Automatic Time Tracking for Windows (Without Timers)
DayReplay helps freelancers and developers recover billable history from real activity data — so end-of-day and end-of-week review feels clear, fast, and defensible.
Local-first storage No screenshots, no keylogging One license, up to five devices
A real timeline
See your workday reconstructed automatically
Built for real customer pain
Manual timers fail when you juggle multiple clients. DayReplay is for people who lose money to missed logs and fragmented context.
Privacy details up front
Timeline data is local-first. No screenshots. No keylogging. Review exactly what is captured in the security details.
License stored in DPAPI
Your Pro key lives in an encrypted blob bound to your Windows user profile (Data Protection API, CurrentUser scope). Another user on the same machine — even an admin — cannot decrypt it. No account to create, no cloud session.
Categories you control
Detected categories cover the common cases out of the box; on Pro, you can add or modify the domain and process rules to match how your work is organised. See the rules guide →
First run
Set up in minutes
Run the MSI installer. Per-user install — no UAC prompt; lands at %LocalAppData%\Programs\DayReplay\ and registers as auto-start so it launches at every login.
The app starts capturing in the background — there are no permissions to grant on Windows.
Review today's timeline at end of day; over a week, longer-term patterns become visible.
On Pro, customise category rules and export sessions as CSV for invoicing.
Prefer the Microsoft Store install to skip SmartScreen entirely.
SmartScreen only gates the direct .msi download — installing from the Microsoft Store (the button above) avoids the “Windows protected your PC” warning altogether. If you do use the .msi: it is Authenticode-signed by Zaahr Inc. via Azure Trusted Signing, but Microsoft Defender SmartScreen still warns on newly-signed software until reputation builds, so click More info → Run anyway. The MSI install itself is per-user and does NOT prompt for admin / UAC. See the FAQ for the full explanation and the verification steps (Authenticode, SHA-256, VirusTotal).
The SmartScreen prompt you'll see on the direct .msi download (not the Store install). Click More info, then Run anyway — the publisher shows as Zaahr Inc.
Where to find DayReplay after install.
DayReplay runs in the background and surfaces via the system tray (bottom-right of the taskbar, near the clock — you may need to click the up-chevron to show hidden icons). Click the tray icon to open the timeline window, or right-click for Show / Quit. The app also appears in the Start menu under DayReplay.
Uninstall
Removing DayReplay
Standard Windows uninstall via Settings, no Terminal or admin prompt required:
Open Settings → Apps → Installed apps (or the legacy Control Panel → Programs and Features).
Find DayReplay in the list, click the ⋯ menu → Uninstall, and confirm.
The MSI removes the binaries from %LocalAppData%\Programs\DayReplay\ and the HKCU\Run auto-start entry.
Settings → Apps → Installed apps → DayReplay → ⋯ → Uninstall. No admin prompt, no Terminal.
Your data is preserved by default. The captured activity database at %AppData%\DayReplay\dayreplay.db and your encrypted Pro license are not removed by the uninstaller — an accidental uninstall doesn't wipe your history. To fully wipe everything after uninstall, delete the %AppData%\DayReplay\ folder manually.
The real problem: you lose billable work to memory gaps
If you manage multiple clients, your day is fragmented by design. You move between Slack, docs, tickets, PRs, browser tabs, and calls. By evening, your timer log looks wrong or incomplete.
That is not a discipline issue. It is a workflow mismatch. Manual timers assume long uninterrupted blocks. Real work is frequent context switching.
DayReplay is built for this exact gap: reconstruct what actually happened, then review it quickly.
Why app-level tracking is not enough
Many tools stop at app names. They tell you "Chrome for 3h 48m" which is too broad for invoicing and retrospectives.
To be useful, tracking needs context:
Which domains did you spend time on?
Which session blocks were focused execution vs coordination?
Where did context switching create hidden overhead?
With URL and tab context, the timeline becomes actionable.
Privacy claims need specifics
Privacy-first only matters if it is explicit. DayReplay's approach is straightforward:
no screenshots
no keylogging
local-first timeline data by default
You keep visibility into your work without surveillance-style capture.
Who this is for
DayReplay is not trying to serve everyone. It is intentionally focused on:
freelancers who bill hourly and need defensible logs
developers who need accurate standups and sprint retrospectives
solo operators who want weekly planning based on evidence, not guesswork
First week workflow
A practical first week looks like this:
Day 1: install and let activity capture run while you work normally.
Day 2-3: review short sessions and tune categories.
Day 4-5: compare intended priorities with actual time distribution.
Day 6-7: use weekly patterns to improve schedule and billing.
The goal is not perfect minute-level accounting. The goal is reliable, decision-ready history.
Pricing confidence and free-to-paid path
Free includes today's replay (1-day history) with granular detected categories, read-only access to the built-in category rules, and the diagnostics panel — so users can verify value quickly. Pro unlocks 30-day history, day navigation (← →), CSV export, and editable custom category rules at $7/month (or $59/year). The same license activates on both Windows and macOS.
This gives users enough time to build habit with full visibility first, then unlock tailored classification and deeper review when they need trend and invoice reporting.
System requirements
Windows 10 1809 (October 2018 Update) or newer, x64. Windows 11 fully supported. Earlier Windows 10 builds and 32-bit Windows are not supported.
Self-contained installer. The MSI ships the .NET runtime bundled — no separate runtime install is required.
Per-user install. Lands in %LocalAppData%\Programs\DayReplay\ with no admin elevation; uninstall via Settings → Apps without affecting other users.
Browser support
DayReplay reads the active browser tab's URL and other open tab titles via Windows UI Automation. Fully supported browsers:
Google Chrome — full URL + tab list capture.
Microsoft Edge — full URL + tab list capture.
Firefox — full URL + tab list capture.
Brave, Vivaldi, and other Chromium forks — fall back to process and window-title only. The Chromium-fork UI Automation walker isn't wired today, so per-tab URLs aren't extracted; sessions still record but don't carry the URL/tab list dimension.
Product constraints we are explicit about
DayReplay is cross-platform: Windows and macOS, same data model, same Pro features.
Browser and OS platform changes can impact capture reliability, and we continuously iterate to improve robustness.
Newly-signed Windows apps may trigger SmartScreen warnings early in distribution until Microsoft Defender accumulates download reputation for the signing identity (Zaahr Inc., via Azure Trusted Signing).
Clear constraints build trust better than vague promises.
The outcome
At the end of the week, you should be able to answer:
What should I invoice?
Where did deep work time get diluted?
What one schedule change improves next week?
That is DayReplay's job: help you move from fuzzy memory to accurate decisions.
Get DayReplay
Choose your plan
Free includes today's replay (1-day history), the granular detected categories, read-only access to the built-in category rules, and the diagnostics panel. Pro adds 30-day history, day navigation (← →), editable custom category rules, and CSV export — at $7/month or $59/year.
