Install guide · macOS
Download it, grant one permission, and you’re done. About five minutes, most of it waiting for macOS.
Read this first
This is monitoring software and you should know what it does before installing it. The app shows you this list again on first launch, generated from the settings your organization actually has switched on — trust that screen over this page.
Records
Never records
The activity percentage is counted, not read: the app asks macOS how many key and mouse events happened, never which ones. Nothing is captured until you sign in and tick the acknowledgement. The menu bar icon is always visible and cannot be switched off — not by you, not by an administrator. You can view everything recorded about you in the dashboard, and redact any screenshot.
Install
Step 2 is the one people skip, and skipping it is what triggers step 4.
Double-click NiftyTimer-pilot.zip in your Downloads folder. You’ll get Nifty Timer.app. Leave it where it is for now.
macOS tags anything that arrives from a browser, Slack, or email. Open Terminal (⌘ Space, type “Terminal”) and paste this:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/"Nifty Timer.app"Nothing will print — that means it worked. If you unzipped somewhere other than Downloads, type the command then drag the app onto the Terminal window to fill in the path.
Drag Nifty Timer.app into your Applications folder, then double-click it.
A small clock icon appears in the menu bar at the top right. There’s no window in the Dock — that’s normal, it lives entirely in the menu bar.
If you see “Nifty Timer cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified”, the flag from step 2 was still set. Nothing is wrong with the app.
Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to Security, and click Open Anyway next to Nifty Timer. Then launch it again.
Why this happens
Apple’s notarization step isn’t complete for this build yet. It’s administrative paperwork we finish before the general release — it is not a virus warning. On macOS 15 and later, right-clicking and choosing Open no longer works as a shortcut; you have to use System Settings.
Use the account details you were sent. You’ll then get a screen headed “Here’s what Nifty Timer records”. Read it — it’s the authoritative version of the list above, built from your organization’s live settings.
Tick the box to continue. Nothing at all is captured until you do, and there is no way for an administrator to skip this on your behalf.
macOS will ask for Screen Recording permission. Approve it, or switch Nifty Timer on under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording.
macOS will then ask you to Quit & Reopen the app. Do that — the permission doesn’t take effect until you do.
This is the only permission Nifty Timer asks for. It does not use Accessibility or Input Monitoring, which is why it cannot see what you type even in principle. Until you grant it, the menu bar icon shows a visible warning and your time still tracks — you just won’t get screenshots.
Troubleshooting
Expected on this build — go to step 4 above. It’s a one-time confirmation per Mac, not something you’ll see on every launch.
Usually the menu bar is simply full — macOS hides overflow items, and apps with many menu bar icons push new ones off the edge. Try quitting an app or two, or hold ⌘ and drag other icons along the bar to make space.
To confirm it’s actually running, paste this into Terminal. If you get a line back, it’s running and the icon is just hidden:
pgrep -lf "Nifty Timer"Three things have to be true: Screen Recording is granted, you restarted the app after granting it, and your clock is actually running. Screenshots are deliberately tied to tracking — a stopped clock captures nothing.
If Screen Recording looks enabled but nothing happens, switch Nifty Timer off and back on under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording, then quit and reopen the app.
The app talks to this deployment, compiled in at build time — it cannot be pointed elsewhere, and it only works with an account we issued. If you’re on a VPN or a restricted network, try switching networks before reporting it.
Your tracked time isn’t lost while offline — the app holds entries locally and uploads them when the connection returns.
Quit Nifty Timer from the menu bar, then drag the app from Applications to the Trash. Also switch it off under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording so no stale entry is left behind.