PinoyRemote
A client asks you to install Hubstaff, and your first question is probably: ano ang makikita nila sa computer ko?
That’s worth asking before you start. Hubstaff can record time, screenshots, keyboard and mouse activity, and app or website use, depending on the app and the organization’s settings. It can also help calculate payments.
Get the exact setup explained during onboarding. You’ll want to know what is collected, how your work is reviewed, and which hours count toward your pay.
What does Hubstaff track?
The answer depends on the Hubstaff app you use.
| App or setup | Main capabilities to check |
|---|---|
| Windows, Mac or Linux desktop app | Time, screenshots, keyboard/mouse activity, app and URL tracking, depending on settings |
| Web timer | Time tracking; no screenshots or keyboard/mouse activity tracking |
| Mobile app | Time and optional location tracking; different from desktop screenshot monitoring |
| Chrome extension | Time and input activity; no screenshots or app/URL tracking in the current comparison. Activity uses 15-second granularity |
These are capabilities, not a statement that every feature is enabled for you.
Ask the client which app they require and why. If screenshot tracking is part of your agreement, switching to the web timer without discussing it can leave you with records that don’t meet that agreement.
Does it only run when I press Start?
For the ordinary interactive timer, you select the correct project or task and start tracking when you begin work. Check that you stop it at the end of the session and follow the agreed break policy.
However, “nothing can happen unless I manually press Start” is too broad.
The desktop timer can use automatic start and stop with configured schedules and the user’s permission. Hubstaff also offers a separate Silent app for company-owned or managed computers, which runs under administrator policies. Tracking can therefore be active without a fresh manual start each session.
Before installation, ask whether tracking is manual or automatic, whether the computer is personally owned or company-managed, and how you can confirm the current tracking state.
If anything in the setup differs from what you agreed, raise it before continuing. Don’t rely on a generic article to describe your own organization’s configuration.
How do the screenshots work?
Hubstaff’s screenshot-frequency settings can allow one, two, or three screenshots per ten-minute period, taken at random within that period. Screenshots can also be disabled. Its More Screenshots add-on can raise the frequency.
Ask about multiple monitors too. Hubstaff says its screenshots can include connected displays. A personal chat or another client’s document on a second screen may appear in a capture.
Authorized organization users can view captured work according to their permissions. Check how you can review your own records and who else can access them.
Hubstaff offers screenshot blur, controlled through organization settings. Ask whether it is enabled and inspect the result. Treat blur as one measure, rather than permission to leave sensitive information open.
Before a tracked session, close personal banking, private messages, and unrelated client files. Separate browser profiles can help organize work, but they don’t hide a window that’s visible on the screen.
Is Hubstaff a keylogger?
Hubstaff says it does not store individual keystrokes. Its activity measure records whether keyboard or mouse interaction occurred.
That still leaves screenshots and, where enabled, app or URL data to consider. A visible password, account balance, customer record, or private message could appear in a screenshot even though the app isn’t recording what keys you press.
Ask what data is retained, for how long, and what the process is if sensitive information is captured by mistake. If something private is captured, contact the authorized owner promptly and use the agreed removal process. Huwag i-forward sa group chat yung screenshot para lang ipakita ang problem.
Check before deleting anything. Under Hubstaff’s screenshot-deletion rules, a regular user’s deletion removes the associated activity block and tracked time. Certain managers can remove screenshots while retaining time when settings permit. Deletion is permanent.
What does the activity percentage mean?
For a full ten-minute desktop segment, the percentage reflects seconds with keyboard or mouse activity out of 600 seconds. For example, 300 active seconds ÷ 600 seconds = 50%.
It doesn’t directly tell you whether a task is accurate or useful. Reading, thinking, watching training, and listening in a meeting can involve little input. Hubstaff itself discourages using activity quotas to judge everyone by the same number.
You can agree on a way to identify those tasks in advance. A short note such as “Supplier onboarding call, 9:00 to 10:00 AM; action items added to the project” gives context without turning every quiet moment into a defense.
Keep the focus on an accurate record. Don’t simulate input to make a percentage look better.
What happens when the app says I’m idle?
Hubstaff’s idle-time settings can trigger a prompt or apply the organization’s handling rules after a configured period without input. The keep-idle-time policy affects whether that time is kept, discarded, or put to the user.
