I Built a Free App to Help California Workers Track Their Own Hours and Detect Possible Violations

California has some of the strongest wage and hour protections in the country. Meal breaks, rest breaks, overtime, split-shift premiums — the law is specific about what workers are owed.

The problem is that most workers have no independent record of what actually happened. Their employer keeps (and manipulates) the timesheets. If something looks wrong on a paycheck, there’s often nothing to compare it to.

That’s why I built WageCop.

What It Does

WageCop is a free app for California workers. You use it to clock in and clock out — that’s it. The app:

• Records every shift with a GPS stamp and an exact timestamp
• Automatically calculates and flags breaks that may not meet California requirements, based on your actual hours worked
• Stores your records independently, on infrastructure your employer doesn’t control
• Works offline and syncs when you’re back online
• Exports your timesheet as a plain file you can keep or share with an attorney.

Every punch is sealed with a SHA-256 cryptographic hash tied to your device and the exact moment it was recorded. If a record is altered, the seal breaks. This means your timesheets become valuable evidence to support your wage claims. Your history is yours — and it stays yours. There’s also a community forum inside the app where workers can compare notes by employer and issue — meal breaks, overtime, split shifts. You can see if coworkers at the same company are seeing the same thing.

Who It’s For

WageCop is built for hourly and shift workers (or workers misclassified as exempt or independent contractors) in California — warehouse workers, restaurant and retail employees, healthcare workers, construction crews, gig workers, anyone who clocks (or should be clocking) in and out. If you’ve ever looked at your paycheck or timesheets and thought something seemed off, this is the tool I wish you’d had from day one.

It’s Free For Workers

Tracking your hours, seeing your alerts, and exporting your records is always free. There’s one optional paid feature: a sealed PDF or Excel packet of your records — cryptographically stamped, GPS-verified, formatted for use with an attorney. That’s free for a limited time $19.99, one time, and only when you want it. You’re never charged for your own raw data.

Get It Now from the App Store and Play Store

WageCop is now available for download at the Apple Appstore and Google Play Store.