Free for up to 20 staff

Employee Check-In App for Staff Attendance, Without the Paper Sheet

Staff scan a QR code at the door and they are checked in. See who is on site live, across every location, and export a report in one click. No timesheets, no GPS tracking, no payroll setup.

No credit card · Set up in about five minutes

OneTap employee check-in running on an iPad kiosk, an iPhone QR pass and the web dashboard
Use cases

Staff Check-In for Every Kind of Workplace

Anywhere people turn up to a place, OneTap records that they were there. One QR code per site, and no app for the people scanning.

Facilities and field crews

  • Cleaning crews
  • Janitorial teams
  • Landscaping
  • Security guards
  • Maintenance
  • Contractors

Multi-site operations

  • Retail stores
  • Restaurants
  • Hotels
  • Franchises
  • Depots
  • Distribution centres

Shift workplaces

  • Warehouses
  • Manufacturing
  • Clinics
  • Care homes
  • Labs
  • Workshops

Offices and teams

  • Hybrid offices
  • Coworking desks
  • Agencies
  • Nonprofits
  • Volunteer teams
  • Seasonal staff

What Is an Employee Check-In App?

An employee check-in app records that a member of staff was physically present at a location and time. Staff confirm their own arrival, usually by scanning a QR code at the entrance or tapping their name on a shared tablet, and the record is written to a live roster the manager can see and export. It differs from a timesheet or time-clock tool, which exists to calculate payable hours: a check-in app answers who was here, not how much do we owe them.

Because the roster lives in the browser, it doubles as an online employee attendance system: an online staff attendance register your managers can open from any device, with no server to run and no employee attendance application for staff to install.

Start Tracking Staff Attendance in Three Steps

Most teams are running in about five minutes. There is nothing to install and no hardware to buy.

  1. 1

    Add your staff

    Upload a CSV or Excel file, or share a registration link and let people add themselves. Names and emails are enough to start.

  2. 2

    Put a QR code at each site

    Print it and tape it by the door. One code per location keeps reports clean. No hardware, no installation, no per-site licence.

  3. 3

    Staff scan, you get the record

    Phone camera, tap a name, done. The roster updates live and check-out works the same way. Export to Excel or PDF any time.

Free Employee Attendance Tracking, With No Trial Clock

Up to 20 staff profiles, free forever. Not a 14-day trial that expires into a paywall.

What the free plan includes

  • QR code check-in and check-out
  • Live roster on any browser or the iOS app
  • Unlimited locations and QR codes
  • Excel and PDF exports
  • CSV or Excel staff import
  • Self-registration links

When you outgrow free

Paid plans add more profiles, more admin collaborators, SMS alerts and kiosk mode. Pricing is by number of profiles, not per site, so six locations cost the same as one.

See plans and pricing →

Office and Multi-Site Staff Check-In

Two ways to set it up. The right one depends on whether you need to prove who was where.

A list and a QR code per location

Each site gets its own roster and its own code. Reports stay clean per location, and you can give a site manager access to only their own list. This is the right setup when the record has to stand up to a client or an audit.

Or one list, with staff picking their site

Simpler to manage and everything lands in one report. The trade-off is honest: it relies on people selecting the right location, so it suits trusted crews more than compliance reporting.

OneTap attendance summary showing each person's total check-ins broken down by month
Every person's check-in count, month by month, across all your sites.

Unlimited locations on every plan, including the free one. You are charged for profiles, not sites.

Four Ways Your Team Can Check In

Mix them freely. A site can run a wall QR code and a reception tablet at the same time.

QR code at the door

Print one code per site. Staff scan with the phone camera, with no app, no login and no account for them to remember.

Personal QR pass

Each person gets their own code by email or SMS, saved to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.

Tablet kiosk

A shared iPad at reception. Staff tap their own name from the roster on the way past.

Admin check-in

A manager checks people in from the dashboard or the iOS app when a phone is not practical.

Related: QR code attendance · self check-in kiosk

Every Team Should Move From the Paper Sheet to OneTap

The same morning, before and after.

