Developer: Jim Tsao
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.03
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4
Increasingly, people are taking on extra work in order to pay the bills. Second jobs are becoming commonplace, especially amongst young people with few responsibilities outside of work. Include the growth of shift work and keeping track of hours and pay can get pretty confusing. PayCal sets out to decipher some of that and make life a little simpler for those trying to keep track of the hours they work and the pay they should expect.
It’s an immediately simple app to use. Setup is a quick process of entering the relevant jobs involved then selecting the time periods that they are worked. Color codes help to set apart different roles quickly. Recurring shifts can be created at a tap of a button which makes things all the faster. Other options include unpaid break times and setting up paydays so that the user can consult when they should be paid and for how much.
It all sounds great at first and it very nearly is. Unfortunately, PayCal is a little too simplistic in places. For those such as myself who just need to juggle a couple of different positions with set payments involved, it’s easy and great to use. It’s when things get more complex and overtime comes into the equation that it’s harder to set up correctly. For those who do work overtime, there’s no way of setting the app to treat shifts differently without having to set up a whole new job. It might not take much time to do but it would have been great if the app could recognize that over a certain amount of hours in a week equals overtime.
In a future update, I’d love to see the ability to add tax rates too, thus making paydays more accurately laid out.
Other than that, PayCal is a pretty useful app for what it offers. It might be too simplistic for some but it covers all the major features that are required and certainly doesn’t take long to organize. For the freelancer in need of an extra helping hand or those who just need to keep an eye on their finances more closely, this could be useful. Here’s hoping for some regular updates to make it unbeatable.