Give your team real privacy with Private Time

Everyone needs a private moment at work. With Private Time, your team can pause all DeskTime tracking on the device whenever needed.

TL;DR: Private Time is a DeskTime privacy feature that temporarily pauses all device tracking with one click and resumes it just as easily. It can be activated from the DeskTime system tray or menu bar icon’s right-click menu.

How Private Time works

Whether it’s for messaging your family or scheduling a doctor’s appointment, privacy is just one click away.

Private Time setup

Private Time is already enabled by default, but it can be configured in the company-wide, team-level, or individual employee settings.

Starting Private Time

Employees can enable Private Time from the system tray or menu bar icon. DeskTime will pause all tracking on the device.

Stopping Private Time

Click the Private Time menu item again to resume tracking and return back to work. You can also set up a reminder to turn it off.

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What the employer sees during Private Time

Private Time means private time. While it’s on, DeskTime will not track anything on the device, so employees can safely attend to private matters.

Private Time OFF

Private Time ON

Active app titles

Visited website URLs and titles

Device power state

Idle status

IP address location (office, VPN, remote)

Screenshots (if enabled)

Start and end of Private Time

Private Time only stops tracking that’s done by DeskTime. It does not affect browser history, OS event logs, router-level traffic monitoring, or other factors outside of DeskTime.

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Private Time benefits for employers

Private Time is built on a simple idea: people who feel trusted do their best work. Here’s how providing additional privacy to your team also brings tangible business benefits.

More accurate time data

Starting and stopping Private Time takes just one click, and it’s not counted towards time logs and productivity statistics. This keeps your reports clean and accurate.

Real privacy, on demand

With Private Time, you can guarantee employees' right to privacy and shield yourself from cases where tracking software accidentally captures sensitive data.

Better wellbeing

A workplace can chase high productivity and still respect the need for a private moment. Private Time lets you do both. It’s one of the reasons why teams stay, rather than burn out.

Use cases for Private Time

Private Time is an additional layer of data protection on top of DeskTime’s privacy-focused design. Here’s why it matters.

Banking & finances

Whether it’s a quick personal finance check or a payroll transfer, banking data such as balance, account details, or transfer confirmations must remain private.

Health & medical data

Booking a medical appointment, opening a report, or making an insurance claim are scenarios in which even browser titles may expose sensitive data.

Personal matters

Sending a quick message to a family member, buying a surprise gift for their partner, or reading their child’s school report card. All valid reasons that warrant some Private Time.

Passwords and logins

If you have enabled Screenshots, you need a way to prevent accidental captures of password manager windows or account recovery screens. That’s where Private Time comes in.

Private Time configuration

Private Time comes with every DeskTime plan, and it's enabled by default. If you want a workplace that values both productivity and employee privacy, you've got it out of the box—just let your team know Private Time is there, how to use it, and when.

And if it doesn't fit your industry or organization, you're still in control. You can switch it off company-wide, for specific teams, or for individual employees in the DeskTime settings. That's for sensitive cases that call for uninterrupted activity tracking to meet compliance requirements.

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Frequently asked questions about Private Time

If you need to pause DeskTime tracking, activate Private Time. While it is active, DeskTime will not track anything on the device, so you can safely attend to private matters. Private Time can be enabled or disabled from the DeskTime icon’s context menu in the system tray (Windows) or menu bar (macOS, Linux).

When Private Time is enabled in DeskTime, it pauses all tracking (active apps and websites, IP address, device power and idle states, and screenshots if enabled). This time will appear as Private Time on your timeline, and the employer will not have any details about what was done on the device during that time.

While both methods stop tracking, the difference lies in how they affect time tracking and attendance. When Private Time is active, it doesn't count towards productivity statistics and time spent working, but it does contribute to the total time at work, and the employer will see that you were present. Turning DeskTime off would make you appear absent.

DeskTime’s default settings allow the use of Private Time. If you can't find this option on your device, it could mean that Private Time has been disabled by your employer. While most organizations leave Private Time enabled, we have included the option to disable it in cases where certain industry or organizational requirements prevent its use.

Yes, with Private Time, you can pause all tracking on the device, so you can attend to personal matters without it being visible to anyone. That being said, we urge you to follow your organization’s internal guidelines for device usage, even during Private Time.

You can set up reminders to enable Private Time, or, conversely, to turn it off after a certain time period, so you don't forget to resume tracking time when you return to work.

Yes, it will appear on your DeskTime work timeline as 'Private Time', so your manager will see that it was enabled, when, and for how long. They will not see any details about it.

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