Use On My Way, Clock In, and Clock Out
Use the visit action button to tell the office and customer where the work stands.
On My Way
The button shows On My Way before you clock in when either of these is on for your business:
On My Way (customer ETA) — depends on Technician GPS being enabled in Settings > Scheduling > Features. Tapping it logs that you are en route. If automatic customer notifications are enabled and a Tech En Route template is configured, the app confirms that the customer was notified and can show an ETA.
Travel tracking (Settings > Time & Pay > Travel & commute) — the tap also starts a travel clock so the drive lands on your timecard; clocking in ends it. With travel tracking alone (no GPS features), the button appears too — there is no location prompt and no customer notification, only the travel time record.
The app saves the tap on the device before sending it. If the customer cannot be notified because the connection is unstable, the app shows Customer not notified and attempts the notification again when the connection stabilizes. Essential does not send an old en-route notification after it is no longer timely.
When travel tracking is enabled, the same saved tap preserves the original travel start time for the technician's timecard.
The button shows Loading... while Essential checks location and records the action. If location permission is denied, device location is off, or a GPS fix is unavailable, you can still record On My Way and then Clock In without coordinates. You do not need to change Android location settings to record your time. Notification permission is optional too; declining it does not prevent On My Way or Clock In.
Clock In
Tap Clock In when work starts. The app will not let you clock into a second visit while you are already clocked into another one.
Clock-in and clock-out taps are saved on the device when you are offline or a connection failure prevents confirmation. The visit shows the saved tap while it waits to sync, and syncing preserves the time you originally tapped. You do not need to tap again when the visit already shows the change.
Once the visit's day has passed, the button stays on screen but becomes disabled — unless you haven't clocked into that visit yet and it's still within 24 hours of its scheduled start, in which case you can still clock in late. If your office sets Days in the past technicians can see in Settings -> Team -> Technician App -> Scheduling, any past visit you can still browse also keeps its On My Way and Clock In buttons active, so you can go back and do or finish that work. The clock time recorded is the moment you tap, and the automatic 24-hour clock-out still applies.
Clock Out
Tap Clock Out when the visit is complete. If the button says Clock Out (Submit Summary First), open Add Summary or Edit Summary, submit the summary to the office, then return to clock out.
If you forget to clock out, you cannot clock into another visit because the next Clock In button will be disabled. If it is the last visit of the day, the app may send a reminder about an hour after the scheduled visit end time.
Essential can automatically clock you out 24 hours after the clock-in time. The time spent on the visit may be inaccurate, and the visit may be missing a summary.
GPS tracking
If technician GPS is enabled for your business, the app may request location permission. Location updates are used while you are en route or clocked in so the office can see technician status on the schedule. After GPS is enabled for the business, technicians may need to restart the mobile app before tracking begins.
Where to find it: Mobile app > Visits > visit detail
If your business has Time cards turned on, clocked time also lands on your timecard for the current pay period. See Track and submit your timecard on mobile.
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