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The Time in Usage Does Not Add Up Correctly

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Circle tracks family member's Internet activity throughout the day and displays that information under the Usage section of their profile. Because of the way Circle tracks this activity, there might be a difference between the displayed total time spent online, and the time spent on various categories and apps / websites.

Multitasking

People often multitask while using the Internet. For example, several tabs could be open in a browser. Circle sees each website or app visited, and categorizes them accordingly. This might cause a discrepancy between the total time spent online and the time spent on a category, app, or website.

Total time vs. time spent on categories, apps, or websites

Here's an example: Anna's profiles says that she's spent 3 hours online. Below that total, Circle shows how long Anna spent on various categories and apps / websites. Let's see, an hour of Minecraft, an hour of Facebook, an hour of Instagram and 3 hours of Spotify... if you added up all the time Anna spent on various categories and apps / websites her time online would have exceeded three hours. 

Most likely, Anna was multitasking. One minute, maybe she was streaming music while she played games like Minecraft, or perhaps she was looking at social media. In any case, Circle will count all that activity as a single minute online, despite the fact that it will show up in four different places in Usage.

Usage and History

If you have further concerns about a family member's time online, you can expand the categories under Usage or head to the History section of the user's profile, to see a chronological log of a family member's Internet activity.

Missing Usage Data

Please use the contact info below to contact support if you need further assistance.

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