Confirming Who Is Clocking In
How the identity check at the time clock works, what it proves, and what happened to the photo it replaced.
A company can require its technicians to confirm who they are at the clock. That confirmation is done by the device — Face ID, Touch ID, the Android fingerprint sensor or Windows Hello — and no photograph is taken, sent or stored.
It exists to stop one worker clocking in for another — a colleague punching in for somebody still on the way, or a shared phone left in the van. Because the check runs on the technician’s own enrolled device, a punch can only come from the person who can unlock it.
Who decides, and where
It is your company’s choice, made for your own crew. Seayora does not switch it on for anybody. Whoever manages timesheets sets it on the website under Timesheets → Rules → Who is clocking in → Identity check, or in the timesheet settings in the Seayora app on iPhone or Android. A change applies to the next punch, not to shifts already recorded.
The three settings
- Do not check (off) — the default. Nothing is asked, and the punch records no identity result.
- Check, and record a punch that fails (flag) — the technician is asked to confirm. If they cannot, the clock-in still goes through and is marked flagged for you to review.
- Refuse a punch that fails (block) — without a confirmation the clock-in is refused, and the technician is told why.
How it works
When a technician sets up their device, it creates a key that never leaves its secure enclave. At the clock, the device asks for the fingerprint, face or passcode it already uses to unlock, then signs a one-time code with that key. Seayora checks the signature and checks that the device really did verify the person. The biometric itself never leaves the handset and Seayora never receives an image of anybody.
What it proves, exactly
That the person who can unlock that enrolled device authorized this punch. It does not tell us whether that was a fingerprint, a face or the device passcode — the operating system does not report which, and Seayora does not claim to know. That is still a far stronger statement than the photo it replaced, which proved nothing at all.
What happened to the photo
The old setting made a technician photograph their face at every punch. The image was stored with the punch, the first one was kept as a “reference”, and nothing was ever compared to anything — there was no face-matching service behind it. It was an identity check in appearance only, and it accumulated face images, which several states treat as biometric data with a private right of action attached. The reference images have been erased and the capture removed.
Rolling it out
- It ships off. Refusing punches before anybody has set up a device would lock a whole crew out of the clock, on a driveway, at the start of a job.
- Start with “Check, and record a punch that fails”: punches go through, and one without a confirmation is flagged, so you can see who still needs to set up.
- Technicians set it up the first time the clock asks them, or under Settings → Security → Passkeys. It takes about a minute.
- Move to “Refuse a punch that fails” once nobody is being flagged.
The three settings are the same three the geofence uses — off, flag, block — on purpose, so there is one vocabulary to learn.
Reviewing flagged punches
On the website, Timesheets → Review → Flagged only lists every punch carrying a flag — a failed identity check and an off-site geofence punch alike. Each punch records whether the check was asked for, whether it passed and when. A punch taken while the check was off records nothing, which is a different fact from a check that failed.
Frequently asked questions
Does Seayora store my fingerprint or my face?
No. Neither ever leaves your device. Seayora stores a public key, which cannot be turned back into anything about you.
What if I get a new phone?
Enroll it the same way. The old device’s key stops working; you can remove it from Settings → Security → Passkeys.
Can I clock in on a shared van phone?
Only with your own enrolled device. A passkey belonging to somebody else is refused — that is the abuse the check exists to stop.
My device has no fingerprint reader.
The device passcode satisfies the check. What matters is that the device verified whoever is holding it, not which method it used.
Related guides
Related features and guides
- Compliance, Safety & 1099s for Contractors — Documentation. Setting what your business is required to hold, how Seayora grades your certificates, and exporting 1099s for your accountant.
- Account Security: SSO, 2FA & Passkeys — Documentation. How to secure your Seayora account with single sign-on, two-factor authentication, device verification, passkeys (WebAuthn), and resetting a forgotten password.
- The Time Clock: Punches, Breaks, Overtime & Approval — Documentation. How technicians clock in and out against a job, what the geofence and photo rules do, how overtime is calculated, how an owner reviews and approves hours, and how to read the clock-in map.
- Service Pro Identity Verification — Feature. Identity verification for service professionals plus background checks for your crew, so landlords can dispatch to your team with confidence.
- Timesheets & Labor Tracking — Feature. Technicians clock in and out against a job, hours flow into job costing and invoicing, and you see real labor cost per job instead of an estimate.
- Mobile Field App & Push Notifications — Feature. A mobile-first field experience with push notifications for dispatch, so technicians get assignments, capture photos, and clock in without going back to an office.