# Client timesheet approval without logins

> Let clients approve timesheets through a secure magic link: no account, no password. Name and timestamp recorded, conflicts shown first.

URL: https://timetracking.tech/features/client-approval
Language: en
Last updated: 2026-10-23

Getting a client to sign off hours should not require another account, another password and a training session. TimeTracking sends approvers a secure magic link. They open it, review the week and approve.

## How client approval works

1. **Hours are submitted**: Employees submit their period. Internal checks run first, so the client only sees hours your team already reviewed.
2. **A magic link goes out**: The client contact receives an email with a single-use, expiring link. No account is created and no password is needed.
3. **Review and approve**: The client sees each worker's days, totals and notes, approves the week or rejects lines with a comment. Their name and the time of approval are stored.

## Built for staffing agencies and service companies

When your people work at someone else's site, the client is the one who knows whether the hours are right. Paper timesheets and signed PDFs used to fill that role. A magic link does the same job in a fraction of the time and leaves a clear record.

Approval status flows through the whole period: draft, submitted, approved, exported and locked. After a period is locked, changes become a correction line in the next period instead of a silent edit.

- Single-use links that expire
- Approver name and timestamp in the audit trail
- Reject individual lines with a comment
- Status from draft to locked, shared by web, mobile and API

## Conflicts surface before the client signs

Sometimes the client already has its own version of the hours, from an Excel export or an email. TimeTracking compares that with what workers logged and highlights differences, so your office can resolve them before the approval request goes out.

That avoids the worst kind of dispute: the one discovered after payroll has run.

## Internal approvals too

Not every team bills a client. Managers and planners can approve internally with the same flow, either instead of or before a client approval. Periods are configurable per client or placement: weekly, four-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly.

## What the client sees

The approval page is made for a busy manager on a phone. It lists each worker with their days, start and end times, breaks and totals, plus any notes the worker added. The client can approve everything at once or reject a single line and say what is wrong.

The link can be sent by email or by SMS, and a reminder goes out when a period is still waiting close to its deadline. Large clients with many approvers can also get an optional portal, so each department manager only sees their own people.

- Readable on a phone, no app to install
- Approve all or reject single lines
- Email or SMS delivery with reminders

## Frequently asked questions

### Does the client need a TimeTracking account?

No. Clients approve through a secure, expiring magic link sent by email. There is nothing to install and no password to remember.

### What is recorded when a client approves?

The approver's name, the time of approval and the exact hours they approved. Rejections keep the client's comment.

### Which plan includes client approval?

Approvals and client magic links are included in Core at €1 per user per month, and in Pro.

### Can hours change after approval?

Approved hours can be reopened before export. Once a period is exported and locked, changes are added as a correction in the next period, so the audit trail stays intact.