Chrono FAQ

It’s both! Chrono is a mobile application available on either the App Store (Apple) or Google Play (Android). The mobile app does the data collection and provides you with goal setting and analytics. In the near future, you'll also be able to login to Chrono through the website (www.gochrono.io) to access only the analytics, for times when a larger screen may be helpful.

It’s up to you. You can do the complete set-up in the mobile app or, if you’re already on the website, you can start the process here and we’ll help you finish with the install of the app on your phone. Get started today!

IOS or Android, via Apple’s App Store or the Google Play Store, respectively.

To avoid the potential for multiple devices collecting location data, the Chrono app has been developed for mobile phones only. In the future, you'll also be able to log into Chrono’s website at www.gochrono.io (including on your tablet!) to review your data and create reports. The website will not support data collection. 

Chrono is available for download and purchase in about 70 countries around the world. Check the app store to see if it’s available where you are!  Once you're a user, Chrono can track you pretty much anywhere on the planet.

Yes! Head to the Pricing page of the website to learn more!

Chrono passively captures data to create your analytics automatically, so you don’t have to think about it. To do that, Chrono needs you to provide access to your device’s Location Services. Please refer to the Privacy & Security information for what we do –and don’t do! –  with this data.
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Apple Users During set-up of any new app, Apple does not present the option to “Always Allow” access to Location Services. When setting up Chrono, the best option to select here is to “Allow While Using App.” After set-up, you will receive a notification in the app asking you to update this to Always Allow with a link to the device’s Location Settings.

In short, Chrono asks you for permission to access your phone’s Location data, which gives Chrono the ability to collect and create these analytics for you. From this access, Chrono is able to capture your location information which is then analyzed to determine where in the world you are, and how long you were there, to then determine how that relates to your residency or visa goals.

When Chrono requests access to your phone’s biometrics services, it is asking to use the device’s facial recognition (think Face ID) or fingerprint recognition (think Touch ID) capabilities. Providing access does not give Chrono access to your picture or your fingerprint! Chrono uses the built-in capabilities of your phone simply so that it can verify that you were actually with your phone. 
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As explained in the Using Chrono section below, this enables more detailed and reliable reporting on where you were, and how long you spent there.
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It’s also an extra layer of security!

To make your life easier! Chrono may notify you for various reasons, such as when you’ve successfully checked-in to a location, achieved a goal, are at risk of reaching a residency threshold, or if Chrono needs you to update a setting on your phone.  
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When asked, please enable Notifications. We’ll try not to bug you and you can always update your Settings in the app.

Chrono was designed to have as minimal an impact on your phone’s data use as possible. Data is collected regularly but often only when the phone detects significant movement. That is one key way that we can limit the amount of data being transferred.

For users, Chrono is available to use and to collect data on your travels globally! Swiss Alps?  Got it. Bahamas? No problem. Melbourne? Australia or Florida - we’ve got you covered.

Chrono uses this three-tiered system as a way for users to highlight the integrity of the data. 
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Observed - By default, Chrono passively observes your location using the Location permissions you grant to Chrono on your mobile device.  Once you’re set up with Chrono, you don’t have to do anything else. It knows where your phone is and passively collects, analyzes and stores this data. 
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Verified (with biometrics) - If you want an additional level of verification, Chrono uses your phone's native biometric features to authenticate that you were physically present with your phone, either when you are actively using Chrono and/or when you perform a manual check-in.  
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Manually Added - If you want to add missing days to fill in any gaps in your timeline, you can easily do so. But since Chrono did not actually observe and/or verify these travels, it will store them with labeling indicating it was Manually Added.

No. Chrono only stores time and location data as Observed or Verified (see explanations above) when it can actually observe or verify these things itself. You are welcome to add missing days as Manually Added, though!

Chrono does provide some pre-populated goal days for specific tax jurisdictions, typically using what the general threshold number of days is per year in that location, but these should not be relied upon as being 100% accurate.
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Chrono does not and cannot provide tax or legal advice and any pre-populated goals in Chrono are not tax or legal advice. You should consult a tax professional for advice about what your specific goals should be and you can set them accordingly within Chrono. 
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Some tax jurisdictions have multiple ways to achieve residency, and the rules may not be as simple as achieving a certain number of days in the location within one year. Achieving tax residency may require that you also not achieve residency elsewhere, may require that you maintain a home, may look at your location over the course of several years as opposed to just one year, and may consider whether you were in a location for business or leisure. 
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Chrono is a flexible tool that will let you measure your time in locations over custom time periods and the means to append the purpose of the time in that location, but how you use Chrono and what goals you set and try to achieve are entirely up to you!

