FAQ & How-To Guide

When you first open ShiftEarn, you'll go through a quick onboarding flow:

The whole setup takes under a minute. You can always add more jobs and change settings later.

Yes, a free account is required to use ShiftEarn. You can sign in with Google, Apple (on iOS), or create an account with email and password. Your account enables cloud backup and syncing across devices if you upgrade to Pro.

All your shift data is stored locally on your phone first, so the app works even without an internet connection.

ShiftEarn supports four worker types to match how you actually get paid:

• Tip Worker — Servers, bartenders, valets. Track tips per shift.
• Hourly Worker — Set your hourly rate, log hours worked.
• Salary Worker — Fixed amount per shift (e.g., $150/day).
• Salary + Tips — Base pay plus tips each shift.

Each job can have a different worker type, so if you bartend and drive for a delivery app, both are covered.

Tap the big + button (floating action button) in the bottom-right corner of the screen. This is available from any tab.

After saving, you'll see an animated success screen showing your earnings and shift grade. Tap anywhere to return home or add another shift.

When adding a shift, tap the Split button next to the tip amount field. This reveals two separate inputs for Cash Tips and Credit Tips. The total is calculated automatically. This helps you track how much cash you walked out with vs. what will appear on your paycheck.

Tip-out is the amount you pay to bussers, food runners, or other support staff. You can configure tip-out when creating a job:

• Percent of tips — Automatically calculates tip-out as a percentage of your tips
• Percent of sales — Based on total sales
• Fixed amount — Same amount every shift

When configured, tip-out is automatically calculated and subtracted from your shift earnings. You can also override it manually on any individual shift under the Advanced Options section.

To edit: Long-press (hold for about half a second) on any shift card on the Home screen, Calendar, or All Shifts view. This opens the shift editor with all your existing data pre-filled.

To delete: Swipe the shift card to the left. A red delete button will appear. Tap it to confirm deletion.

Every shift gets a letter grade based on how it compares to your other shifts at the same job. Grades range from A+ (top earnings) to C- (below average). This helps you quickly see which shifts were your best and spot patterns — like whether Fridays consistently earn more than Tuesdays.

Grades are calculated using your earnings percentile across all logged shifts for that job. The more shifts you log, the more accurate grades become.

Tags let you label shifts with extra context — like Busy, Slow, Event, Holiday, Weather, or custom tags you create. Tags show up on your shift cards and can help you find patterns (e.g., "Event" nights average 30% more tips). You can manage and create custom tags in Settings > Shift Tags.

Yes! Enable Mileage Tracking in Settings > Preferences. Once enabled, a mileage field appears when adding any shift. This is especially useful for delivery drivers to track miles for tax deductions. You can also enable Delivery Mode in Settings for a quick summary of today's delivery count and total mileage.

Templates PRO let you save common shift configurations for one-tap logging. If you always work a 6-hour lunch shift at Job A, save it as a template. When adding a shift, your templates appear as quick buttons that pre-fill hours, job, tags, and more. Manage templates in Settings > Shift Templates.

Go to the Manage tab (briefcase icon) and select the Jobs sub-tab. Tap Add Job at the bottom.

Free users can have 1 job. Pro users get unlimited jobs.

Go to Manage > Jobs and tap the job you want to edit. From the edit screen, you can change any field. To delete the job, tap the delete button in the header. You'll see a confirmation warning, especially if the job has associated shifts (which will also be deleted).

Free users can track 1 job. With ShiftEarn Pro PRO, you get unlimited jobs with separate tracking, stats, and goals for each. The Home dashboard shows a per-job earnings breakdown when you have multiple jobs.

There are two ways to set schedules:

From the Job Editor: When creating or editing a job, tap the day buttons (S M T W T F S) to mark which days you regularly work. These days will show as colored dots on your calendar.

From the Calendar: Tap any day on the calendar, then tap the schedule editor button. Toggle "Every [Day]" to set a recurring weekly schedule for any job, or toggle "Just [Date]" to schedule a one-time shift for that specific date.

Scheduled shifts are upcoming work days shown on your calendar with colored dots. They remind you when you're working but don't count toward your earnings.

Completed shifts are actual logged shifts with earnings, tips, and hours. When you tap a scheduled day on the calendar, you can quickly convert it to a completed shift by entering your earnings.

Go to Manage > Goals and tap Add Goal.

Your goal progress appears on the Home dashboard and the Manage > Goals tab with a visual progress bar and percentage. Free users get 1 goal; Pro users get unlimited.

Goals track your actual earnings against the target for the selected period:

• Weekly goals — Reset every week (Monday to Sunday)
• Monthly goals — Reset on the 1st of each month
• Yearly goals — Reset on January 1st

If a goal is linked to a specific job, only shifts from that job count. "All Jobs" goals count every shift.

The Stats tab has three sub-sections:

• Stats (all users) — Charts showing earnings trends, total hours, hourly rates, best/worst shifts, and period comparisons. Switch between Week, Month, and Year views.
• Insights PRO — AI-detected patterns like "Fridays are your best day" and optimization suggestions.
• Compare PRO — Compare two time periods side by side to see how your earnings are improving.

Free users can view current week and month stats (up to 4 weeks back). Pro users get unlimited history and year stats.

Your Home screen shows a rich summary of your earnings for the selected period (Week, Month, or Year):

• Total earnings with a trend indicator (up/down vs previous period)
• Smart insight — A contextual tip like "Averaging $45 per shift"
• Spendable amount after estimated taxes and expenses
• Goal progress bar
• Shift count, total hours, and hourly rate
• Per-job breakdown (if you have multiple jobs)
• Recent shifts list (your last 5 shifts)

Use the arrows at the top to navigate between periods, or tap the date to jump back to the current period.

