A GPS time clock takes a single coordinate when an employee clocks in, then checks it against a geofence, a circle you drew around your business. If they’re inside, the punch is allowed. If they’re outside, the punch is either flagged or blocked. That’s the whole concept. Setting one up takes about 60 seconds. The harder part is doing it well: picking the right radius, handling GPS drift, and not annoying the only nurse who lives close enough to clock in from her car.
What is a GPS time clock, exactly?
A GPS time clock is an app or kiosk that captures the employee’s location at the moment of clock-in and clock-out. Most also let you draw a geofence, a virtual perimeter around your business, and apply a rule: allow only inside-fence punches, or flag outside-fence punches for manager review.
The point isn’t surveillance. The point is to fix the single most common time-tracking problem: people punching from the wrong place at the wrong time. Buddy punching, drive-time padding, and accidental early clock-ins all collapse against a coordinate check.
Setup in 60 seconds
- 01
Create your company
Sign up at useclockout.com/register with your email and a password. No credit card. This step takes ~10 seconds. - 02
Add your first location
Search for the address. The map drops a pin and proposes a 100-meter geofence. Drag to refine. Bigger sites need bigger fences, see the radius guide below. - 03
Pick the enforcement mode
Choose Block (out-of-bounds punches are rejected) or Flag (punches happen, but land in the exception inbox). Most owners start with Flag for a week, then switch to Block. - 04
Invite employees
Add names and email addresses (each person gets an email with a link to choose a password), or share your company invite link. Employees install ClockOut Time Clock from the App Store or Google Play, or add the web app from their browser. iOS and Android both prompt for location permission on the first punch. - 05
Take the first punch
Open the app, tap Clock In. The app captures coordinates, checks the geofence, and either accepts or flags. Total time from sign-up to first verified punch: under a minute.
Picking the right geofence radius
Geofences live or die by their radius. Too tight and your employees can’t clock in from the staff entrance. Too loose and the whole point is gone.
- Café, salon, clinic: 50-100m. The signal can reach the parking lot, not the next block.
- Restaurant with outdoor patio: 100-150m.
- Retail with shared mall lot: 150-200m.
- Construction site, campus, large warehouse: 250-500m.
- Field service driving between sites: per-job geofences, 100-200m each.
Handling GPS drift
GPS isn’t perfect. Indoors, on overcast days, or in dense urban canyons, accuracy can drift by 30-80 meters. A few quick rules that prevent 80% of complaints:
- Use Flag, not Block, for the first week. Watch the exception inbox to see who’s drifting and by how much before locking down.
- Know the built-in margin. ClockOut adds 50m plus the accuracy the phone reports (capped at 200m extra) to every phone and web clock-in, and a flat 50m to kiosk punches, so normal urban drift is already covered. Widen the radius only if the first week of flags shows real staff falling outside.
- Allow admin override. If the GPS chip on the manager’s phone is misbehaving, an admin should be able to clock them in manually without disabling enforcement for everyone.
- Encourage Wi-Fi on. Phones blend Wi-Fi positioning into the GPS estimate, which sharpens accuracy indoors.
Permissions, the boring but important part
Always grant location permission as “While Using App.” Never “Always.” ClockOut only needs the location at the moment of clock-in/out, not in the background. Granting Always permission is bad privacy hygiene and unnecessary.
If an employee uses the web app (PWA) on iOS instead of the native app, the location permission is granted to the browser, not the home-screen icon. If location stops working, check Settings → Safari → Location.
A clean rollout in one week
- Day 1: Sign up, add locations, invite employees with Flag mode.
- Day 2-4: Watch the exception inbox. Adjust radius based on real punches.
- Day 5: Switch to Block on your most critical location.
- Day 6: Run your first full timesheet and approve.
- Day 7: Review what got flagged. Decide which locations stay on Block.