HGV Hours Tracker Download
How-to guides

Learn the app in minutes.

Short videos and plain-English steps for every feature. Start with Your first shift and you'll have the basics covered. Menus are the same on Android and iPhone unless it says otherwise.

📱 Full app tour iPhone

A complete walk round the app: starting a shift, breaks, ending a shift, wages, history, manifest scan and walkaround.

New to the app? Watch this first for the big picture, then use the guides below for each feature step by step.

Android looks a little different but works the same way. The menu sits at the top on Android and in the tab bar at the bottom on iPhone.

⚙️ First-time setup

Five minutes before your first shift makes everything else automatic.

  1. Start your 14-day free trial when the app asks. No payment is taken during the trial.
  2. Go to Settings → My Profile and add your name, company, licence and card number. These go on your payslips and PDFs.
  3. Go to Settings → Wage & Pay Settings and choose Class 1 (C+E) or Class 2 (C). Your rates fill in for you; change any that are different for you.
  4. In Wage Settings, set your week start day (Sunday or Monday) and your pay period (every 4 weeks or monthly).
  5. Allow notifications so you get WTD, duty and break alerts.
  6. Allow location, and choose Always Allow on iPhone, so GPS can track driving with the phone locked.
Optional extras in Settings: Shift photos, Vehicle check, Designated start time and your Theme (Light, Dark or Auto).

⏱️ Your first shift

Start a shift, fix the start time if you started earlier, and end with a legal rest.

  1. Enter your vehicle reg. Pick Rigid, or Cab / Trailer for an artic. You can type it or tap Scan.
  2. Tap START SHIFT. The badge turns green and your timers start.
  3. Started earlier than you pressed Start? Press and hold the start time and set the real time. Everything recalculates.
  4. Drive. GPS splits your time into Driving and Other Work on its own (above about 5 mph counts as driving).

What the tiles mean:

  • Duty timer: total time since you started, breaks included.
  • WTD 6h: time left before you need a 15-minute break. Pauses on breaks.
  • Duty limit: time left until your 6, 9, 12 or 15-hour limit.
  • Tap either tile to switch between a countdown and the actual clock time.

☕ Breaks & duty limits

Take a break with one tap. The app does the duty-limit maths for you.

  1. Tap BREAK and pick 15, 30 or 45 minutes, My Break (any length, remembered for next time) or No Alarm.
  2. The alarm goes off when your break is up. The break timer keeps counting so you can see your real break time.
  3. Tap END BREAK when you're back on duty.
  4. Forgot to log one? Use Add manual break and set the real start and finish.
  5. To change or delete a break, press and hold it in the break list.
Breaks taken this shiftDuty limit
None6 hours
30 minutes or more9 hours
45 minutes or more12 hours
60 minutes or more15 hours (max 3 times a week)
Start driving while you're on a break and GPS ends the break for you, so your records stay right.

🛏️ Save & End

Finish your shift, set your next start and check your rest is legal.

  1. Press and hold END SHIFT. If Vehicle check is on, the post-use check comes first.
  2. Check your break summary, and move the Finish Time if your finish was different.
  3. Set your Next Shift Start, or mark tomorrow as Rest or Holiday.
  4. Check the rest colour: green is 11 hours or more, amber is a reduced rest (9 to 11 hours), red is under 9 hours.
  5. Tap Save & End. Your shift is saved to History and your wake-up alarm is set, if it's switched on.
Started the timer by mistake? Use End Without Saving. It deletes that shift's timer, breaks, photos and notes for good.

💷 Money timer New

Watch what you're earning tick up while you work.

  1. Start a shift as normal.
  2. Tap the 💷 icon on the main screen.
  3. You'll see what you've earned so far, ticking up every second, and your current hourly rate.
  4. Tap 💷 again to hide it.
Overtime, night and weekend rates are included, using the rates in your Wage Settings. It's off unless you turn it on.

⏰ Wake-up alarm New

Set your next start when you finish, and the app wakes you up for it.

  1. Go to Settings → Features → Wake-up alarm and turn it on.
  2. Choose how early it rings before your start. The default is 1 hour 30 minutes.
  3. Want a back-up? Turn on the second alarm and choose how long after the first it rings (for example 45 minutes).
  4. Now when you Save & End and set your next start, the alarm is set for you.
  5. When it rings, tap Snooze or Stop. It's a proper loud alarm and works over the lock screen.
  • Day off or holiday tomorrow? It finds your next working day and sets the alarm for that.
  • Typed the wrong start time? Fix it in History and the alarm moves too.
  • Yesterday's alarm is cleared automatically.
For tech fans: it can also tell Home Assistant when the alarm is set, so your home can do things like warm the car up before you leave.

▶️ Start shift automatically New

Never forget to press Start again.

  1. Go to Settings → Features → Start shift automatically and turn it on.
  2. Set your next start time when you Save & End, as usual.
  3. When your shift is due, the timer starts on its own and you get a notification like "Shift started automatically at 04:00".
It's off by default. If you'd rather press Start yourself, just leave it off. If your real start was different, press and hold the start time to change it.

🗓️ Shift history

Every shift, week by week, with your WTD and duty totals.

