GPS clocking on iOS and Android

The Syncro Connect app runs on staff’s own iOS or Android phones, so there is no hardware to buy and nothing to issue. Each clocking carries the time and the location it was made from, which is what turns a mobile workforce’s hours into a timesheet you can rely on.

  • Location captured at every clock in and clock out
  • Clocking from any smartphone, no terminal needed
  • Travel time recorded between jobs and sites
  • Hours attributed to a site or department for reporting
  • Works offline, syncing when signal returns
  • Holiday requests and timesheets in the same app

Record where your team clocks in

Every clock in and clock out carries a time and a location, so you have a verified record of where work started and finished rather than a timesheet filled in from memory on a Friday afternoon.

  • Location recorded at each clock in and clock out
  • Two taps to clock, so nobody avoids using it
  • Clocking on the road, between jobs and across sites
  • Records held in UK data centres with access logged
  • Works on iOS and Android, on staff’s own phones
  • Travel time between jobs recorded separately from working time
  • Reports for payroll and for billing a client
Syncro Connect app showing clocking and leave alerts on a smartphone for a mobile worker

No hardware to fit or issue

The Syncro Connect app installs on an iOS or Android phone, usually the one the employee already carries. Nothing to mount on a wall, nothing to hand out on day one, and nothing to replace when someone drops it on a site.

  • See where each employee clocked in and out
  • Capture travel duration between jobs and sites
  • Log hours against specific job or case numbers
  • Staff who change phones just log in again, at no cost to you

Support lone and mobile worker procedures

For staff working alone or away from a base, knowing they clocked in where and when they expected to is part of a lone worker procedure. It is not a substitute for one, and no clocking system should be sold as if it were, but it gives you a record and a starting point if someone does not clock out when they should have.

  • A clear clock in and clock out record for lone workers
  • Someone still clocked in at the end of a shift is visible
  • Travel time between jobs recorded separately from working time

Location is recorded at the point of clocking in and out, not continuously. Employers should tell staff what is recorded and why, in line with the ICO’s guidance on monitoring workers. Doing that openly is also the difference between a rollout staff accept and one they resent.

Work has moved beyond a single location

More UK staff than ever split their time between sites, the road and home. A clocking system built around a terminal on a wall no longer reaches a good proportion of the workforce.

28%

of UK working adults now split their time between home and the workplace

ONS, 2025

1.8

days a week the average UK worker spends away from a fixed office

ONS, 2025

Your duty

to be clear with staff about what location data you record and why

ICO guidance

Why choose Computime?

For over 35 years, since 1989, we have helped UK businesses record what their staff actually work, whether they are on site, on the road or spread across several locations.

Most GPS clocking apps are only apps. We also make the terminals, so a business with a depot and a field team can put a clock on the wall for the people who pass it and the app on the phones of those who do not, with everything landing on the same timesheet and the same payroll export.

GPS clocking is part of the Syncro Connect app, built and supported by our own team in Leeds. When you call, you speak to someone here.

800+

UK businesses trust Computime systems

35+

years of UK workforce experience since 1989

4.5

average from 41 Google reviews

£3

per employee per month excl. VAT, app included

GPS clocking FAQs

What employers and their staff ask about GPS on a clocking app. If yours is not here, call the Leeds team on 0113 350 9043.

Does the app track staff throughout the day?
No. Location is captured at the moment someone clocks in and the moment they clock out, and at no point in between. The app is not running in the background following anyone, and it does not know where an employee went at lunchtime or where they live. If you need continuous vehicle tracking, that is a different product from a different kind of supplier, and you would need a much stronger justification for it under UK GDPR.
Is GPS clocking legal in the UK?
Yes, provided you handle it properly. Location is personal data under UK GDPR, so you need a lawful basis, you must tell staff what is being recorded and why, and you should keep it no longer than you need it. Recording a location at the point of clocking, for the purpose of knowing where work started, is a proportionate thing to do and straightforward to justify. The ICO’s guidance on monitoring workers is the place to start, and it is shorter than you might expect.
Will staff object to it?
Some will if it appears without warning, and they would be right to ask. What we see is that objections mostly come from people who assume it is continuous tracking, which it is not. Tell your team plainly what is recorded, when, and what it is used for, and most of the resistance goes. It also helps that the app gives them something back: their travel time is recorded properly, their hours are not estimated, and they can see their own timesheet.
Can someone clock in from home and say they were on site?
The location stamp shows where the clocking was made, so a clocking made at home looks like a clocking made at home. That is usually enough, because the purpose is not catching people out, it is removing the argument about what time someone started. If you need certainty that a person is physically at a particular place, a fixed biometric terminal at the entrance is the stronger control.
What if there is no signal on site?
The clocking is held on the phone and uploads when signal returns. Nothing is lost and the employee does not have to remember to do anything. This matters more for field teams than anyone expects: plant rooms, basements, rural sites and steel-framed buildings all swallow signal, and a clocking app that only works with full bars is no use on a construction site.
Does it work for trades and field engineers?
It is one of the situations it suits best. Someone moving between four jobs in a day clocks at each one, with travel time recorded separately from working time, so the driving between calls is not lost or guessed at. That gives you an accurate picture of where a field team’s day actually went, rather than eight hours logged against nothing in particular.
Does it use the employee’s own phone?
Usually, and there is no per-device charge, so someone changing phone costs you nothing. Anyone who would rather not use their own device, or does not carry one at work, can clock at a terminal or in a browser instead, and it all feeds one timesheet. Worth agreeing your position on personal devices before rollout, since some employers offer an allowance and others do not.
What does GPS clocking cost?
£3 per employee per month excl. VAT, which is £2 for Syncro Connect plus £1 for the mobile app, with GPS included rather than charged as a premium tier. A ten person field team is £30 a month. No setup fees and no per-device charge.
Can we use GPS clocking alongside terminals?
Yes, and it is a common arrangement. A terminal in the depot or workshop for people who pass it every morning, the app for engineers and drivers who do not. Both feed the same records, so payroll is working from one place rather than reconciling two systems. Most GPS clocking suppliers are app-only and cannot offer the other half.
How accurate is the location?
Accurate enough to tell one job from another, which is what it is for. Phone GPS is generally good to a few metres outdoors and less precise indoors or between tall buildings, which is true of every phone-based system. It will tell you someone clocked in at a particular address; it will not tell you which floor they were on.
Who can see the location data?
The employee, their manager and whoever you give admin access to. Access can be restricted by department, so a supervisor sees their own team rather than everyone. Records are held in UK data centres with access logged, and you set the retention period. Our data security page sets out the detail.
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