The 7 Best Face Recognition Time Clock Apps in 2024

ByEric Czerwonka Last Updated
3 Best Face Recognition Time Clock Apps

There are a few reasons why your business might want to invest in a time clock app with facial recognition.

The first is that you don’t want your employees to have to remember usernames and passwords or PINs to access your time clock system. Using facial recognition, they can log in to your time clock and then clock in and out without having to remember any unique identifiers.

The second is if buddy punching — where one employee clocks in and/or out for another — is a severe problem for your business. With facial recognition, employees can only clock in and out if the technology recognizes the user’s face as the correct employee.

The third reason is if you want to dual-purpose your time clock as a security system. You can use facial recognition to allow employees to unlock doors to your building or specific rooms, as well as clock in and out.

The right time clock for your business will depend on which of the problems listed above you’re trying to solve. Below, we’re covering the seven best face recognition time clock apps, including which of these use cases each app is best for.

1. Buddy Punch

If you want to use facial recognition let your employees log in to your app using only their faces — or to prevent buddy punching — Buddy Punch is our top choice. 

Buddy Punch uses FaceID on iPhones and iPads to validate each employee’s identity before they are able to log into Buddy Punch. 

This works best when you’ve set up a time clock kiosk on an iPad that all employees use to punch in and out of work, but it can also work if you have remote or field employees who clock in and out using iPhones.

Buddy Punch’s facial recognition feature brings several benefits:

  • Employees can clock in and out much more quickly using facial recognition than when they have to type in usernames and passwords. This can speed up the queue at the time clock kiosk so you’re not paying people to wait in line at the end of the day.
  • Employees won’t have to remember a username and password or PIN to clock in and out, so you won’t have to spend your time constantly looking up details for employees or resetting their passwords.
  • Employees cannot clock in and out for each other. The system uses authentication to identify distinct facial features, preventing employees from accessing each other’s accounts.
  • Using facial recognition is more hygienic because it’s touchless. Employees don’t have to touch the time clock at all with this method. Instead, they just put their faces in front of the camera, and the system automatically clocks them in and out.

But Buddy Punch brings a lot of benefits beyond just its facial recognition feature. Let’s take a look at some of the other things Buddy Punch can do.

Streamline time tracking, scheduling, and payroll

Buddy Punch is an all-in-one app that helps companies track employee attendance and time, create work schedules, and run payroll. You can use it to track employee time no matter where your employees work — in the office, in the field, or remotely — using its web and mobile apps for both iOS and Android devices.

Employees can clock in and out using a username and password, PIN, QR code, single sign-on, or facial recognition. As employees punch in and out of work, their hours are logged to Buddy Punch, which automatically calculates and totals all work hours, overtime, and pay for you.

You can also use Buddy Punch to create work schedules for your employees. Features like the drag-and-drop schedule builder, recurring shifts, and employee availability make it easy to build schedules quickly. Employees can even request shifts trades and covers when they can’t make a shift they’re scheduled for.

Finally, you can run payroll and pay employees using Buddy Punch, or you can connect it to your existing payroll provider to send your time data to payroll in seconds. Buddy Punch has integrations with payroll and accounting software like QuickBooks Online and Desktop, ADP, Gusto, Rippling, Paychex, and more.

Prevent time theft

In addition to facial recognition, Buddy Punch has several other features that help you prevent time theft and keep your employees accountable:

  • Geofencing: Prevent employees from clocking in and out unless they’re physically present at the job site where they’re scheduled to work.
  • GPS tracking: Log employees’ locations when they clock in and out, or use real-time GPS tracking to monitor their movements across the entire work day.
  • IP address locking: Prevent employees from clocking in and out unless the device they’re using is connected to your office’s Wi-Fi.
  • Photos on punch: Have employees take a photo of themselves when they clock in and out. This can be helpful to prevent buddy punching when employees don’t have access to Apple devices.

Simplify workforce management

Beyond attendance management, employee hours tracking, and its employee accountability features, Buddy Punch comes with a lot more that helps you streamline all of your admin work:

  • Access controls specify who gets admin, employee, and manager permissions.
  • Attendance records identify employees who did not clock in for their shifts.
  • Time off tracking makes sure paid time off is included in employee timesheets.
  • Notifications let you know when someone is nearing overtime, clocks in early, clocks out late, misses a shift, and much more.
  • Time card editing lets employees request changes to their timesheets when they forget to clock in or out that administrators/managers can review and approve or reject.

You can find a complete list of all of Buddy Punch’s features here.

Customer reviews

Buddy Punch has an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars across more than 1,000 customer reviews on Capterra. Customers praise its affordability, ease of use, and great customer support:

“I love the facial recognition feature and other features that ensure that your staff is on the job site in order to sign in. I like how easy the PTO requests are for admins to approve. The team at Buddy Punch is always available to help with questions. That is one of the things I think is most important: great customer service. The accessibility to actual people who can help is invaluable.”

