Controlling What Data RescueTime Collects
You have several ways to control exactly what RescueTime collects.
You can adjust the level of detail collected, limit tracking to specific websites, permanently ignore individual activities, or restrict logging to a set schedule. All of these are found in Account Settings → Data & Privacy.
In the Logging Details section of Data & Privacy, you can turn the following on or off:
Ignore adult sites
Data for websites RescueTime recognizes as adult-themed is rejected at our servers. No time is logged while browsing those sites, and this data cannot be recovered once ignored.
Collect window and document titles
Window and document titles give you deeper insight into where you spend your time within an application. If you don't need this level of detail, you can turn it off.
Collect email program and webmail activity detail Solo Focus & Solo+
This gives you more detail on how you use email, but may expose email subject lines. Changes to this setting can take a few hours to take effect.
By default, RescueTime monitors all websites. You can switch to a whitelist instead, which monitors only the websites you choose. This is useful for reducing noise in your data or adding an extra layer of privacy.
In Data & Privacy, find Only Monitor Specific Websites and turn off Monitor all websites.
Click Manage Whitelist to add the domains you want tracked.
In the Whitelist Management window, type a domain into the field and click Add. Domains added here are wildcarded:
Adding www.google.com monitors only that exact domain.
Adding google.com monitors all matching subdomains, like mail.google.com.
💡 Adding multiple domains at once. You can include several domains separated by commas to add them all in one go. Everything not on your whitelist is recorded as generic browser time with no site-level detail.
You can tell RescueTime to permanently ignore a specific activity, such as an app or website, that you'd rather not have show up in your reports at all. Once an activity is ignored, no time is logged for it going forward, and this is different from a whitelist: ignoring is activity-specific rather than limiting tracking to a fixed list of sites.
Ignoring is done from your Activities page, where you can choose to ignore any activity by clicking "more details" under the app or website and then clicking the trashcan icon.
Ignored data is not recoverable. Once you ignore an activity, RescueTime stops collecting any data about it.
To review or manage everything you've already ignored, go to Data & Privacy → Ignore Activities and click Manage ignored activities.
You can set a schedule that controls when RescueTime logs your activity at all. By default, logging is set to 24 x 7, meaning RescueTime tracks around the clock.
To restrict logging to specific hours or days, go to Data & Privacy → Logging Schedule and click Manage Logging Schedule. Outside of your chosen schedule, RescueTime collects no activity data at all.
💡 Combining controls. These options work together. For example, you could whitelist only your work-related sites, set a logging schedule that matches your work hours, and ignore a specific app you use for personal banking, all at the same time.