Ask how calls, reading, training, and breaks should be recorded. A lack of keyboard movement doesn’t settle whether you were working.
If you stepped away for a personal errand, record that accurately under the agreed policy. If you were in a required meeting, explain it and follow the correction process.
Mas madaling ayusin ito bago ang first payday kaysa kapag may kulang na sa timesheet.
What if I forget the timer or choose the wrong project?
Tell the client promptly and provide the useful details: date, time period, task, and what needs correcting.
Manual time and edits depend on permissions. Don’t assume that you can add several missing hours yourself or that a new entry will be approved automatically.
Check the corrected record after the change. Manual entries placed over existing tracked time can replace recorded activity, and the overwritten log cannot be restored, according to the same Hubstaff guide. Ask the authorized person to correct the specific entry instead of experimenting with a live timesheet.
A quick check at the end of each work session helps: right project, reasonable duration, necessary notes, and no timer left running.
Does Hubstaff automatically pay you?
Hubstaff’s payroll tools can calculate payments from tracked time and configured rates, using supported providers or an external payment workflow. The organization has to set up that process.
Hubstaff says it does not hold the funds. Payments through its integrations move from the payer’s account through the payment provider. A client can also pay outside Hubstaff and record the hours as paid.
So a tracked hour isn’t the same as money already set aside for you. Confirm the payment arrangement separately.
| Question | What you need in writing |
|---|---|
| What is the rate? | Amount, currency and whether it is hourly or another arrangement |
| Which hours are payable? | Breaks, training, meetings, manual time and any limits |
| Who approves the timesheet? | Approver and review schedule |
| When is payment due? | Pay period and payment date |
| How is money sent? | Provider, destination and who handles applicable fees |
| What if a record is wrong? | Correction and dispute process |
Timesheet approval settings can affect which hours enter an automatic payment run. Check your own setup. Hubstaff warns that approving a pay period early can stop further time being logged for that period until it is reopened. An unapproved timesheet can also miss the automatic payment run. Clarify the correction and payment plan with the approver rather than assuming the money will arrive on schedule.
For a simple sample, 20 approved payable hours at US$8 per hour produce US$160 gross, before any agreed adjustments or payment costs. The amount arriving in pesos depends on the actual route, fees, and exchange rate.
Use the payment-method comparison to compare those costs. Avoid applying one flat “Hubstaff fee” to every provider.
Who pays for the subscription?
Clarify this with the client or agency. In a client-managed organization, the organization controls its subscription and invites team members.
If someone asks you to send an “activation deposit” to a personal wallet before giving you a job, pause and verify the request. A software name or screenshot of a dashboard doesn’t establish that a recruiter is legitimate.
A written arrangement may allocate legitimate business expenses in different ways. Get any proposed cost explained before agreeing, and use the vendor’s official information to check it.
The client paying for a tracker also doesn’t prove that they will pay your invoice. Keep the same identity, contract, and payment checks you would use for other work.
What should you ask during onboarding?
You can send a short message like this:
“Before I start tracking, could you confirm which app and settings we’ll use, including screenshots, app/URL tracking, automatic tracking and idle time? Please also confirm how meetings and manual corrections are handled, who approves my hours, and the payment schedule.”
Ask where the monitoring policy is documented and who to contact with a privacy concern.
You can also discuss a less intrusive setup if the work permits it, such as different screenshot settings or clearer task reporting. The agreement needs to be clear on both sides.
Make the record easy to check
Review your time regularly and keep the pay agreement, invoices, and records you’re authorized to retain. Avoid copying confidential screenshots into personal storage just to keep proof.
If pay or hours don’t match, gather the relevant dates and entries, then raise the specific difference. “These two approved hours are missing from this pay period” is easier to resolve than a general complaint that the tracker is wrong.
For example, suppose the agreed rate is $8 per hour, but a 20-hour period shows only 18 approved payable hours. The two-hour difference is $16 gross. Check whether those hours are missing, pending approval or assigned to a different period, then request the specific correction. This is a sample reconciliation, not evidence that a client has intentionally underpaid you.
Hindi mo kailangang hulaan kung paano ka binabayaran. Know the tracking setup, record the work accurately, and get the approval and payment process clear before you depend on it.
