want to check or return to it
Apple Watch	Your phone is not nearby, or you are moving, commuting, or doing chores

You do not need to configure everything at once. Start with the entry point that feels easiest, then add others only when they are useful.

In the App: The Most Direct Start

After opening Knoself, you can start a timer directly from the home screen.

If you simply want to capture what is happening now, start first. It is often more natural to add a short note when the timer ends than to fill everything in before you begin.

If you already know the category, choose a tag before starting. This makes later charts cleaner, especially for recurring activities:

• Work / meetings
• Study / reading
• Health / exercise
• Life / chores

The core principle is: capture a little first; completeness can wait.

Action Button: Press to Start

If your iPhone has an Action Button, you can bind a Knoself quick tracking action to it.

It is useful when:

• You are leaving home and want to track a commute.
• You are entering a meeting room.
• You are about to read, exercise, or write and do not want to find the app first.

You can choose between two actions:

• Start directly: the fastest option. It opens the timer immediately.
• Choose tag first: useful if you already have stable categories.

For setup details, see Action Button Quick Timing.

Home Screen Widgets: Put Frequent Activities in Front of You

If you often track the same few activities, widgets are faster than opening the app.

Knoself widgets support two common uses:

Time Record

This is the simplest widget.

• When no timer is running, tap to start a new record.
• When a timer is running, it shows the current timer state.
• Tap again to return to the current timer page.

It is best when you want to start quickly without choosing a category first.

Quick Tag Launcher

This widget puts frequent tags on your Home Screen.

For example, you can place four entries:

• Work
• Reading
• Exercise
• Chores

Tap a tag to start tracking with that tag. For activities that happen every day, this feels more natural than opening the app and selecting a tag each time.

For setup details, see Home Screen Widget Quick Timing.

Reminders and Calendar: Start From a Plan

When an activity already exists as a Knoself task or system calendar event, you do not need to create a duplicate timer. Start from the item itself; the finished duration becomes a time record.

You can also place the Today Reminders widget on the Home Screen and start from a due task. See Start From Reminders and Calendar Events for the complete flow.

Lock Screen and Live Activity: Return to a Running Timer

Quick tracking is not only about starting quickly. It also means getting back to a running timer quickly.

When a timer is already running, system entry points can help you check its state or return to Knoself to edit and stop the record.

This is useful when:

• You have started exercise and do not want to find the app again.
• You are working and want to confirm the timer is still running.
• You are ending an activity and need to stop and save the current timer.

If you often run longer timers, Lock Screen and Live Activity entry points make the current state much easier to reach.

Apple Watch: Track When Your Phone Is Away

Apple Watch is useful when taking out your phone would interrupt the moment:

• Running, cycling, or workouts.
• Cooking, cleaning, or taking care of family.
• Commuting with only a quick wrist interaction.
• Your phone is in a bag or on a desk.

On Watch, you can start, view, and stop timers. Even if your iPhone is not nearby, Watch can record locally first and sync back later.

If you configure the Watch quick start page, you can place a familiar 2×2 tag group on your watch. Then a single tap can start fixed records such as exercise, reading, or commuting.

A Simple Combination

You do not need to remember every method. Give each situation a default entry point:

• Everyday quick capture: in-app start button.
• Phone in hand: Action Button.
• Fixed frequent activities: Home Screen quick tag widget.
• Something already planned: a reminder, calendar event, or Today reminders widget.
• Timer already running: Lock Screen or Live Activity.
• Phone is inconvenient: Apple Watch.

Once these entry points become habits, time tracking stops feeling like an extra task. It becomes a natural gesture: press once when you start, gently wrap up when you finish.

Minimal Setup

If you are just getting started, configure only three things:

1. Bind the Action Button to start directly.
2. Add a quick tag launcher widget with your four most common tags.
3. Choose a frequent quick group for Apple Watch.

This covers most situations: phone in hand, phone away, and everyday repeated activities.

The point of quick tracking is not to make you busier. It is to make the act of recording less visible. The lighter the entry point, the easier tracking becomes a habit.