General TimePilot Time Clocks & Software FAQs

Lots of reasons: TimePilot systems tend to be less expensive than similar systems, offer more features and require virtually no maintenance (unlike punchclocks!).

Other reasons:

• The iButton. Employees and supervisors like the iButton—it isn’t bulky like a magstripe or bar code card, is virtually indestructible, doesn’t make employees give up biometric data and can be reused as employees leave the company or are hired.
• High capacity. TimePilot Extreme Blue and TimePilot Tap can each handle thousands of employees; each TimePilot Vetro clock can handle up to 500. Many of our competitors’ systems have far lower limits on the number of employees.
• Flexibility: TimePilot’s time clock products can be combined into a complete time and attendance system for all of your employees. A Cloud Edition customer could have TimePilot PC on the computer screens in their office, TimePilot Vetro on the wall of the shop, TimePilot Extreme Blue at the remote worksite, TimePilot Mobile on traveling employees’ phones, and TimePilot Tap in their trucks, all feeding their clock-in and clock-out data to your supervisors.

We’ve designed the systems to be installed by the user. If you can hang a picture and plug in a telephone, you can do it. When you install the TimePilot software for the first time, a wizard takes you step by step through the setup process, giving you tips on how to make the right choices for your business. And, of course, you have free support—30 days for On-Premise Edition customers and unlimited for Cloud Edition customers—with our support technicians, who can guide you through the installation if you have any questions. There are complete instructions in the installation manuals and Quick Start Guides; to view them, click here.

Only with TimePilot Extreme Blue/Extreme Blue Enhanced and TimePilot Tap, because they don’t come with a keypad. With TimePilot Vetro and TimePilot PC, you don’t need to use the iButton at all. All employees can be assigned an ID number that they can enter on the keypad to clock in and out. The iButton is purely an option on these systems, although many of our customers like using iButtons and we recommend it to discourage “buddy-punching.”

Yes. TimePilot can export data than can be read by ADP Run and ADP Workforce software. We also interface with many other brands of accounting and payroll software and services. For a list, click here.

It’s not supported, but you may find it works for you. TimePilot hardware-based systems (Extreme Blue, Vetro and Tap) come with a 30-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee. For details on our money-back guarantee, click here.

It sure is! TimePilot Extreme Blue and Extreme Blue, TimePilot Tap, TimePilot Vetro and TimePilot PC are much faster than a punchclock system and require virtually no maintenance. Just think: No need to buy cards, no ink to refill and no hours wasted calculating employee times! They can create a simple report listing your employees and their work hours or a more detailed report with as many as 100 different categories. You don’t need to use our systems with payroll software, but if you ever decide to go to a payroll program, TimePilot will be ready for you.

Reports come in three main categories—Employee Report, Summary Report and Tardy Report—all of which include multiple options. For a complete description, please click here.

Do you know if your salaried employees are putting in a full workweek? Using TimePilot, you can find out.

Yes, the TimePilot Software will run on Windows 11.

The short answer is maybe. We’ve done some very limited testing on a MacBook Pro running VMWare Fusion software and Windows, and TimePilot seems to run correctly, but we don’t recommend it because we can’t help you very much if you have problems. (We’re a Windows-based company.) A program called Parallels also allows you to run Windows on your Mac. Whether you use Fusion or Parallels, you’ll also need a copy of Windows.

If you really want to give it a shot, we have a 30-day-no-questions-asked return policy if you bought the system directly from us, so you can return it if it doesn’t work for you.

Another alternative to trying to run TimePilot on a Mac: For roughly the same cost as Fusion or Parallels plus Windows, you can buy a refurbished low-end Windows PC (with Windows) and a refurbished monitor and dedicate that PC for use with TimePilot.

No. You’ll need one “Starter Kit”: That includes one clock (Extreme Blue, Vetro or Tap), plus TimePilot 5 software, 10 iButtons and the accessories you’ll need. After that, you’ll just add individual clocks—and you can add any of the three clocks mentioned above to an existing system. If you purchase a Cloud-Based system you get unlimited support covering everything; if you buy an On-Premise system you get 30 days of free support and can purchase a year’s worth of tech support for $179 that covers everything.

If you have Extreme Blue system, yes, you’ll need a data plan, but if you have an iPhone or Android phone, you probably already have one. The data collected by the TimePilot app has a very small file size, so there’s probably no need to add extra gigabytes to your data plan.

You can use one there, but a less-expensive option is TimePilot Vetro. It’s designed to run indoors and uses the same iButtons Extreme Blue does, so employees only need their one iButton. Another possibility is our pocket-sized portable clock, TimePilot Tap.

All TimePilot time clock systems are designed to work together, so you can create a system that, for instance, has Extreme Blue clocks at the job sites, Taps in the trucks and Vetro in the shop. If you choose the Cloud Edition, your workers can also clock-in with two free apps: TimePilot Mobile on their smartphones and TimePilot PC on their PC desktops.

If you’re using our Cloud-Based software, yes, they can clock in at any of your TimePilot clocks and out at any other. If you’re using our On-Premise software, yes, as long as the data collected by the clocks goes to the TimePilot database on your server or PC.

Yes, there is. It’s a called “exporting.” In TimePilot Central, click the “Pay Periods” tab on the left side of the screen. In the box labeled “Payroll Exports,” click “Install Payroll Export.” A list of all the available exports will appear. (If you don’t see yours, check periodically—we’re adding them frequently.) In your case, click “Paychex” and “Install.” After it installs, click the “Account” tab, then go back to “Pay Periods,” and you’ll see a Paychex button in the Exports box. Click the button and follow the instructions that appear to prepare your data in the correct format. For more on Payroll Exports, click or tap here.

Yes! Here’s how: After starting up the app, you’ll see the big “In” and “Out” buttons. Under the green “In” button is a small white icon that looks like a note with a clock superimposed on it. Before you tap “in” or “Out,” tap the white icon. A box will appear for you to type your note. After you’re done, tap the “In” or the “Out” button. The note will accompany the “In” or “Out” transaction and be visible on TimePilot Central’s Transactions screen. Click or tap here for illustrated instructions.

Yes, several:

• Real-time access to your database even when you’re nowhere near your network.
• No need to worry about crashed hard drives or hackers.
• Should you need support, TimePilot’s technical support staff can easily access your database to diagnose problems. (Many of the support questions they receive involve TimePilot databases on local area networks.)
• One additional benefit: Cloud-based TimePilot Central 5 includes free unlimited phone and email tech support. (Regular price: $179 per year.)

If their on-site supervisor has a smartphone, he can clock in each member of the crew using the smartphone app.