Setup
Last updated August 21, 2026
Your tracker is two small halves in Apple's Shortcuts app — one notices your app open and starts the timer, one notices it close and stops it. Adrift builds them with you in one visit to Shortcuts. This page is the same walkthrough, written down.
On a second screen
In the app, the walkthrough is a floating video that stays on screen while you build in Shortcuts. A second screen works too: open this page anywhere and build on your phone — the steps below are the full path, every tap.
The opening half
Step 1 of 5
In the sheet Shortcuts opened, search “app”, then tap App.
No sheet showing? In Shortcuts: the middle Automation tab, then +. And skip “Time of Day” — Adrift never needs your schedule.
Step 2 of 5
Pick your app, keep “Is Opened” checked, choose Run Immediately, and switch “Notify When Run” off.
Leave “Is Closed” alone — that's the closing half, two steps away.
Step 3 of 5
Choose Create New Shortcut, scroll down to Adrift.
Not Stop App Timer yet — that one notices you leave.
On older iOS the same button reads “New Blank Automation.”
Step 4 of 5
Pick Start App Timer, set its App to your app — Shortcuts likes to be told twice — then tap Done. The opening half is built.
Don't rename anything — names never matter here.
The closing half
Step 5 of 5
Still in Shortcuts, tap + for the closing half: App → your app → “Is Closed” → Run Immediately → Stop App Timer, App set to your app. Then come back to Adrift.
This time “Is Opened” stays off — noticing you leave is the whole point.
Back in Adrift, the walkthrough is already listening. The rehearsal: open your app for a few seconds and close it — each half checks green as its signal arrives.
Let's find the snag.
Symptoms first, stated as facts — find yours.
Nothing has arrived yet.
Both halves live in Shortcuts — one watching “Is Opened”, one “Is Closed”, each running its timer step with App set to your app, Run Immediately chosen, “Notify When Run” off. Already built them? Open each one and back out — that alone often re-links them. Then the rehearsal: open your app for a few seconds and close it.
The open landed — the close didn't.
In Shortcuts, check the closing half: it watches for your app “Is Closed” and runs Stop App Timer with App set to your app — Run Immediately chosen, “Notify When Run” off. Already built? Open it and back out — that alone often re-links it. Then close your app again.
The close landed — the open didn't.
In Shortcuts, check the opening half: it watches for your app “Is Opened” and runs Start App Timer with App set to your app — Run Immediately chosen, “Notify When Run” off. Already built? Open it and back out — that alone often re-links it. Then open your app again.
A signal arrived labeled the wrong app.
A half in Shortcuts names the wrong app — check the app it watches for and the App inside its timer step. Every app needs its own pair; one shared half can't tell apps apart.
Shortcuts asks before every run.
That half was saved with Run After Confirmation, so the timer waits on a tap. Open the half and choose Run Immediately — it runs on its own from then on.
A banner announces every open and close.
That's “Notify When Run,” switched on. The half works; the banner just narrates it. Open the half and switch “Notify When Run” off.
A half looks right and still won't fire.
Open it in Shortcuts and back out without changing anything — viewing it is enough to re-link the action. This is also the fix when one half errors after a reinstall. Rebuilding works too, and it's safe over the old ones.
Leaving instead?
The 20-second cleanup on the support page removes both halves and the app, in the order that never shows an error.
Contact
A snag this page doesn't name — email mschnelbach15@gmail.com and you'll hear back from one of us.