Time tracking only works if starting the timer is easier than forgetting to. For most of us, that’s where it falls apart: the Billable tab is buried somewhere behind thirty others, the client call starts, and by the time you remember, you’re reconstructing your afternoon from your calendar and a hunch.
So we built the timer somewhere you can’t lose it. Billable Companion is a small Mac app that lives in your menu bar, right next to the clock. One click and your timer, today’s entries and the day’s total are there, and every second you track lands straight in your Billable account.
Billable Companion is a free macOS app for Billable users. It sits in the menu bar, shows your running timer beside its icon, and lets you start, pause, stop and log time without opening a browser tab. It uses the same account and the same time entries as the web app, so time tracked on your Mac is ready to invoice. It needs macOS 13 Ventura or later on a Mac with Apple silicon, and it keeps itself up to date.
Why the menu bar
A timer you have to go looking for is a timer you’ll forget. The menu bar is the one place on a Mac that’s always on screen, whatever app is in front: your editor, your design tool, a video call.
That’s why Companion’s running time ticks right beside its menu bar icon, colon blinking so you can tell at a glance it’s live. You don’t have to open anything to know what you’re tracking or for how long. And when you do need it, a click opens a small popover, and clicking anywhere else tucks it away again, like any native menu bar app. There’s no Dock icon and no extra window to manage.
What you can do from the menu bar
- Start, pause and stop. Pick a project, add a note and go. Pause for lunch, resume where you left off, stop when you’re done. Like the web app, each business has one running timer at a time.
- Log time after the fact. Forgot to start it after all? Add an entry for any past day and type the duration however you think of it:
1:30,1.5,90mor2h. - See your day. Today’s entries, newest first, each with its project, client and notes, plus a running total for the day. Flip back through earlier days to check what you logged.
- Restart in one click. The play button on a finished entry starts a new timer with the same project and notes, which is handy when you come back to the same task after a break.
- Right-click for the rest. Each entry has a native menu with start again, edit and delete. Entries that have already been invoiced stay read-only, so your invoices never change under you.
- Keep up with notifications. The bell shows your unread notifications from Billable without a trip to the browser.
It’s Billable, not another tracker
Companion isn’t a separate app with its own data that you have to export and reconcile later. It signs in to your Billable account and works on the same projects and the same time entries as the web app.
Start a timer on your Mac and it’s on the web app’s Time page. Start one in the browser and it shows up in your menu bar within a second or so, whether the popover is open or not. Pause it in one place and it pauses in both. When the month ends, those hours are already where you turn tracked time into an invoice: nothing to copy across, nothing to retype.
If you run more than one business in Billable, switch between them from the account screen. The timer, projects and entries follow whichever one is active.
Getting started
- Download Billable Companion, open the file and drag the app into Applications.
- Open it. A clock icon appears in your menu bar.
- Sign in with your browser. Companion hands sign-in to Billable in your browser, so passkeys, Google and passwords all work, then brings you straight back to the app.
- Start tracking. Click the icon, pick a project and start the timer.
Companion is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens like any other Mac app. When a new version ships, it updates itself in the background and offers a restart, so you never need to download it again. You’ll find everything it does on the Billable Companion page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Billable Companion free?
Yes. The app is a free download, and it works with any Billable account, including the free plan. Time tracking is part of Billable’s free tier, so you can track time from the menu bar without paying anything. The paid plan adds things like emailing invoices to clients and unlimited active projects; see pricing for the full comparison.
Which Macs does Billable Companion run on?
Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or later) running macOS 13 Ventura or later. Intel Macs aren’t supported yet. If you’re on an Intel Mac, the Billable web app has the same timer, and you can install it from your browser so it opens in its own window.
Does time tracked in the Mac app show up in Billable?
Yes, immediately. Companion reads and writes the same time entries as the web app, so there’s nothing to sync or export. A timer started on the web appears in your menu bar within a second or so, and an entry logged on your Mac is on the Time page, ready to invoice.
Can I use Billable Companion without a Billable account?
No. Companion is a companion to Billable, not a standalone tracker: it has no data of its own, and everything it shows comes from your account. If you don’t have one yet, you can create a free account in a minute and then sign in from the app.
Track the time, then bill it
Tracked time is only worth something if it makes it onto an invoice, and the less effort tracking takes, the more of your real hours get counted. If you’ve been meaning to get better at it, our guides on tracking time without micromanaging yourself and using tracked time to defend a quote are a good place to start.
Then download Billable Companion, put the timer in your menu bar, and let the hours add up where you can see them.