Skip to content
English
Go to Toggl Focus
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

Toggl Focus Desktop App

The Toggl desktop app brings your full Toggl Focus workspace to Mac and Windows as a native application.

 

Installation & Setup

Features

The desktop app includes all features available in the web app. The following desktop-native features are also available:

 

Quick actions from the taskbar / dock

Start, stop, or continue a timer directly from the app icon in your taskbar (Windows) or dock (Mac) — no need to open the full app window.

 

Smart Suggestions

The desktop app learns from your tracking history and suggests the most likely task when you open it, so you can start logging time in one click.

How to enable

  1. Open the Toggl desktop app
  2. Go to Settings in the left nav bar
  3. Scroll to Desktop Settings > Smart Suggestions
  4. Agree to local data processing, then toggle Enable Smart Suggestions on

Using suggestions

  • When starting a timer, click the calendar-with-star icon next to the task name field and select the relevant suggestion
  • Inside any task modal, the same icon surfaces a list of suggested entries that will pre-fill the duration

What it needs to work well

Suggestions improve over time as the model learns your patterns. To get better results: assign projects consistently, add task names to your entries, and track regularly. If you've just started using Toggl or have limited history, suggestions may initially be sparse or less accurate.

Privacy

All processing happens entirely on your device. Your tracking data is never uploaded to Toggl's servers for ML purposes, no third-party AI services are involved, and Toggl does not use your data to train any centralised models. You remain in full control at all times.

The model uses two local sources to generate suggestions: your time entry history (projects, tasks, tags, durations) and your active application and window titles.

Excluding apps from tracking

If there are applications you'd prefer not to be tracked:

  1. Go to Settings > Desktop Settings > Smart Suggestions
  2. Check the box next to any app you want to exclude

Note: apps only appear in this list once they've been active on your machine. If the list appears empty, open and use the app for a few seconds, then return to settings.

 

Auto-Tracker

Automatically starts and stops your timer based on which application or window is active — so you spend less time managing your timer manually. Available on all plans.

How to enable

  1. Open the Toggl desktop app and go to Settings
  2. Scroll to Desktop Settings > Auto-Tracker
  3. Toggle Enable autotracker on

Setting up tracking rules

Rules are the core of Auto-Tracker. Each rule links a keyword or app name to a task — when a matching window is detected, the timer starts automatically.

To create a rule:

  1. Click + Add tracking rule
  2. Under When app or window contains, enter the keyword to match (e.g. Figma, Roadmap)
  3. Under Match using, choose Exact phrase (must match exactly) or Any words (window title only needs to contain the keyword)
  4. Under Track as, select the task to log time against
  5. Configure the two toggles:
    • Trigger even when a timer is already running — if on, this rule will switch the active timer to the matched task
    • Start timer without asking — if on, tracking starts automatically; if off, you'll be prompted first
  6. Click Save

Note: Tracking rules can currently only be linked to existing tasks.

Additional settings

  • Stop timer when no activity matches rules — automatically stops the timer when you switch to a window that doesn't match any rule. Useful if you want tracking to be strictly rule-bound
  • Only track after app is active for — sets how long a window must be active before the timer starts. Default is 5 seconds; increase this to avoid false starts from quick tab switches

Privacy

Auto-Tracker reads active window and application titles on your device to match against your rules. This processing happens locally. Window data is used only to trigger your rules — it is not sent to Toggl's servers.

 

Idle Detection

When you step away from your computer, the app detects inactivity and prompts you to discard or adjust the idle time. This keeps your time entries accurate without manual correction after the fact.

  • Quick actions from the taskbar / dock Start, stop, or continue a timer directly from the app icon in your taskbar (Windows) or dock (Mac) — no need to open the full app window.

  • Smart Suggestions The desktop app learns from your tracking history and suggests the most likely task when you open it, so you can start logging time in one click. Smart Suggestions can be enabled in Settings.

  • Auto-Tracker Automatically starts time entries based on keywords you define — for example, logging time to a client project whenever a matching app or window title is detected. Configure your keywords in Settings > Auto-Tracker. Available on all plans.

  • Idle Detection When you step away from your computer, the app detects that you've been inactive and prompts you to discard or adjust the idle time. This keeps your time entries accurate without manual correction.

 

Updates & Maintenance

  • When a new version is available, you'll see a prompt in the bottom-right corner of the app to restart and update. If the prompt doesn't appear, reinstalling from the download link above will get you to the latest version.

Coming Soon

  • We’re actively developing desktop native features that take full advantage of your operating system. This includes bringing over some of the capabilities from Toggl Track that our users know and love, reimagined for the new Toggl desktop experience. Stay tuned for updates!