MeetingCostTicker

MeetingCostTicker (Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch)

MeetingCostTicker shows what a running meeting costs. The app does not send any data to us or to third parties. It can sync the meeting history between your devices via your private iCloud (see below).

Calendar (optional, only with your permission; Mac, iPhone, iPad)

The app reads events that are currently running or start within the next few hours: title, number of attendees, and start and end time. It uses them to suggest the attendee count, to detect the scheduled end (overrun alert) and to add the title to the meeting history. If the reminder is turned on, it also reads the events of the next 48 hours and schedules a notification on your device for each event from the number of people you choose (default: two), at the start or a few minutes before (title and number of people). In the settings you can deselect calendars; the app then reads no events from them. Names or email addresses of attendees are not stored, and the app does not change anything in your calendar. Without calendar access the app works just the same, only without these helpers.

Detection of Zoom and Microsoft Teams (Mac only)

Through a macOS system notification, the app registers which applications are launched and reacts only to Zoom and Microsoft Teams: it then asks via notification whether to start the timer. It does not access the microphone, camera, screen content or the content of calls.

Notifications, Live Activity, widget and watch face

Alerts (cost threshold reached, event running over, meeting detected), the display on the iPhone Lock Screen (Live Activity), the widget on the Home and Lock Screen and the display on the Apple Watch face are created by the app locally on the respective device.

Siri and Shortcuts

You can control the app with Siri, Shortcuts, the Action button or Control Center (e.g. “Start meeting”). If you speak to Siri for this, Apple processes the voice input under its own responsibility; the app only receives the recognized command.

What is stored on your devices

Your settings (number of attendees, cost per person per hour, with different rates the groups with name, count and rate, alert threshold, weekly budget, reminder, selected calendars, currency and the inputs of the hourly rate calculator, including any gross salary you enter), your saved roles (name and hourly rate), your templates and the meeting history (date, start, end, duration, number of attendees, hourly rate or groups, cost and event title). Meetings shorter than one minute are not stored. In the settings you can exclude event titles from storage and sync. Everything is kept in the app’s protected area on the respective device, on the Mac under ~/Library/Containers/eu.symtix.meetingcostticker. You can delete the history completely or in part in the app. If you delete the app on the Mac, this folder remains until you remove it yourself; on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch the system removes the data together with the app.

Sync via iCloud

If you are signed in to iCloud with the same Apple Account on your devices, the app syncs the meeting history (the details listed above for each meeting, including the event title) through your private iCloud database. Apple operates this database for you; we have no access to it. It also syncs a meeting that is currently running (start, elapsed time, event title and end, attendees and hourly rates) so you can continue it on another device. Your standard rate per person and hour, your saved roles, templates and the link between event series and templates (only an identifier of the series from your calendar, no title) are synced through the iCloud key-value store, also on a Mac with macOS 13; other settings, including the inputs of the hourly rate calculator, are not synced. Entries you delete in the app are deleted on all devices and in iCloud. Without an iCloud sign-in, and on a Mac with macOS 13, the app works locally without sync. The Apple Privacy Policy applies to the processing in iCloud.

Export and sharing

A CSV file or a report (PDF or text) is only created when you export or share it yourself, and only goes to the destination you choose. When you share or copy a result, the app passes a short text to the destination you choose (e.g. clipboard, Messages, Mail); that destination’s privacy terms apply there.

App Store privacy label

We do not receive any data from the app, including from the iCloud sync. Our App Store privacy label is therefore “Data Not Collected”.

MeetingCostTicker FAQ

No alert appears although the amount is red.

Check in System Settings (Mac) or Settings (iPhone, iPad) under “Notifications” whether MeetingCostTicker is allowed to send notifications, and whether a Focus such as “Do Not Disturb” is active. The alert appears once per meeting; it can appear again in a new meeting.

The app does not detect my Teams or Zoom meeting (Mac).

The app reacts to Zoom or Microsoft Teams being launched, not to a call starting in an app that is already open. In that case, start the timer from the menu bar icon.

No event is shown.

Allow calendar access in System Settings (Mac) or Settings (iPhone, iPad) under “Privacy & Security” → “Calendars”. Events that are running or start within the next few hours are considered; all-day events are not.

How do I open the CSV export in Excel?

Double-click it. With German region settings, the file uses semicolons and decimal commas, as Excel expects in Germany.

The history does not appear on my other devices.

All devices must be signed in to iCloud with the same Apple Account and be online; on the Mac, macOS 14 or later is required. New entries usually take less than a minute. Open the app once on the other device to trigger the sync.

How do I start a meeting with Siri or the Action button?

Say “Start meeting with MeetingCostTicker”, or create the action “Start meeting” in the Shortcuts app (optionally with a template). You can assign it to the Action button of iPhone or Apple Watch Ultra (Settings → Action Button → Shortcut). On iOS 18 or later there is also a Control Center button.

How do I continue a meeting on another device?

Open the app on the other device; with iCloud sync it picks up the running meeting within a few seconds. The meeting is saved on the device where you end it. On the Mac, macOS 14 or later is required.

How do I delete my data?

Delete the history in the app with “Clear history …”; with iCloud sync this deletes it on all devices and in iCloud. To remove everything else, delete the app on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch; on the Mac, also delete the folder ~/Library/Containers/eu.symtix.meetingcostticker.