RescueTime for iOS: In-depth Guide
This is the complete guide to RescueTime for iOS: every feature, every permission, settings and troubleshooting.
The app tracks time spent on your iPhone or iPad automatically, blocks distracting apps during Focus Sessions, and gives you insights into your productivity and habits.
Install and Sign In/Sign Up
Get the app and connect your account
Install RescueTime from the App Store. Open it and either create an account (Enter your name, email, and password to create an account, or sign up with Google or Apple) or tap Sign In to use an existing RescueTime account.
No free plan on iOS. The iPhone app requires a paid plan: Solo Focus, or Solo+ if you want Timesheets. You can choose a monthly or annual subscription during sign-up.
💡 Confirm your email. If you are creating a new account, be sure to click the link in the confirmation email RescueTime sends. Confirming your email lets you recover a lost password and receive emails regarding your account.
Permissions
Three permissions, and why each matters
After sign-up, RescueTime prompts you to grant permissions. Tap Continue and follow the iOS steps. You can review any permissions later in Settings.
Screen Time · required
RescueTime reads Apple's Screen Time data to understand how you use your phone, and uses the same system to block apps during Focus Sessions. If nothing is tracking or blocking, check that you have granted Screen Time access.
Location · required
Lets RescueTime label Focus Sessions by place, such as home or office. Your GPS data stays on your device and is never viewable by RescueTime.
Notifications · required
Allows RescueTime to alert you when Focus Sessions start and end, and when you reach a goal.
Screen Time powers both activity tracking and Focus Sessions. iOS tracking and blocking both run through Apple's Screen Time framework. Without Screen Time access, RescueTime can't track your time.
Why iOS Data Stays Separate
Your iOS activity does not leave your device
Apple's rules require Screen Time data to stay on the device, so your iOS activity is never uploaded to RescueTime's servers. The consequence: your iPhone or iPad time cannot be combined with your desktop time, and it does not appear in your reports on the RescueTime website.
Instead, the app keeps the two side by side. On the Home screen you will see a Desktop tab and a Mobile tab. This is by design, not a sync problem, and there is no setting that merges them.
Home
Two tabs, two sources
Home is your Dashboard: goals, time logged, your focus streak, Productivity Pulse, and distractions. The Desktop and Mobile tabs at the top switch between your two data sources.
Desktop tab
Shows the activity synced from your computer, including your Productivity Pulse, time logged, focus pattern calendar, and distractions.
Mobile tab
Shows what you have done on iOS, including Mobile Goals progress at the top and a breakdown of time per app, like Reddit, Messages, or YouTube. This is the only place your iOS app data appears.
Mobile Goals
Goals built specifically for your phone usage
Mobile Goals are goals set specifically for your iPhone activity. They track time spent in apps or categories, or how many times you pick up your phone, and are separate from the goals you set on the desktop. Goals appear as cards on your Home screen and in the full Mobile Goals list. Each card shows your progress and how much time or how many pickups remain.
Creating a Mobile Goal
Tap + on the Home screen next to Goals, or tap See all then + on the Mobile Goals screen. A new goal form opens.
Name
A descriptive label, like "Daily Mindfulness" or "Limit Instagram."
More than / Less than
Whether this is a minimum goal (spend more than X minutes on something) or a maximum goal (spend less than X minutes on something).
Time / Pickups
Whether to track the goal by time spent in apps, or by how many times you pick up your phone. Set the target amount using the Hours and Minutes controls.
Apps & categories
Tap to choose which apps or categories count toward the goal. Leave it on "No targets" to track all app usage.
Alert
When on, RescueTime notifies you when the goal is triggered: when you hit your target on a "more than" goal, or when you exceed your limit on a "less than" goal.
Block until tomorrow
When enabled and you exceed your limit on a "less than" goal, the targeted apps are blocked for the rest of the day and reset at midnight. For example, if you set a goal of less than 30 minutes on Instagram and hit the limit, enabling this blocks Instagram until tomorrow.
Editing and deleting goals
On the Mobile Goals screen, tap Edit in the top right to reorder or delete goals. Tap a goal card to open and edit its settings.
Mobile Reports
Your phone usage, broken down four ways
Below your goals on the Mobile tab, the Reports section shows a summary of your phone usage for the selected day. Scroll down from the Home screen to see each report.
Time Logged
Your total tracked screen time broken down by productivity level: Focus Work, Other Work, Personal/Distracting, and Neutral. A weekly chart shows the current week at a glance, and a second chart shows time of day. Tap See activity to drill into the full app list.
