Employee attendance app for office, hybrid and field teams.
OnTym gives every employee a one-tap check-in on their phone, with GPS captured at the tap, geofenced office locations, a live work timer and an attendance history they can open themselves. No register, no end-of-month reconstruction.
- One-tap check-in and check-out
- GPS and geofenced offices
- Mobile web app — no download
What is an employee attendance app?
An employee attendance app is the tool staff use on their own device to record the start and end of a workday, so the company has a timestamped entry instead of a handwritten line in a register. The useful ones add context to that timestamp — where it happened, which office it belongs to, whether it was late, and how the day compares with the shift.
What OnTym is, and what it is not
OnTym is a mobile web app. Employees open it in the phone browser and can add it to the home screen through the app manifest, so it launches full screen like an installed app. There is no native iOS or Android build, no background location tracking and no always-on monitoring — location is read only at the moment someone checks in or out.
One record, not a separate attendance silo
The check-in an employee taps in the app is the same entry HR works with in attendance management software, the same employee record behind employee management and the employee self-service portal. This page covers the employee-side check-in experience; the admin-side controls, reports and company views live on the attendance management page.
Check-in and check-out from the phone
Everything below is what an OnTym employee account does today from their own workspace on a phone or a browser.
One-tap check-in and check-out
A single button marks the start of the day and closes it. On a phone it sits as a floating action button, so attendance is never more than one tap away.
Live work timer
While an employee is checked in, the app counts the elapsed time second by second, and the completed day stores total worked hours on the record.
Location captured at the tap
Latitude, longitude and GPS accuracy are read at check-in and check-out and saved with a readable address for the entry.
Optional selfie verification
Where the company enables it, the app opens the camera and attaches a compressed selfie to the check-in or check-out. It can be off, optional or required.
Network-drop tolerance
If the request fails because connectivity is gone, the check-in or check-out is stored on the device and pushed automatically once the app is back online.
Early check-out with a reason
Leaving before the shift ends prompts for a reason and optional note, which stay on the day's record for the manager to see.
GPS and geofenced attendance
Location makes an attendance entry verifiable. OnTym captures it at the moment of the tap and checks it against your saved offices — never in the background.
Geofenced office locations
Every office is stored with coordinates and an allowed radius in metres. The app measures the real distance from the check-in point to the nearest active office.
Office-only enforcement
In office-only mode a check-in outside every radius is refused, and the employee is told how far they are from the nearest office instead of guessing.
Office, remote and out-of-range tags
Each entry carries a validation status — office, remote, out of range or unverified — plus the matched office and the distance in metres.
Device details on the record
The browser, platform, language, screen size and timezone the attendance came from are stored alongside the entry.
If the phone refuses or cannot provide a location, the app says so rather than silently saving an unverified entry — and when the policy allows it, the entry is stored and marked unverified.
Attendance for the way your team actually works
One attendance policy per company, with four modes that decide how strictly location is enforced.
Office only
Attendance must be marked inside an office geofence. Anything outside the allowed radius is rejected, which suits shop-floor, branch and on-site teams.
Hybrid
In-radius check-ins are tagged as office attendance; anything else is recorded as remote when remote attendance is allowed. One policy covers both patterns.
Field and remote
Remote-allowed mode lets field staff mark attendance from a site or a client location, with the captured coordinates and address kept on the record.
Optional location
Location is captured when the phone provides it but is never a blocker, for teams that want timestamps without location enforcement.
Attendance employees can see for themselves
A staff attendance app is only trusted if the person marking attendance can read the same record as HR.
Today at a glance
Check-in time, check-out time, the live timer, the shift window, and whether the entry was tagged office or remote.
Monthly attendance view
A day-by-day grid with a code per day: present, late login, early logout, auto checkout, absent, weekly off, holiday, half day or the leave type taken.
Recent activity
The employee's own recent attendance entries with times and status, so a disputed day can be checked from the phone.
Exports for the record
HR and admins export attendance for a date range, with the same status codes the app shows employees.
Leave and holidays read on the same calendar
A day is not marked absent just because nobody checked in. Company holidays, weekly offs from the working-days setting and approved leave resolve to their own codes, and dates before someone joined are left blank instead of counted against them. Attendance also feeds the hours HR works with in payroll.
What HR and admins configure behind the app
The employee experience is driven by policy. These are the settings that shape it, all scoped to the company and role-gated.
Attendance modes and location requirement
Choose office only, hybrid, remote allowed or optional location, and decide whether location is mandatory to mark attendance.
Office locations and radius
Add offices with coordinates, set the allowed radius in metres, and activate or deactivate a location without deleting it.
Shift and working days
Company shift start and end, working days and timezone drive what counts as a working day, a weekly off and a full day.
