Kaal: Freshbooks Timekeeper

It's exactly like Chronomate, which I'd already paid for, and now I have to pay again for this new app, and $40 is quite a lot. Plus, there is NO SUPPORT. Every support link and help link in the app itself and in the app store links to their homepage, which only has a link to "get kaal" in the app store. No email, no helpdesk, no nothing. Abruptly, today, the app stopped syncing with Freshbooks. It just shows a spinning wheel, but won't pull or push. Normally, I'd email support for an app, rather than posting a 2-star review, but what other choice do I have? None. Please fix the app and please create some kind of support access.

First, is it ridiculous to pay $40 for what is essentially non-browser front-end for Freshbooks? Absolutely. But the new Freshbooks interface is so clunky and inefficient I was desperate for options before giving up and migrating to another platform, since I've been tracking and billing in Freshbooks for about ten years. The primary issue is that Kaal duplicates instances of services/items for each client where the item is present. So if you have ten clients each with ten services they can be billed for, you have a *massive* dropdown to contend with when setting up a timer or tracking time. It manages to be *worse* than the Freshbooks web interface, if you can imagine that. I've done the usual troubleshooting: disconnecting and reconnecting to Freshbooks, reinstalling the app, screwing around with the settings at great length. Nothing works. There's no support link in the app or on the Kaal site, the FAQ link in the app is broken, and emails to the developer detailing the issue and requesting support have gone unanswered. I've requested a refund from the Apple App Store and recommend avoiding this app.

We were heavy users of the old Chronomate app, and when that was discontinued we were concerned since our team used that a lot. I'm glad someone picked up the torch with Kaal, we use it everyday and it works pretty well. UI is basically identical to Chronomate, which our team is used to, but if you never used Chronomate I can see how it might take some getting used to. Kaal has a few quirks but overall works well and I am glad it exists!

I cannot understate how key the old app was to my workflow with Freshbooks. Pivotal. Since I was migrated to the new Freshbooks, the timing experience missing from my desktop, I'm sure I've missed hours and accuracy. There just hasn't been a solution as simple and straightforward as I once had with Chronomate. Kaal is every bit that experience. Straightforward, accurate, and delivers an augmentation to Freshbooks that makes Freshbooks better.

I've used this app since it came out and also used the previous iteration called Chronomate. Unfortunately this company does not seem to care about support. The app stopped working 17 days ago. I've written in to their support email (the only way to contact them) 3 times since then and have not had a response at all. Maybe complaining on here will get some atttention? Yo, your app is broken! Much as I hate app subscriptions, it's probably a better model than charging a single fee and providing no support. At least with a subscription the company has some motivation to keep things working.

I am new to FreshBooks, and I wanted a way to record time without having to have a browser open. I find this very difficult to use, and the interface looks like a developer designed it (it doesn't look anything like how it looks in the preview images). I spend extra time trying to make sure it's tracking, and that they time syncs (it's labeled as "push" in the app). I can't help thinking I'm using it wrong, but there is no documentation on how it works. The FAQ button goes to a page that doesn't exist.

I think it's a $40 scam!! I paid $40 to replace the discontinued Chronomate. But Kaal won't push my time/data to Freshbooks, even though it recognizes the account (and can pull the right codes). Considering the $40, I thought I'd be able to get the issue fixed quickly through tech support, only to discover that there is NO means for contacting the developers. No phone, no email address, nothing. So I contacted Freshbooks and asked them to contact Kaal. They haven't had any luck either, and it's been 4 weeks!

Working as a freelancer on many different projects during the day, it is a pleasure to have a timer that I can quickly register time on a project and switch to another. I have used Freshbooks for years, but I have always lacked a time keeping tool for Freshbooks that worked with me, not against me. I have tried many tools, but Kaal hits the spot between functionality and simplicity that I was looking for. I had a few quirks with the app to begin with, but the devs were super quick and responsive to get that sorted out. 5 stars and two thumbs up!

Launch was a little rough but for my use case it is working great now.

UPDATE 11/2022 When reivising time entries in Kaal with the History button, the revised time entry changes to the day before, and when you click "Update Entry", IT DELETES ALL OTHER TIME ENTRIES IN FRESHBOOKS ON THE NEW (WRONG) DATE. I don't know how many times it has done this to me, but I'm guessing I've lost out on thousands of dollars since I've never realized this before. What a brutal thing to discover :( ----- Will glady update this reivew if they fix the issues... 1. Services/Task lists doesn't work correctly. Lists every project in the system twice whether they're attached to a project or not. This is a big issue if you have billable and non-billable tasks with similar names. 2. All dropdowns don't work correctly with using your keyboard to filter. 3. Notes height in settings doesn't work. Need them to be larger. 4. "Visit our FAQ" in settings still goes to chronomateapp.com/faq. I mean come on. As great as Chronomate's simple functionality was, Kaal is a simple copy with the absolute minimal effort put forward with a price tag 10x higher than Chronomate. However, it will be worth the price when they fix the bugs.