  1. Open History and use the arrows to move between weeks. The This week / Last week tiles follow the week you're looking at.
  2. Each week shows its total WTD hours (duty minus breaks) and total duty hours.
  3. Tap a shift to see everything: times, breaks, driving split, mileage, reg, manifest, photos and notes.
  4. Tap Edit shift to change times or breaks, or Add/Edit notes.
  5. Missing a day? Tap "No entry — Tap to add" to add a shift, or mark it as Holiday, Day Off, Sick or Special.
  6. Export a period as a PDF or CSV to share or keep.
After you read your tacho card, changed shifts show "🚛 Updated from tacho card". Your own finish time is kept for your totals, and the card time is shown too if it's different.

💷 Wages & payslip New bits

See what you've earned for any week, pay period or dates you choose.

  1. Open Wages and pick a period: this or last pay period, week or month, or all time.
  2. Want exact dates? Tap Pick dates… and choose your From and To dates.
  3. Or pick a pay date. Choose the year first (2026, 2027 and so on), then the pay day.
  4. Check the summary: basic, overtime, nights, weekends and holidays.
  5. Tap any shift to see exactly which hours were paid at which rate.
  6. Tap the 📄 icon at the top to export a PDF wages report to send or print.
  7. Use the Payslip generator to check against your real payslip.
Paid hours are your duty time minus a 45-minute unpaid break, with a minimum of 8 hours a shift. Figures are gross: tax, NI and pension aren't taken off.

🏖️ Shift planner

Holidays, rest days and rotas on one colour-coded calendar.

  1. Open the Shift Planner from the toolbar in History.
  2. Tap a day and choose Annual Leave, Rest Day, Bank Holiday, Sick, Special or Clear.
  3. Set your holiday year start month and total holiday days. The top bar shows days used and left.
  4. On a fixed rota? Open Rota Pattern, choose 2 or 3 weeks, tap the days off, then Save & Apply to Year.
Holiday and sick days count as 8 hours towards your weekly WTD. Booked holidays are added to Wages automatically.

⚠️ WTD summary & infringements

Check you're within the rules over the week and the longer term.

  1. In History, tap the WTD Weekly Summary icon. Switch between 17 weeks and 26 weeks to see your average against the 48-hour limit.
  2. Tap any week for a day-by-day breakdown, checked against the 60-hour weekly maximum.
  3. Tap the Infringements icon to see anything flagged: missed breaks, over 60 hours a week, or short daily rest.
  4. Acknowledge each one, or clear them all.
For the most accurate checks, read your tacho card regularly. Some rules need real driving data from the card.

📋 Manifest scan

Photograph your printed manifest: no typing needed.

  1. During a shift, tap SCAN MANIFEST.
  2. Lay the manifest flat in good light and take the photo, or pick one you took earlier.
  3. Check the route, depot, times and drops, then confirm.
  4. Tap any drop to open it in Maps. Set a Map address prefix in Settings (for example "Coop") to find the right store faster.
Use Maps to find the address, not to plan your route. It doesn't know about weight limits or low bridges.

📸 Walkaround, photos, mileage & notes

Everything around the edges of a shift, each one switched on in Settings.

  1. Turn on Vehicle check in Settings to get a digital check sheet when you start and finish. Mark each item ✓, ✗ or N/A, and note any defects (or "NIL DEFECTS").
  2. Turn on Shift photos, then tap Add Photos during a shift. Each photo is date and time-stamped. There's a torch button for dark mornings.
  3. Enter your start and finish mileage in the Mileage card. The total is worked out for you.
  4. Tap the notes icon to jot anything down. Notes carry over into the saved shift.

💳 Tacho card reader

Read your own driver card and let real tacho data fill in or correct your shifts.

  1. Open the Tachograph screen (the truck icon at the top, or from History).
  2. Android (NFC): hold your card flat and still against the back of the phone.
    Card reader: plug the reader in, insert your card and allow access. On iPhone, open the Tachograph screen before plugging the reader in.
  3. Pick how to import: Amend Times, Add Missing or Overwrite All.
  4. See the colour-coded day-by-day report, and save the .ddd file if your transport manager needs it.
New: it's safe to read your card while a shift is running. The running shift is left alone.
Newer USB-C iPhones need a USB-C card reader. A Lightning reader won't work through an adapter.

⌚ Watch, car & widgets

Check your hours without picking up your phone.

  • Apple Watch / Wear OS: see your status, duty, WTD and duty limit. Start and end breaks, and end your shift, from your wrist.
  • CarPlay / Android Auto: duty, WTD and weekly time left on your vehicle's screen. Break start is greyed out while moving.
  • Home screen widgets: long-press your home screen and add HGV Hours Tracker. Choose the shift status or WTD week widget.
  • iPhone Live Activity: your WTD and duty countdown stay on the lock screen and Dynamic Island while a shift runs.
The phone does all the sums. If your watch can't reach the phone, open the app on your phone and try again.

🔒 Backup & moving to a new phone

One file keeps all your shifts, settings and tacho history safe.

  1. On the old phone: Settings → Back Up Data (Android: Export Backup).
  2. Save the file somewhere safe: email it to yourself, or save it to Google Drive, iCloud or Files.
  3. Install the app on the new phone and tap Restore Previous Purchase on the subscription screen.
  4. On the new phone: Settings → Restore Data (Android: Restore Backup) and pick the file.
Restoring replaces all data on that phone. Back up first if there's anything on it you want to keep.

Still stuck? Check the FAQ or get in touch. 👍