# When police ask for your work-hour logs: a €9.99 time-tracking app for Portuguese ride-hailing drivers

> Source: https://stringers.io/en/apps/ios_6798022151.html (Stringers / 什么值得做, generated 2026-11-08)
> Stringers answers one question every day: what small product can one or two people build in a few months and actually make money from. Numbers come from 15 databases we collect daily, each with source and date.
> For agents: these verdicts and the underlying databases (verified revenue, App Store / Google Play charts, ad libraries, GitHub, Product Hunt…) are queryable live over MCP — tools today / hot / products / directions / direction / data. Setup: https://github.com/komako-workshop/stringers (the user logs in at stringers.io → "配置 agent" to get a personal URL). Site index: https://stringers.io/llms.txt

> A new September law put the 10-hour driver cap and enforcement in the news, Uber and Bolt don't combine hours across both apps, and iOS had no dedicated tool for it. Portugal's paid chart has a very low bar, so a few sales a day is enough to chart.

[Mobile App](https://stringers.io/en/apps/index.md) · iOS · written 11-6

D

Drive Time(Drive Time TVDE) · Diogo Terrivel

# When police ask for your work-hour logs: a €9.99 time-tracking app for Portuguese ride-hailing drivers

**What it is** A standalone iPhone app for Portuguese ride-hailing drivers to log work hours: clock in and out, calculate time, alert on overtime, and export a PDF for inspectors. €9.99 one-time purchase.

**Why it's taking off** The September new law put the driver 10-hour cap and inspections in the news. Uber and Bolt don't add up hours across platforms, and iOS had no dedicated tool. The Portuguese Top Paid chart is easy to crack; a few sales a day can chart.

**C** **How to ride it:** Don't build another one for Portugal. Look for countries or industries that just passed rules requiring individuals to keep their own records, where local tools are only Android or web. Be first with a native iOS app, one-time purchase, that exports an inspection-ready PDF.

Grade C: the Portuguese market has only tens of thousands of drivers, selling single digits a day. The free TVDE Driver already runs on iOS, and the free Chronex has more features. The lesson is the playbook (new rule + iOS gap + small-country paid chart), not this specific product. Few people know about it yet

Data (updated daily) · First launched 2026-09-25 · Portugal score 0 · 11-08 charted in 2 stores

iOS · Top Paid overall rank · By store

Data 2026-11-05 → 2026-11-06 (2 days, 2 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day

iOS · Number of stores charted (top 200 on any chart)

Data 2026-11-05 → 2026-11-06 (2 days, 2 observations)

iOS · ratings · Portugal

Data 2026-11-05 → 2026-11-08 (4 days, 4 observations). Apple doesn't publish download counts; rating growth is a proxy for downloads.

Drive Time, built solo in Lisbon, does one thing: helps Uber and Bolt drivers log hours and exports a PDF at inspection time. Zero ratings, no website, and it squeezed into the Portuguese Productivity Top Paid chart at #4 in Nov 5. It shows a findable opportunity: personal compliance tools forced by new rules are often unbuilt on iOS. But this particular slice is too small, and free competitors have already arrived.

### A line written to drivers

The Facebook page for "Drive Time - TVDE" opens its description with:

> És Motorista TVDE? A próxima vez que a PSP, o IMT ou ACT te pedir, abre a app "Drive Time"

"Are you a ride-hailing driver? Next time police, traffic authorities, or the labor inspectorate ask for your records, just open Drive Time." Then three checkmarks: "log shifts by the minute", "PDF 100% legal"...

The app hit the App Store in Sep 25 2026, developer Diogo Terrivel, based in Lisbon, with this as his only app. €9.99 one-time purchase (R$59.90 in the Brazil store), version 1.0.1, no updates since launch (App Store, 11-06). The Android version `pt.drivetime.app` came earlier, listed on Google Play in August, also paid. There's no website: the drivetimeapp.com in the description doesn't load, and the privacy policy sits on a free Firebase subdomain.

Features: clock in, pause, resume, clock out; live effective-hours calculation; driving-time alerts; history for the last 7 days; PDF export; driver and vehicle info entry; Portuguese and English UI. The description also notes that the stats are "for reference only" and that you must comply with Lei 45/2018 (Portugal's ride-hailing law).

### Why drivers have to log hours themselves

Portugal calls ride-hailing TVDE. This plays out on three levels:

1. **Electronic records were already mandatory.** Portaria 7/2022 set how hours must be recorded, and paper work logbooks stopped being accepted from June 2023. Whether self-employed or attached to a fleet, drivers need an electronic record (chronex.now, livrete.pt).