Before

  • Paper sheet by the door, or a group chat
  • You find out who was missing the next day
  • Someone retypes it into a spreadsheet
  • No record you would want to show a client
  • Multiple sites means multiple sheets

After

  • A QR code at every entrance
  • Live roster, visible from anywhere
  • The record writes itself as people scan
  • Audit-ready Excel or PDF in one click
  • Every site in one dashboard

Staff Attendance Tracking That Stops at Attendance

Enough of a record to settle a question, without turning your team into a timesheet.

OneTap analytics breakdown, a person's attendance activity timeline, and an exported attendance report in Google Sheets
Analytics, per-person activity, and the same data exported to a spreadsheet.

Live, not end-of-day

The roster updates as people scan, so you can see who is on site right now rather than reconstructing it later from a sheet.

Check-in and check-out

Both times are recorded, so a report shows presence and duration without becoming billable hours or an overtime calculation.

Exports that survive an audit

Filter by person, site or date range and export to Excel or PDF. The same export works for a client paper trail or a grant report.

What OneTap Is Not

Worth saying plainly, so you can rule it in or out in the next thirty seconds.

Not a timesheet or payroll tool

OneTap does not calculate payable hours, handle overtime rules or run payroll. If that is what you need, a time-tracking product is the right category and will serve you better. OneTap records physical presence.

Not employee surveillance

No background location tracking and no continuous monitoring. Check-in happens because someone scans a code that physically lives at the site. Optional location restriction exists if you need it, and it is off unless you turn it on.

Employee check-in app compared with time tracking software
Employee check-in app (OneTap)Time tracking software
The question it answersWho was here, and whenHow many payable hours are owed
Who records itThe employee, by scanning at the siteThe employee or an automatic timer
Typical triggerA QR code fixed at the entranceA start and stop button, or a desktop timer
Needs an app installedNo, staff scan and use a web pageUsually yes, or a desktop agent
Handles overtime and pay rulesNoYes
Works for a crew across many sitesYes, one code per locationVaries, often per-seat licensed
Best forConfirming physical presencePayroll and billable hours

Tracking attendance for training sessions or compliance courses instead? That is a different job, so see employee training attendance.

Employee Check-In Questions

How can I track office attendance automatically without manual check-ins?
Put a QR code at each entrance. Staff scan it with a phone camera, tap their name, and they are checked in, with no app to install and nothing for a manager to type. The roster updates live, and check-out works the same way. For a fixed reception desk you can run a tablet in kiosk mode instead, so people tap their own name on the way past.
Is there a free employee attendance app?
Yes. OneTap is free forever for up to 20 profiles, with no credit card. That covers QR check-in, check-out, live rosters and Excel or PDF exports. Paid plans add more profiles, more admins and SMS alerts.
Can I track staff attendance across multiple locations?
Yes. You can give each site its own list and its own QR code, which keeps reports clean per location. Or you can run one list and have staff pick their site at check-in, which is simpler to manage but relies on people selecting the right one.
Do employees need to download an app?
No. Staff scan a QR code and check in through a mobile web page. Only the admin needs an app, and even that is optional, because the browser dashboard does everything the iOS app does.
Is this a timesheet or payroll tool?
No, and deliberately so. OneTap records that someone was present at a place and time. It does not calculate hours, run payroll, or handle overtime rules. If you need timesheets and payroll, a time-tracking tool is the right category. OneTap is for confirming physical presence.
Does it use GPS to track employees?
Not by default. Check-in is driven by scanning a QR code that physically lives at the site, so presence is confirmed by being there rather than by tracking anyone. Optional location restriction is available if you need check-ins limited to a geographic area.
How do I import my staff list?
Upload a CSV or Excel file with names and any fields you want, such as email, phone, department or employee ID. You can also share a registration link and let people add themselves.
What reports can I get?
Attendance by person, by site and by date range, exportable to Excel or PDF. Reports include check-in and check-out times, so you can see who was on site and for how long without turning it into a timesheet.
Get started

Check your first crew in this afternoon

Add your staff, print a QR code, and you are running. Free for up to 20 profiles, and nothing to install for the people scanning.

20 profiles free forever · No credit card · Unlimited locations

Powered byOneTaponetapcheckin.com· Free classroom tools · Get this on OneTap’s forever free plan