Pickups
How many times you picked up your phone today, compared to last week, with charts showing when during the day pickups happened. Tap Show apps to see a breakdown by app.
Distractions
Total time in Personal/Distracting apps, plus the number of shifts into distraction. Shifts tell you not just how long you were distracted, but how many separate times you switched to a distracting app. Charts show the pattern across the week and by time of day.
Timeline and Offline Time
Your day in order, and manually logged time
The Timeline tab shows your day laid out hour by hour. If you use Timesheets, your project time appears here too. Solo+
Timeline is also where you manually log offline time on iOS. Tap the blue edit button (the pencil) in the lower-right corner to open the Add Activity screen.
Looking for an Offline tab? Offline activity lives inside Timeline, behind the edit button.
Adding an offline activity
On the Add Activity screen, choose the date from the calendar, then set a Start and End time.
Tap Select Activity to pick from your activity list, such as Meeting, Phone Call, Reading, or Lunch. You can also type a new activity name in the field at the bottom and tap Add to create your own. Add an optional description, then save the entry.
Focus Sessions and Timers
The RescueTime button does two things
The RescueTime button in the middle of the navigation bar opens both Focus Sessions and Timers.
Focus Sessions
Enter what you are focusing on, choose a duration, and start. For the length of the session, the apps you chose as distracting are blocked. Focus Sessions also build your daily focus streak, shown on the Home screen.
Timers and Saved Timers
The Timer counts time toward an activity without blocking anything. Save timers for tasks you track often so you can start them quickly. Saved timers also appear in the timer quick start and can be pinned to the Saved Timers widget.
App Blocking In Depth
Configure distraction blocking
Go to Settings → Configure Blocking. Because blocking runs through Apple's Screen Time, RescueTime opens Apple's own category picker. You can select All Apps & Categories to block everything, or choose specific categories like Social, Games, and Entertainment. Tap into a category to narrow it to individual apps, then tap Done.
Blocking will not work without Screen Time access. Since Focus Sessions use Apple's Screen Time system, this permission has to be granted first. If apps are not being blocked during a session, check Screen Time access in Settings.
Feed
Your daily nudges and reviews
The Feed tab collects timely information about your day: your daily review with focus work logged and distraction counts, a morning summary of your upcoming day, and suggested focus opportunities.
Settings
Settings are grouped into App, Account, and Work Settings, with the option to sign out of the app at the top.
App Settings
Configure Blocking opens Apple's category picker. Saved Timers manages your quick-start timers. Appearance sets light, dark, or system theme.
Account Settings
Your account details, subscription and billing, and Data & Privacy controls. RescueTime tracks which apps you use and for how long, not field entries, messages, or keystrokes.
Work Settings
Work Profile, Work Schedule, Focus Sessions, and Alerts & Emails, kept in sync with the RescueTime website so your phone and computer agree on when you are working.
Permissions
If you skipped a permission during setup, or want to check Screen Time, Location, or Notifications, you can manage them from Settings at any time.
Desktop Goals
Set a desktop goal from your phone
From the Goals area on the Home screen, tap the plus to start a New Goal.
How a goal is built
Choose Focus or Project Solo+, set a Target like Focus Work, then More than or Less than a number of hours and minutes. Set when it applies under During, choose whether to be notified on your devices or by email, add an optional description, then tap Add Goal.
💡 Desktop goals vs. Mobile Goals. These goals sync with the RescueTime website and apply to your desktop activity. For goals that track your phone usage specifically, use Mobile Goals from the Mobile tab on the Home screen.
Troubleshooting
My phone time is not in my website reports
This is expected, not a bug. Apple keeps iOS Screen Time data on the device, so it cannot be sent to RescueTime's servers or shown on the website. Look in the Mobile tab of the Home screen on the app instead.
Nothing is being tracked at all
Check Screen Time access first, since it is required for tracking. Open Settings in the app and confirm the permission is granted, then re-grant it if needed.
App blocking is not working during Focus Sessions
Blocking depends on the same Screen Time permission. Confirm Screen Time access is on, then open Settings → Configure Blocking and make sure the apps or categories you want to block are selected.
I cannot find where to add an offline activity
Offline time can be added under the Timeline tab. Tap the blue edit (pencil) button in the lower-right corner to open Add Activity.
💡 Still stuck? Reach the RescueTime team at support@rescuetime.com.