2. **The new law pushed it back into the news.** Lei 59/2026 was published in Aug 25 and took effect in Sep 1: platforms must record driver hours, and no more than 10 hours may be driven in any 24-hour window, calculated on a rolling basis (Fieldfisher 2026-09-01; tvderadar.com). Observador, SIC and Jornal de Negócios all covered it in 9. Individual fines are €250–4,500 (tvderadar.com).

3. **Each platform tracks its own.** Uber tracks Uber hours, Bolt tracks Bolt hours, and they are not combined. Drivers running both, which is common in Portugal, have to keep their own combined total (arterian.pt 2026-07-02).

Drive Time's iOS version launched after the new law took effect, during the weeks of heaviest coverage. What it sells is not features but "having something in hand when you get checked."

### How it's actually selling

| Date | Portugal Productivity Top Paid | Portugal overall Top Paid | Brazil Productivity Top Paid | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11-05 | #4 | #68 | #10 | 0 |
| 11-06 | #4 | #138 | #25 | 0 |

(App Store charts, checked daily from 10-28; first charted 11-05)

Don't be scared by "#4". On 11-06, the Portuguese Productivity Top Paid #1 was Due, a 2010-year-old app; #3 was 2Do; #5 was a new app that had launched only 11-02 earlier. A zero-rating app reaching #4 means this chart can be charted with a few sales a day **inferred, Apple doesn't publish sales** . So Drive Time is probably selling single digits a day **estimated** , a few hundred euros a month.

It also shows up on the Brazil chart, even though the app is only for Portugal. The most likely explanation: many Brazilians drive in Portugal and may be using a Brazil-store Apple ID **inferred, not verified** .

From the outside it's unclear why it charted on 11-05: maybe it started running Facebook ads, maybe someone shared it in driver Facebook or WhatsApp groups, or maybe the price was briefly cut (one price-comparison site once showed "-50%", unverified). Nothing turns up for it on TikTok or X, and no media has written about it.

### Who it's competing with

It's not without competitors, and the stronger ones are free:

| Product | Platform | Pricing | vs. Drive Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chronex | Android only | Free | More features: a dedicated inspection page with QR code, tamper-proof records, a floating button; 1+ installs on Google Play, 3.3 stars (11-06) |
| TVDE Driver(Bigorna.Digital) | iOS / Android / web | Free, no ads | 10-13 on iOS, clock-in and overtime alerts, plus income and document expiry tracking. The most direct iOS alternative |
| Livrete | Android + web | €24/year + VAT | iPhone only through the web; has a fleet manager console |
| AllDrivers | iOS / web | Fleet subscription | Sold to fleets, with GPS tracking |
| Bluwalk, e-lic | Web | Fleet-provided / €70+ per month | Fleet or company plans; individual drivers don't buy these themselves |
| Uber / Bolt's built-in hour limits | In-platform | Free | Don't add hours across the two platforms |

Drive Time's only gap is the cell "native iOS, for individual drivers, one-time purchase, no sign-up." When it launched in September that cell really was empty; the best free tool was Android-only. By October, the free TVDE Driver had added iOS, and if Chronex ships an iOS version, the gap is gone entirely.

There's also a ceiling: Portugal has tens of thousands of TVDE drivers **count unverified** , and the slice that uses an iPhone and will pay €10 is a small part of that. Even winning all of it is a small business.

### What this one teaches

Copying it into a Portuguese version isn't worth it. What's worth keeping is the playbook:

- **When a new rule drops, individuals have to prove compliance themselves.** When a law says "you must produce your own records," the demand doesn't need to be cultivated. In many countries these tools only ship for Android or the web, and native iOS is often empty.

- **Write copy around the moment you get checked, not around features.** "Next time the police ask, open this" is worth far more than "real-time hours tracking."

- **Paid charts in small countries have almost no bar to entry.** A handful of sales a day can get you charted, and once you're charted people can find you. A new app with zero budget can start there.

- **One-time purchase, no account.** Drivers don't want another subscription, and they don't want to hand their data to the fleet.

The same structure shows up elsewhere: working-time rules for ride-hailing and delivery riders in other EU countries, similar rules in Brazil, hours logs for truck and van drivers, tax records for freelancers.

