Mindset

A freelancer's week holds more than billable hours: writing proposals, meeting clients, admin, their own product, and rest. Mindset records that time as a side effect of its timer and puts your earnings and costs beside it, so at the end of the week you can see what your work really paid per hour.

Today, a project page and Money on iPhone, with sample data. The Mac app keeps the timer in the menu bar.

What you get

Time tracking you don't have to remember

Every pomodoro is logged with its project and kind of work: client work, finding work, admin, or your own product. There is no separate timesheet to fill in.

Your real hourly rate

Mindset divides what you earned, minus what you spent, by all the hours the work took, including proposals, meetings and admin. That number is usually lower than the rate on the contract, and it's the one that pays your bills.

Breaks that look after your body

Each break comes with a short guided routine for the parts desk work strains, so a long coding day doesn't end with a stiff neck and tired eyes.

Projects that warn you early

Milestones carry planned dates and hours. Mindset compares them with the time you actually log and tells you when a project runs over, before the client notices.

Features

Focus

• A Pomodoro timer in the Mac menu bar and on iPhone, with a long break after every fourth round.
• Choose 25 minutes of focus and 5 of rest, 50 and 10 for deep coding, or lengths of your own.
• Starting is one tap and continues with your last project and milestone. A second control changes the project before or during a session.
• A soft chime when focus or a break ends. Otherwise the app stays silent.
• A daily minimum for your own product, such as two pomodoros, sits at the top of the day.
• On iPhone, a Live Activity shows the running timer on the Lock Screen.

Stretch breaks

Breaks come with guided routines for neck and shoulders, wrists, lower back, and eyes. Short breaks get a short routine and long breaks a longer one. You mark each break Stretched or Skipped, and the weekly Review shows how often you skipped. Reminders pause during leisure. The routines are general exercises, not medical advice.

Projects and milestones

Each project has a source (Upwork, a direct client or yourself), a billing type (hourly, fixed price or unpaid) and its own currency. Add milestones with planned dates and hours, and the project page shows four kinds of deviation:

Deviation	What it compares	Example
Hours against plan	Logged hours against planned hours, per milestone and for the project	Payments screens: 26 hours against 20 planned
Schedule	Progress expected by today against actual progress, with a forecast finish date	50% done, 65% expected; at this pace you finish 7 days late
Money	The effective hourly rate against your target rate	USD 1,500 fixed price over 40 hours: USD 37.50 an hour against a USD 45 target
Weekly time	This week's pomodoros on the project against its weekly target	Your own app: 7 of 10 pomodoros

A notification arrives when a project runs 20% over plan, a milestone is forecast to miss its date, or a weekly target falls behind. You can change the threshold per project.

Money in two currencies

Record earnings per project as pending or paid, and expenses such as Upwork Connects, subscriptions, hosting and domains, hardware, and transport or meals for client meetings. Amounts can be in US dollars and your local currency, converted at that day's rate, and you can enter the rate your bank actually charged. A withdrawal records what was sent and what reached your bank, so fees and the exchange rate spread count as a cost.

The rate Mindset shows is earnings minus expenses, divided by hours. $2,000 earned from 40 hours of client work looks like $50 an hour. Add 12 hours finding work, 6 hours of meetings and travel, and $60 spent on Connects and transport, and the freelance rate is $1,940 over 58 hours: about $33 an hour.

Goals and the weekly Review

Set targets by day, week, month, quarter or year: hours or pomodoros on a project or kind of work, earnings, a ceiling on expenses, stretch breaks, or leisure time. Progress is calculated from what you log, never typed in. The Review shows your week: focused hours per day, time by category, your freelance rate, stretch breaks and how often you skipped them, and your weekly targets.

The weekly Review and Goals, with sample data.

How to use Mindset

1. Install Mindset on your Mac, where it lives in the menu bar, or on your iPhone, once it is released on the App Store.
2. Choose how you like to work: 25 minutes of focus and 5 of rest, or 50 and 10.
3. Add your projects with their billing type, and give fixed-price work its milestones.
4. Start a pomodoro with one tap. When it ends, follow the stretch routine and mark it Stretched or Skipped.
5. Log earnings and expenses as they happen, and each withdrawal with the amount that reached your bank.
6. At the end of the week, open Review to see where your time went and what it paid.

Pricing

	Free	Subscription
Price	USD 0	USD 4.99 a month or USD 39.99 a year, after a two-week free trial
Account	Not needed	Sign in with Apple, Google or an email link
Devices	One	Mac and iPhone, kept in sync
Timer and stretch breaks	Yes	Yes
Projects, milestones, deviation and alerts	Yes	Yes
Earnings, expenses and two currencies	Yes	Yes
This week's and this month's rates, goals and Review	Yes	Yes
Reports over longer periods	No	Yes

The subscription is sold through the App Store, and in some countries the price there is lower. Without it, your data stays on your device.

How Mindset compares

	Mindset	Toggl Track	Clockify	Be Focused
Free version	Everything on one device	For up to 3 users	For up to 5 users	iPhone app with ads
Paid price	USD 4.99 a month or USD 39.99 a year	From USD 9 per user a month, billed yearly	From USD 3.99 per seat a month, billed yearly	iPhone Pro USD 19.99 a year; Mac USD 19.99 once
Pomodoro timer	Yes	Yes	In the browser extension and desktop apps	Yes, focus and break intervals
Guided stretch breaks	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Earnings and billable rates	Yes, free	From the Starter plan	From the Basic plan	Not listed
Expenses	Yes, free	Not listed	On Pro and Enterprise plans	Not listed
Account needed	No	Yes	Yes	Not stated
Runs on	Mac, iPhone	Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android	Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android	Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch

Details of the other apps come from their own websites and App Store listings, read on 19 October 2026: Toggl pricing, Clockify pricing, Be Focused on the App Store and Be Focused Pro for Mac. Prices are in US dollars before tax and can change. "Not listed" means we found no mention of it.

Toggl Track and Clockify track time for teams and client timesheets. Mindset is for one person who wants focus, health and money in the same place, and to know whether a week of work was worth it.

Requirements and privacy

Mindset needs macOS 15 or iOS 18 or later. Free use needs no account, and your data stays on your device. It never blocks other apps or websites: it tracks and reminds, and leisure stays your choice. Read the Mindset privacy policy, or see Mindset support for questions.