Late and auto check-out rules
A late check-in cut-off marks late logins, and an auto check-out time closes sessions that were never checked out, flagged as auto checkout.
Selfie policy and retention
Selfies can be off, optional or required, are stored privately, viewed through short-lived links, and purged on a schedule.
Regularisation requests
Employees raise a correction for a missed or wrong entry, and managers or HR approve or reject it, keeping the change on the record.
For company-wide dashboards, team views and reporting, see attendance management software or the full feature overview.
The attendance workflow, end to end
From opening the app to a record everyone can read — six steps, no paperwork in between.
Employee opens the app
On a phone browser or added to the home screen, the employee lands on their own workspace with today's attendance card in view.
Tap check in
The app captures location where the policy requires or allows it, asks for a selfie if the policy demands one, and writes the entry.
Location is validated
Coordinates are compared to active office geofences, and the entry is tagged office, remote, out of range or unverified with the distance stored.
The day runs
A live timer shows elapsed time, and the shift window plus any auto check-out time is visible so nothing is a surprise.
Tap check out
Location and, if configured, a selfie are captured again, worked hours are computed, and an early exit records its reason.
Everyone sees the same record
The employee sees it in their history, managers and HR see it in team and company views, and leave and holidays are read on the same calendar.
Manual attendance vs an employee attendance app
| Register, sheet or chat message | OnTym employee attendance app |
|---|---|
| Paper register or a shared sheet filled in from memory | Timestamped check-in and check-out from the employee's own phone |
| No evidence of where attendance was actually marked | GPS coordinates, address and distance from the nearest office stored on the entry |
| Field visits recorded over chat, or not at all | Remote and field attendance tagged and kept as a complete record |
| Late arrivals judged by whoever noticed | Late logins derived from the company's check-in cut-off |
| Missed check-outs corrected verbally at month end | Auto check-out closes open sessions and a regularisation request fixes the rest |
| Employees have to ask HR for their own hours | Employees open their own daily and monthly attendance history |
Who uses the OnTym attendance app
The same employee attendance tracking app fits a single office, a branch network and a team that is rarely at a desk.
Office and branch teams
Geofenced check-in per office, so attendance at a branch cannot be marked from somewhere else.
Field and on-site staff
Sales, service and site teams mark attendance where the work is, with the location kept on the entry.
Hybrid teams
The same policy covers office days and remote days without two separate processes or two tools.
Growing businesses
Replace the register with a staff attendance app, then switch on leave, payroll and the rest of OnTym as the team grows.
Not sure which plan covers your team size? See pricing or talk to us.
Employee attendance app questions
What is an employee attendance app?
An employee attendance app is the app your staff use to record when their workday starts and ends, instead of a register or a shared spreadsheet. In OnTym an employee opens their workspace on a phone or a browser, taps check in, and the app stores the timestamp along with the location it captured and the device it came from. Tapping check out closes the same day's record and works out the hours.
Is OnTym a native iOS or Android app?
No. OnTym is a mobile web app, not a native app on the App Store or Play Store. It is built mobile-first with a web app manifest, so employees can add it to their home screen and open it full screen like an app, and it runs in the phone browser with no download or update cycle to manage.
How does GPS attendance work in the app?
When an employee checks in or out, the app asks the phone for its location and records the latitude, longitude and accuracy on the attendance entry, plus a readable address. That location is compared against your saved office locations and the allowed radius for each one, so the entry is tagged as office or remote with the distance stored. Location is captured only at the moment of check-in or check-out — the app never tracks anyone in the background.
Can I restrict check-in to the office with geofencing?
Yes. Each office location has coordinates and an allowed radius in metres. In office-only mode a check-in outside every active radius is rejected, and the employee sees how far they are from the nearest office. In hybrid mode an in-radius check-in is marked as office attendance and an outside one is recorded as remote, and other modes make location optional.
Does the attendance app work for field staff?
Yes, where your policy allows attendance away from an office. Field and remote check-ins are stored with their captured coordinates and address and are labelled remote rather than blocked, so a site visit or a client meeting is still a complete attendance record. If the network drops while marking attendance, the app keeps the action on the device and syncs it once the connection is back.
What attendance history can employees see in the app?
Employees see today's status with a live timer while they are checked in, their check-in and check-out times, and their recent attendance history. A monthly view shows every day with a code — present, late login, early logout, auto checkout, absent, weekly off, holiday, half day or the leave type taken — so hours and absences can be checked without asking HR.
Want to try it with your own offices and shift? Start a free trial
Put attendance in your team's pocket.
Add your offices, set the radius, invite your team, and let every check-in arrive with a time, a place and a record.