### If it were you

**C: you can learn from it, but this particular one doesn't pay.** The Portuguese market has only tens of thousands of drivers, and a free competitor is already on iOS. The valuable part is the playbook, and it should be applied somewhere else.

**Good fit for** : one or two people who can build native iOS and read the local law in its original text. Ideally you're in a small-language country that just passed a new rule, or you know a group of drivers there.

**Bad fit for** : anyone wanting to build yet another TVDE time-logging app in Portugal (TVDE Driver and Chronex are free, and Drive Time already holds the paid slot). Anyone hoping it will pay their bills (here it's a few hundred euros a month). Anyone who only wants the English-speaking market (big-country versions of this already have plenty of competitors).

**How to build it** : start by finding the rule. Which country passed a law in the past year requiring individuals to keep their own records and show them on inspection? Then search the local keywords on the App Store and check whether the only options are Android or web. Next, build a standalone, account-free iOS app with a one-time purchase (€5–15). The core is three things: one-tap clock-in, enforcing and alerting on legal limits, and exporting a PDF an inspector can read. On features, match the local free Android tools at minimum, such as inspection-page QR codes and tamper-proofing. Otherwise the moment a rival ships on iOS, you're finished.

**How to get users** : catch organic traffic from App Store search and the small-country paid chart first. Then go to the drivers' own Facebook groups, WhatsApp groups, and trade association pages, with copy that only asks "what do you do when you get checked?" Ads are an option, but the market is small, so test in units of a few hundred euros.

**Deadline** : the window is the 1–3 months after the new rule takes effect. Drive Time still sold after launching more than three weeks late, but a free iOS competitor arrived one and a half months later.

**Signs you misread it** : (1) Drive Time is still in the top 10 of the PT Productivity paid chart a month later and starts collecting ratings. That means this slot is deeper than it looks, and paid can hold up in Portugal. (2) Chronex ships an iOS version and Drive Time drops out of the top 50. That means paid tools die once a free option matches them, so next time you have to beat the local free option. (3) The country you picked has the platforms themselves summing multi-platform hours. Then demand for individual tools disappears overnight.

[iOS store page ↗](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6798022151)

**Research notes: competitor table, acquisition evidence, full research report**

Competitors

| Name | Where | Launched | Scale | How it differs from this one |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chronex: Registo de Ponto TVDE | Android | Early 2026 (around February, announced on Instagram that it was coming to Play; exact date not verified) | Play 1 thousand+ installs, 3.3 stars, 7 reviews (Play page 2026-11-06) | All free, with more features (inspection-page QR codes, tamper-proof chained records, floating button, stats every 30 days). But Android only, so iPhone users can't use it. That gap is exactly what lets Drive Time charge on iOS. |
| TVDE Driver(Bigorna.Digital) | iOS | 2026-10-13 | PT iOS 5 ratings, free with no ads. Also available on Android and web. | Free, and it also tracks income, expenses, and document expiry. Clock-in is just one part. It launched after Drive Time and is the most direct free alternative on iOS. |
| Livrete(livrete.pt) | Other | After Portaria 7/2022 (unverified) | 4.7 stars on Play; €24/year plus VAT | Annual subscription, and iPhone users can only use it through the mobile web. Has a fleet-manager side and 5-year data retention. Drive Time is native iOS with a one-time purchase. |
| Bluwalk time recording (Registo de Tempos) | Web | Not verified | Free for drivers of the fleet operator Bluwalk | Included with a fleet service, so you have to be a Bluwalk user first. Drive Time works no matter which fleet you're attached to. |
| AllDrivers | iOS | 2026-05-04(iOS) | PT iOS 1 ratings. Mainly a fleet-subscription product, also sells GPS tracking. | For fleets and operators (B2B). Drive Time is for individual drivers |
| e-lic | Web | Not verified | €70.75–95.75/month | A heavy-duty product for companies managing mobile staff. Individual drivers won't buy it. |
| The online-hours limits built into the Uber and Bolt driver apps | Big-company features | Platforms are obligated to do this from Law 59/2026 onward (2026-09-01) | All TVDE drivers in PT | Platforms only track hours on their own app and don't add Uber and Bolt together. Drivers working both still have to keep their own combined record, which is why third-party tools can survive. |

Where users come from

- **Verified** **App Store search + paid chart** : The PT Productivity paid chart has a very low bar. On the day, #1 was Due (2010 years old) and #3 was 2Do. An app with zero ratings can rank #4, and once charted people can see it. Searching "TVDE" on iOS turns up almost no paid apps dedicated to logging hours.