“I found Buddy Punch was easy to use and very well done. I found the software very easy to work in, and I love the facial recognition feature.”

“The facial recognition feature really adds a lot of security to the easy-to-use app. Quick and easy set up for mobile phones.”

“Minimal training was required for end users (employees and managers). The admin features are just as simple and intuitive. We wanted a product that was simple to use, cost-friendly, and allowed us to customize — all of these areas were met. Very impressed!”

Pricing

Buddy Punch’s pricing starts at $4.49 per user per month, plus a $19/month base fee.

Interested in learning more? Start a free trial of Buddy Punch (no credit card required), request a demo, or take an interactive tour of the product on your own.

2. Timeero

Timeero’s facial recognition time clock is a great option for businesses with traveling employees. Its segmented tracking gives you an interactive timeline of GPS data so you can see exactly where all of your employees are in real time and review the data later in your reports. Some of Timeero’s top features include: 

Timeero has an overall 4.4 out of 5-star rating on Capterra out of 72 total reviews. Here’s what one customer has to say about the platform:

“Timeero is the perfect solution for our small business in many ways. Not only does Timeero help our team manage schedules and time, but it also aids in payroll efficiency, employee management, and much more. It became a single stop for multiple tasks for the human resources team. Such a great product!”

3. ClockShark

ClockShark’s time clock software is a great option for construction companies, with a high rating on Capterra across more customer reviews than any other app on this list. 

In addition to its facial recognition system, it’s great for construction project management with its employee work database that makes it easy to keep track of everything your employees are doing — and even dispatch employees from nearby locations to work sites for additional support. 

Some of ClockShark’s top features include: 

ClockShark has an overall 4.7 out of 5 stars rating on Capterra out of 1,898 total reviews. Here’s one customer’s review of the platform:

“The personalized service from the beginning until now has been top-notch. After years of using paper time tracking, this was an easy setup and value add for our business. I should’ve done this years ago and highly recommend it for companies with traveling employees.”

4. ADP

ADP’s physical time clocks come with cutting-edge technology that allows for logging in through recognition of an employee’s face, fingerprint, and/or voice. 

While it’s one of the most expensive options on this list, it’s one of the few that you can pair with security technology to use facial recognition for both your time clock and for allowing access to your building.

Some of ADP’s top features include: 

ADP has an overall 4.4 out of 5-star rating on Capterra out of 6,703 total reviews. Here’s one customer’s review of the platform:

“I use ADP Workforce on a daily basis. I am responsible for new employee setup and training staff on the basic functions. Employees use the platform to request vacation time and read updates on company policies and procedures. Running reports are made easy due to the flexible options.”

5. Jibble

Jibble is the best time and attendance system for those looking for a free option. It offers its biometric clocking option and many other good features in its free forever plan. 

Jibble is also great for its reporting with attendance tracking reports, as well as customizable reports so you can make everything exactly how you need it to be. 

Some of Jibble’s top features include: 

Jibble has an overall 4.9 out of 5-star rating on Capterra out of 1,063 total reviews. Here’s one customer’s review of the platform:

“The Jibble platform is simply a breeze; adding people is seamless, totally love the geofencing feature, and the NFC check-in with the app is simply amazing.”

6. Fareclock

Fareclock is a great employee time clock for those looking for multiple automation features. It has automated schedules and automated payroll calculations. Some of Fareclock’s other top features include: 

Fareclock does not currently have any Capterra reviews. 

7. TimeTrak

TimeTrak is a great employee time tracking and attendance software for those looking for something simple. Its unique timekeeping system keeps things easy to understand for anyone looking at it. Some of TimeTrak’s top features include: 

TimeTrak has an overall 4.7 out of 5-star rating on Capterra out of 131 total reviews.

“User-friendly interface. Provides all necessary reports and the ability to make changes. I like that you can require desktop logging of hours only, avoiding remote clock-in as my staff is all at the office.”

Why choose face recognition over other methods?

While facial recognition is a popular biometric authentication method, it’s important to note that it’s far from the only one. Other biometric time clock options include fingerprint time clocks, voice recognition time clocks, palm recognition time clocks, RFID card time clocks, and more.

One thing that facial recognition has over all of these is that it’s more hygienic than using a touchscreen that every employee in the company has touched. 

Another thing is that facial recognition allows face data and facial images to be saved as an algorithm that, depending on the advancements of the tool you’re using, might include anti-spoofing measures built-in to ensure accuracy. 

But the main thing that facial recognition has is that it’s not limited to physical devices. The fact that apps can include face recognition options means you’re not bound to physical devices with their hassles: warranties, batteries, and ethernet cables.

On the whole, facial recognition is a modern solution for a modern landscape.