Websites Not Showing in Your Reports
If your reports show app time but no individual websites, or no browser activity at all, a missing permission or incorrect setting is usually the cause.
Work through the checks below in order. Check your reports after each step before moving on.
Start here
Restart both apps
Quit and reopen RescueTime, then quit and reopen your browser. Browsers can occasionally get into a state where RescueTime can no longer read their window titles. Restarting both apps fixes this most of the time.
Update RescueTime and your browser
Make sure both are on the latest version. In your Assistant settings, click Check for updates. Browser updates can sometimes break tracking until RescueTime is also updated.
Check that your browser is supported
RescueTime supports most mainstream browsers. Developer or beta versions may not be fully supported and can cause tracking gaps.
💡 Data takes a few minutes to appear. On paid plans, new activity shows up within five minutes. For free accounts, it can take up to 30 minutes. Browse a few sites and wait before checking reports again.
Make sure window title tracking is on
RescueTime reads browser window titles to identify which website you're on. If this setting is off, all browser time is logged as generic browser time with no site breakdown.
Make sure Collect window and document titles is enabled.
Check your website monitoring setting
If you have a whitelist enabled, RescueTime only tracks sites on that list. All other sites are logged as generic browser time.
Make sure Monitor all websites is selected, or that your whitelist includes the domains you want tracked.
Accessibility
RescueTime needs Accessibility access to read window titles on macOS. Without it, browser tracking won't work.
Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
Make sure RescueTime is toggled on.
Automation
For Chrome, Safari, Brave, and other supported browsers, RescueTime also needs Automation permission for each browser individually.
Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation.
Expand RescueTime and make sure the toggle is on for every browser you use.
💡 For a full walkthrough of macOS permissions, see Enabling Accessibility and Automation Permissions on macOS.
Run the installer as administrator
On Windows, RescueTime must be installed with administrator permissions to track browser details. If it wasn't, reinstalling with the right permissions usually fixes it.
Right-click the installer file and choose Run as administrator.
Complete the installation and restart your computer.
Install the Firefox browser extension
Firefox requires the RescueTime browser extension to track individual websites. The desktop app alone is not enough.
Install the extension following the instructions in Supported Browsers, then make sure you're signed in to the extension with the same account as the desktop app.
Account mismatch. If the extension is signed in to a different account than the desktop app, website data won't appear in your reports. Make sure both are using the same email address.
Why this happens
If your reports show time for "Google Chrome" or "Safari" instead of individual websites, one of these is usually the cause:
A permission or setting is missing
Work through the checks above. Missing Accessibility or Automation permissions are the most common cause on macOS.
The browser had no active URL
If the address bar was empty or showed only a partial URL (such as a new tab page), RescueTime logs the time as generic browser time.
You were browsing local files
Time spent on local files opened in a browser (file:// URLs) is logged as generic browser time.
A browser extension is interfering
Some browser extensions can prevent RescueTime from reading window titles. Try disabling your extensions one at a time to find the culprit.
A whitelist is active
If a whitelist is enabled in your Data & Privacy settings, only whitelisted sites are tracked individually. Everything else is logged as generic browser time.