TaskMetrics is definitely one of the more advanced time tracking applications in the app store. If you can get past all the complicated groups and categories, the app really does a great job of breaking down how you spend your time each day.
The app opens up with a list of your current tasks in whatever order you choose. You can have new tasks pushed to the top of the list or tucked away at the bottom. When you create a task, you can give it a name, enter notes about it and assign it a group and category. Here's where the app gets a bit confusing. On the "organized" page, you can search for tasks by categories and groups. The way the app has incorporated these folders makes it seem like you have separate tasks in the categories folder and separate tasks in the groups folder. It is certainly not intuitive and can be very confusing to a novice user. There is no real purpose in having two folders. The app would be much easier to use if it only had a one category, or type folder.
Once you get the hang of organizing your tasks, you can begin logging your hours. Recording your time spent on a task is as easy as tapping on it. Once you tap on a task, the time starts and will continue, even when you close the application, unless you tap on it again to stop the clock. You can also add whatever notes you'd like to each task.
At the end of the day, or week, you can tap on the report tab to see a detailed list of the time spent on each task, each type of task and a grand total for all tasks. You can also tap on each individual task to get details about each session, displaying the date, start and stop time and notes. This information can be very useful in determining how to plan your day or how to better utilize your time. These reports can be easily exported to a CSV file through email, right from inside the application. Besides the complicated organization, the only other lacking feature of the app is that the customization options are located in your device's settings menu, instead of the application itself.
Overall, TapMetrics does its job well, with a nice, smooth UI and a descent amount of customization. The biggest problem with this app is that it over-complicates the organization of tasks. Simple is sometimes better. Also, the practicality of time tracking applications is always in question. I can see using this application once or twice to see how long I spend doing certain things throughout the day. But, is it really something you'd remember to use every single day? Probably not. So, if you are a really busy person and desperately need to organize all of your daily tasks, or work at a job requiring you to diligently track your hours spent on a task- then this app is for you. If you're just looking for a simple time tracker, I suggest picking up the free version to try it out first.
