ActivityWatch in research

ActivityWatch is used as a data-collection instrument in academic studies. This section documents the Research Edition, a purpose-built variant for that use, and maintains the participant-facing instructions so that studies can link to a canonical, versioned page rather than circulating copies over email.

Why researchers use it

  • Local-first. Data stays on the participant’s device. Nothing is transmitted automatically. The participant creates an export file and uploads it deliberately, which makes the data flow easy to describe in an ethics application.

  • Open source. The collection logic can be read, audited and cited by reviewers.

  • Cross-platform. Windows, macOS and Linux today; Android is in development.

  • Filtered titles and URLs. The bundled window watcher converts browser activity into predefined categories and discards window titles and URLs before storing them. Additional watchers are outside that guarantee. See Research Edition.

Self-reported computer use is a poor measure of actual computer use. The canonical validity study found that self-report agreed with software registration for only 18% of participants, and misclassified exposure for more than 80%:

IJmker S, Leijssen JNM, Blatter BM, van der Beek AJ, van Mechelen W, Bongers PM. Test-retest reliability and validity of self-reported duration of computer use at work. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2008;34(2):113-119. doi:10.5271/sjweh.1220

How to cite

If you use ActivityWatch in published work, please cite the software:

Bjäreholt E, Bjäreholt J. ActivityWatch. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4957165

The repository also contains a CITATION.cff, which GitHub renders as a “Cite this repository” button.

Studies and publications

An incomplete list, maintained so that researchers choosing an instrument can see prior use. ActivityWatch typically appears in methods sections rather than titles or abstracts, so it is largely invisible to citation indexes — if you have used it and are not listed, please tell us.

Used as a data-collection instrument

  • Psychological Wellbeing, Sleep, and Video Gaming: Analyses of Comprehensive Digital Traces — Oxford Internet Institute (Ballou, Földes, Hakman, Vuorre, Magnusson, Przybylski), Stage 1 Registered Report, 2025. ActivityWatch is the Android data-collection channel for 2,000+ participants over three months, alongside console and storefront telemetry.

  • On/Off — imec-mict-UGent (Vanden Abeele, Perneel, Van Gaeveren), the DISCONNECT ERC citizen-science panel. Used for opt-in laptop and PC collection, documented in the study’s participant information and privacy materials.

  • Sabermetrics for Cyber — Rivera, Booz & Hammerstein (CMU SEI), ECCWS 2025.

Discussed, compared or built upon

These cite ActivityWatch without using it to collect their data.

  • Traces as Data — Parry & Klingelhoefer, handbook chapter, 2025. Names ActivityWatch as an exemplar desktop-logging tool.

  • Activity Frames — Iyamu, 2026 (arXiv:2608.05784). Cites ActivityWatch once as related work, and runs its own capture pipeline.

  • Student theses building on or integrating ActivityWatch: Kroček (University of South Bohemia, 2020), Kraus (Czech Technical University in Prague, 2021), Panchuk (NURE Kharkiv, 2026).

Unpublished or unlisted deployments

Known deployments that have not produced a listed publication, including the University of Maryland iSchool, MIT Media Lab, Clemson University, and Lund University’s IIIEE.

If you are running or planning a study, please get in touch. We are glad to help scope the instrument, and we keep a list of studies that have used ActivityWatch.