The Calendar tab shows a monthly grid of your shifts and schedule:

• Colored cells — Days with earnings show a color intensity based on how much you earned (darker = more)
• Colored dots — Small dots below the date number indicate scheduled jobs for that day (one dot per job, matching the job's color)
• Monthly summary — Total earnings, shift count, hours, and average hourly rate for the month

Tap any day to expand its detail panel showing scheduled jobs, completed shifts, earnings breakdown, and the option to add a shift or manage the schedule for that day.

Tap a day on the calendar to open the day detail panel. If you have a job scheduled for that day, it will show "Tap to add shift" with the job's wage information. Tap it and you'll be taken to the Add Shift screen with the date and job pre-filled. You can also use the + button from anywhere.

Go to Manage > Paychecks and tap Add Paycheck.

ShiftEarn automatically compares estimated vs actual and flags any discrepancies. This helps you catch payroll errors. Paychecks show as Pending (yellow), Verified (green), or Discrepancy (red).

Free users get 2 paychecks. Pro users get unlimited.

Go to Manage > Expenses and tap Add Expense.

The Expenses tab shows a summary with your top spending categories as colored bars. You can filter by category and switch between Week, Month, and Year views. Expenses are subtracted from your "spendable" amount on the Home dashboard.

Free users get 5 expenses total. Pro users get unlimited.

ShiftEarn includes free financial calculators accessible from the Tools button on the Home screen:

• Tip & Dining Calculator — Calculate tips and split bills between friends. Includes a random tip picker for fun.
• Hours of Life Calculator — See how many hours you'd need to work to afford any purchase. Puts spending in perspective.
• Savings Growth Calculator — Visualize compound interest and see how your savings could grow over time.
• Rent vs Buy Calculator — Compare the cost of renting vs buying a home and find the break-even point.

Go to Settings > Currency and select from 20 supported currencies including USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, JPY, INR, MXN, BRL, and more. All amounts throughout the app will display in your chosen currency symbol.

Go to Settings > Language and choose from 9 languages: English, Spanish, Vietnamese, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. The entire app interface updates immediately.

Go to Settings > Appearance and choose:

• System — Follows your phone's dark/light mode setting
• Dark — Always dark theme
• Light — Always light theme

Go to Settings > Notifications and toggle notifications on. You can customize:

• Reminder time — What time of day to get reminded (e.g., 11pm after your shift)
• Reminder days — Which days of the week to receive reminders

You can also tap Send Test Notification to make sure it's working.

Go to Settings > Preferences > Tax Rate and enter your estimated tax percentage. This is used on the Home dashboard to calculate your "spendable" amount after taxes. It's an estimate to help you budget — ShiftEarn is not a tax filing tool.

Your data is stored locally on your device in a SQLite database. This means your data is private and available even without internet. If you have ShiftEarn Pro with Cloud Sync enabled, a copy is also stored in Firebase (Google's cloud) for backup and multi-device access.

Cloud Sync PRO automatically backs up your data to the cloud. You can also manually trigger a sync from Settings.

Export PRO: Go to Settings > Data & Privacy to export your data as CSV or JSON files that you can save or share.

Go to Settings > Data & Privacy > Delete All Local Data. This erases all jobs, shifts, goals, paychecks, and expenses from your device. If you also want to remove cloud data, use Delete Cloud Data first. This action cannot be undone.

You can delete your account and all data:

You can also request account deletion by emailing privacy@shiftearn.app. See our Delete Account page for full details.

The free version includes everything you need to start tracking:

• Unlimited shift logging
• 1 job, 1 goal
• 30-day history
• Week & month stats with charts
• Calendar view (current month)
• 5 expenses, 2 paychecks
• 9 languages, 20 currencies
• All financial tools
• No ads — ever

ShiftEarn Pro removes all limits and adds powerful features:

• Unlimited jobs, goals, expenses, paychecks, and templates
• Unlimited history — See all your data, not just 30 days
• Year stats — View annual earnings trends
• Insights — AI-detected earning patterns and optimization tips
• Compare — Side-by-side period comparisons
• Cloud sync & backup — Your data backed up and accessible on any device
• Full calendar — Earnings view for all months, not just current
• Data export — CSV/JSON export for tax time
• Shift templates — One-tap logging for repeat shifts

• Pro Monthly — $2.99/month
• Pro Yearly — $19.99/year (save 44%, just $1.67/month)

Both plans include all Pro features. You can upgrade from the Settings tab or when prompted by a locked feature. Cancel anytime through your app store.

Sign in with the same account you used to purchase Pro. Your subscription should restore automatically. If it doesn't, go to Settings and tap Restore Purchases. Make sure you're signed into the same Google Play or App Store account that was used for the original purchase.

If you see the "Something went wrong" screen, tap Try Again to reload the app. If the issue persists, close the app completely and reopen it. Your data is safely stored locally and won't be lost.

Cloud sync requires:

• An active ShiftEarn Pro subscription
• A signed-in account (Google, Apple, or email)
• An internet connection

Check your sync status in Settings — it shows the last sync time and any errors. Try tapping the sync button to manually trigger a sync.

Google Sign-In requires Google Play Services on your device. Make sure you have the latest version of Google Play Services installed. If the issue persists, try signing in with email and password instead.

Email us at support@shiftearn.app. We typically respond within 24 hours. Please include your device model and Android/iOS version to help us troubleshoot faster.