Yes. You can delete any events that you want removed from your timeline. But once these are removed from Chrono’s data storage, they cannot be recovered. You may manually add them back but they will be stored as Manually Added (and not as Verified or Observed). So please be sure you want to delete them! 
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You can also visit the Settings menu to Delete All of the data Chrono has collected for you. That’s a pretty severe action but it’s your data and your call.

No. “Goals” are a way to view your timeline. Think of them like a filtered view of it. Deleting the goal only deletes the filter and not the underlying data. To delete an actual location visit, you need to delete the specific visit from your Timeline.  

Yes. Some taxation jurisdictions request information about not only the number of days you spent within their borders or others’ borders, but whether those days were for business or pleasure. Chrono allows you to annotate (tag) your travel data to specify whether a trip was for business or personal travel. Just open up a single visit and update the details. If you have multiple visits you’d like to update, you can create a “Group” of these and annotate them all at once

You can also save receipts and photos to your location visits.

This is such an important question that we created an entire page about it. 

Chrono provides personal travel analytics. This data is for you to use for your own purposes. We do not sell or share your location data with any other company.  
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To create more compelling metrics and benchmarks, users’ data may be used in aggregate with other users’ data to create comparisons. For example, do you want to know if you’re above or below average for the number of countries you visited this year? We’d need to aggregate everyone’s data to know what’s average!

There is good reason to be thoughtful about the collection and use of location data. 
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Third party companies have been collecting and using consumers’ location data for their own purposes for years and have, at times, not securely managed their access to this data. 
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Chrono is putting the power of use of this data into the hands of the people it belongs to - you. Location data is personal data. As per our Privacy Commitment page, we take this responsibility seriously.

All vendors that Chrono uses to process and store our customers’ personal data have achieved SOC 2 Type II compliance. This includes our data collection, location point of interest sources, cloud storage, messaging, CRM, and others. Chrono itself has not yet sought accreditation but has been designed and built with that goal in mind.

It’s imperative that you rely on the advice of a tax and/or legal professional for tax and legal advice. Chrono cannot and does not provide tax or legal advice. 
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As a general statement, however, there are no guarantees about what a taxing authority or a court of law will rely on. 
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While Chrono is collecting location and biometric data in the most secure manner we know how - directly from users’ Apple IOS and Android OS devices - there is no assurance that a relevant tax authority or court of law will treat the data as definitive proof. The location data collected by a mobile phone’s native capabilities is generally regarded as being more accurate than cell phone location data and calling record data, which is commonly used in tax disputes. 
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Additionally, Chrono was designed to also address a common question - was the user even with the phone? By tying use of the biometric features of Chrono users’ phones, we are endeavoring to allow our users to further demonstrate that they were physically present with their phones at the time the location data was collected.

Within the Reports Center in Chrono, you can access data reports specific to a specific time period (“Date” reports) or to a specific goal you have set (“Goal” reports). Once you’ve selected this, you can then access all of the raw data Chrono has collected relevant to your request. In many cases, Chrono also provides the option for a summarized report, with charts, providing a top level summary of your travel for that report. 

The raw data download will provide you with all of the detailed information Chrono has collected for you about the days, locations and reasons you were traveling. Additionally, this export includes the information about how the data was collected - Verified, Observed or Manually Added. 
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You may access your reports from either the mobile app or from the web app (website), and may either directly download them to your device or share them with a trusted third party via email or any other method you choose. Note that this is your personal sensitive data, so please be thoughtful about who you share it with!

Chrono is a personal data analytics service, which users install on their mobile phones, to capture and report the time they spend in different locations over time. The application logs information about their current locations tied to the time/date they were in that location. Chrono also captures data about the device being used and the method of data capture. 
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Users can append additional information including their purpose for travel, including whether it was for business or leisure purposes and can also add pictures and receipts.
 
Chrono users can export raw data in a CSV or Excel format, and may also create high level summary documents in PDF format ( ie Chrono Reports ) to provide to their tax professionals.