We can find, either in the App Store or on the internet, numerous applications focused on how we use the Mac. And although many of them are really powerful tools, many times it is not necessary to resort to them to find interesting functions that allow know how long we are using the computer. There is a native way to do it without having to install anything and precisely in this article we will explain it to you.
What do you want to know how much you use your Mac for?
It seems very obvious, but on many occasions we are not even aware of what we do on the Mac and how much time we are investing in depending on what tasks and applications. For this reason, the Time of Use functionality that these Apple devices have is essential. If you want to gain productivity and be able to better organize your time by reducing distractions, it is interesting to take a look. It can even serve the opposite and that is that you may be investing more time in work tasks than in leisure, which is not necessarily always positive.
Requirements that are needed
The tool is extremely easy to run as you will see in the following sections, however it is not available in all software versions. You need to have macOS 10.15 Catalina or a later version . If we remember the Mac compatible with this version we find the following list:
- Mac mini (2012 and later)
- Mac Pro (2013 and later)
- iMac (2012 and later)
- iMac Pro (2017 and later)
- MacBook (2015 and later)
- MacBook Air (2012 and later)
- MacBook Pro (2012 and later)
Therefore, if you have one of these Macs and you have not updated it to either ‘Catalina’ or any other later version, we recommend doing so if you want to be able to enjoy functions such as Time of Use.
First of all, check that you have it activated
As is logical, it is useless to know everything that this functionality offers if you do not have it activated. The way you can activate it is by going to System Preferences> Time of Use, then at the bottom left click on “Options” and make sure that the option for Time of Use is set to “Yes”. Once you have verified it, stay in this place, since this is where you will manage everything that we will comment on below.
How to use Screen Time on Mac
You really don’t have to use anything as such, since it is not an interactive tool in the sense that it requires you to do something. It simply offers a series of data and statistics that may be important for you to know how you use your computer. The window is divided into several sections that we will discuss below.
Use of apps
In this section you will find all the daily activity that you have done with your Mac. It can be seen both by applications and by categories, observing the time you have been using each one, as well as the established limits (if you put any). In the upper tab of the date you can switch between days to observe in detail the use of the Mac on the day you want.
Notifications
Section in which you can see the number of notifications received per day and organized by number of apps. A priori it is not that it is something relevant, but it can serve as data of which is the app that “interrupts” you more times to show you information.
Device Queries
In this tab, you can see which apps you open first as soon as you turn on or unlock the Mac. That is, if the first thing you usually use as soon as you turn on the computer is the Notes app, it will appear accompanied by the number of times you have been like this throughout the day. It is very useful to detect our habits of use.
Inactivity time
As we said in one of the first sections, being productive with the Mac is very good, but neglecting our health and free time is not good either. In this section it is possible to configure an inactivity time in which only a series of applications that you choose will be available. In this way, if you are outside working hours and you receive a work email, you can block that app to attend it only when you are on your schedule.
App usage limits
There is little to explain about this part, since its name defines it very well. It is possible to add any application installed on the Mac and set a limited amount of time of use. Either to avoid distractions in the case of apps focused on leisure or to avoid an excess of workload with those that focus on it.
Communication
On many occasions, distractions are not sought by us, but rather they come to us. The fact that a contact makes a call or sends us a message can be a distraction and in this section you can allow only a series of people to contact you for a certain time.
Always allowed
Here you can add the exceptions for the two previous sections, choosing a series of applications and specific contacts that you want to be exempt from the limitations of use and communication.
Content and privacy
In this last section you can restrict certain content related to privacy. Block explicit content, purchases, downloads, access to Game Center and more. As you can see, you have to activate the option first to be able to mark and unmark options on the Content, Stores, Apps, Others tabs.
