With the advent of smartphones, you no longer need a register to tick names manually. Some of the biggest companies in the world rely on biometrics and smart cards to automate attendance, otherwise the door will simply not open. The only problem here is that it can be really expensive to install a system like that, especially for startups or school teachers. This is where attendance apps for Android comes in to the picture. Not very expensive, not very complicated to install or use, but gets the job done just fine. Useful for corporate meetings, schools and teachers.
Best Android Attendance Apps
1. Attendance Register
Although the developer designed the app to be used by students to keep track of their own attendance, so they could plan how many leaves are left, I find the app simple enough to be used by a startup to track attendance of their employees. Just enter the names of the all the people who are working for you. Once you have all of them in the list, it is easy to shuffle or rearrange the list using drag-n-drop function. Also Read: 8 Best Pomodoro Timer For Windows to Boost Your Productivity
Now, to mark an employee as present, just tap on his/her name to launch the calendar. Again, tap on today’s date to open the popup menu where there are four options. Present, Absent, Holiday, and Note. After some time, you can open individual calendars to see a visual representation where presents are marked by green and absent is marked by red. Pros:
Easy to use with Free with ads Suitable for small companies Can be used by a teacher as well
Cons:
No way to remove ads UI looks bad
Download Attendance Register (Free)
2. Attendance
If you are a teacher looking to take attendance of your students, the problem is two-fold. First, you need a way to record subjects and then record names of all the students. Then you can mark them as present or absent based on the lectures they have attended. Attendance was built with this problem in mind. You can create entries for both subjects and students in it.
What’s more? There is also a separate section to record terms/semesters. Different students or groups of students can opt for different subjects which is why Attendance also has room to create groups. When everything is set up, you can begin marking students as present or absent everyday based on the subject and term they are attending. Pros:
No ads Easy to use
Cons:
Can’t find any
Download Attendance (Free)
3. WiFi Attendance
Wifi Attendance is a unique concept for companies that are looking for a hassle-free way to track their employee’s attendance. Every office offers free WiFi to its employees. Standard practice. Why not use it to mark attendance? The moment an employee’s smartphone connects with your WiFi network, he/she will be marked as present, otherwise an absence. What’s more? You can also clock their timings and details like when they arrived, when they left, and how long they stayed in the office.
Being in the office doesn’t mean the employee is hard at work on his desk. WiFi Attendance will track the location of the employee in real time to tell you his/her whereabouts. The app is free to use for up to 10 employees after which, plans begins at $1/user/month. Pros:
Easy to use Suitable for small to medium startups Also available for iOS
Cons:
Location tracking may be looked down upon by employees (privacy)
Download Wifi Attendance (Freemium)
4. Attendance Manager for Teachers
Taking attendance of students has to be simplified, and shouldn’t take more time in an ideal situation. Taking this concept to the heart is the Attendance Manager for Teachers app. Just tap on the name of the student to mark him/her as present or absent. As a teacher, you can create a list of subjects and students. Once the initial setup is done, just click on names to toggle them present/absent. Also Read: 10 Timer Apps for Mac For Every Need
Sometimes, the school may announce unexpected holidays. In that case, you can mark all students absent in a single go. There is support for import of names of students from a CSV file. You can also export details if needed. The UI is very functional and looks nice. The app is free to use with no ads. Pros:
Functional UI Free with no ads Password protection Easy to take attendance and track results
Cons:
Can’t find any
Download Attendance Manager for Teachers (Free)
5. Virtual Attendance
Virtual Attendance promises to help you reduce the time you would otherwise spend on marking attendance of your employees. Just install the app and create employee profiles. If you have more than one department, this means there are also heads of each department managing the employees. Virtual Attendance solves this problem by allowing you to create departments, managers, and even working shifts. This way, you can assign each employee to different departments with their respective managerial heads. Easy to create reports and check attendance department wise. All this is done using QR codes. Each employee will scan their respective QR codes to mark their attendance. Privacy-centric users will be happy to know that this app won’t track their location.
Virtual Attendance is free for up to 1 manager and 5 employees after which, it will cost you $5 for unlimited employees and managers. Pros:
Departments and managers No live location tracking Works with QR codes
Cons:
None
Download Virtual Attendance (Freemium)
6. AttendZone
AttendZone is a zone specific app which means it will track employee location and inform you about the zone they are currently in. This involves GPS tracking so you will know when the employees check-in and check-out. AttendZone is more suitable for employers who have a marketing team with members going out and about on a frequent basis.
If you are part of the big organization with multiple offices, or zones, you can authorize them all to keep track of all the employees that are dropping in and out of different zones. Pricing begins at $5/mon for up to 10 employees and goes up to $50/mon. Download AttendZone (Android | iOS) (starts $5/month) Also Read: Best Apple Watch Timer Apps
7. Teachers App
Another attendance app for teachers and professors who are teaching their students, and want to keep tabs on their attendance to make sure that they are eligible to sit in the exams at the end of the semester. You begin by creating profiles of the students, adding their names, pics, and fees details. Now, when a student is absent, you have the option to send a text message to their parents. Whoa! You can also notify students or parents about late payment of fees.
Other interesting features include sending report cards of tests conducted in the class, so the parents will know how their kids are doing in the school/college. All this valuable data can then be exported in CSV format for offline access and backup. The app is free for the first month after you will have to pay $29.99 for app and 5000 messages for one year. Pros:
Send text messages Alert parents on attendance, fees, marks Export in CSV format
Cons:
None
Download Teachers App (Freemium)
8. Jibble
When working in an organization, tracking attendance is not enough. You also need to keep track of the time that they are spending on their desk or in the field. This where Jibble comes into the picture. Jibble will let you track attendance and time using biometric verification. How? Take a selfie to punch in or punch out. This reduces the risk of buddy punching where one employee will punch his friend using his smartcard.
Jibble also uses GPS to track location of the device connected with the system to make sure that buddy punching is eliminated. Everytime you punch in, your time starts. Same for when you punch out. The system will then create weekly and monthly reports to let you know how each employee has performed over the time period. Have multiple clients? Use Jibble to track hours spend on different clients and calculate payroll. Jibble is cross-platform including Slack. Pricing begins at $1.5/user/month and goes up to $3/user/month based on features and requirements like admin, kiosk, security policies, and power-ups. Pros:
Geo-tagging Payroll Time tracking Multiple clients Cross-platform
Cons:
None
Download Jibble (Freemium) Also Read: 5 Best Time Tracking Apps for Android for Freelancers
Which is the best Android Attendance Apps?
It doesn’t matter where you are working. Whether you are a teacher looking to make taking attendance of students easier, or a professional wanting to keep track of employees’ attendance and time, there is an app for that. Which one you choose will depend on your needs like whether you need a scalable enterprise solution or something simple for a startup or as a teacher.