- Inferred **Facebook page (may also be running Meta ads)** : The Facebook page "Drive Time - TVDE" (id 61591693414371, a recently created ID by the numbering) has a bio that reads: "És Motorista TVDE? A próxima vez que a PSP, o IMT ou ACT te pedir, abre a app 'Drive Time' ✔️ Registo de turnos ao minuto ✔️ PDF´s 100% Legal". Our Meta ad library doesn't track this page, so we can't confirm whether it's running ads.

- **Verified** **natural demand from a regulatory event** : Lei 59/2026 2026-08-25 was published, 09-01 took effect, and September Observador, SIC, Jornal de Negócios and Fieldfisher are all writing about the new law's working-time recording and the 10-hour cap. Drive Time 9-25 launched right on time.

- Inferred **Purchases from the Brazil storefront** : The BR Productivity paid chart ranked #10 to #25, yet the app only serves Portugal. A plausible explanation is that Brazilian immigrants driving in Portugal use Brazilian-storefront Apple IDs (Brazilians are a large share of TVDE drivers; this is an inference).

## Drive Time (ios_6798022151) research report

> In one line: an hours-tracking tool for Portuguese ride-hailing (TVDE) drivers, a one-time iOS purchase at €9.99, built by an individual developer (Diogo Terrivel). It charted for three reasons: the law made it a must-have, almost no iOS app does this job, and the Portuguese paid chart has a very low bar. **It hasn't really broken out** , and a free iOS competitor has already launched.

### 1. What it is

- App Store: [apps.apple.com/pt/app/drive-time/id6798022151](https://apps.apple.com/pt/app/drive-time/id6798022151). Store subtitle is "Drive Time TVDE", Productivity category, €9.99 (R$59.90 on the Brazil storefront), version 1.0.1,2026-09-25 at launch, no updates since (iTunes lookup, 2026-11-06).

- Features: clock-in, pause, resume, and clock-out; live effective-hours calculation; driving-time alerts; history for the last 7 days; PDF export; driver and vehicle info entry; Portuguese and English UI. The description states "statistics and reports are for reference only; comply with Law 45/2018".

- There's also an Android version at `pt.drivetime.app`, also paid (AppBrain shows $10.99). The Play page lists its update date as 2026-08-14, so the Android version came out before the iOS one (AppBrain page / Google Play page).

- No website: drivetimeapp.com doesn't resolve, and the privacy policy is hosted on Firebase at drive-time-da85f.web.app. The developer's Facebook lists them as a Lisbon resident and co-founder of Eco-Art, with this app as the only one under their name.

### 2. Data

Data comes from the appstore database's chart_rank / app_day. This database started recording from 2026-10-28, and the app first appeared on a chart on 11-05.

| Date | PT Productivity paid chart | PT overall paid chart | BR Productivity paid chart | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-05 | 4 | 68 | 10 | 0 |
| 2026-11-06 | 4 | 138 | 25 | 0 |

- **How low the PT paid chart's bar is** : On 11-06, the PT Productivity paid chart had #1 as Due (2010 years old), #3 as 2Do, and #5 as Fix and Flip, which had only just launched (11-02). An app with zero ratings ranking #4 suggests this chart fills with just a few sales a day (an estimate; Apple doesn't publish sales numbers).

- **People in Brazil are buying it too** : The app only serves Portugal, yet it charted on the Brazil Productivity paid chart. The likely explanation is Brazilian immigrants driving in Portugal using Brazilian-storefront Apple IDs (many TVDE drivers are Brazilian; Controle TVDE, a tool for Brazilian drivers, was also built by Brazilian developers for Portuguese drivers). This hasn't been verified.

### 3. Why the demand exists now

1. **Electronic hours records have been legally required for a while** : Portaria 7/2022 set the rules for hours recording. Paper LIC (Livrete Individual de Controlo) records stopped being accepted in June 2023. TVDE drivers need electronic records whether they're self-employed or attached to a fleet (chronex.now, livrete.pt, alldrivers.pt).

2. **Law 59/2026 put this back in the news** : 2026-08-25 was published and took effect 09-01 (Observador 2026-08-26, Jornal de Negócios, SIC 2026-09-01, Dinheiro Vivo). The new Article 17-A requires platforms to record drivers' hours and enforce driving and rest limits (Fieldfisher 2026-09-01). The cap is 24 hours max in any rolling 10-hour window (chronex.now, tvderadar.com). Individual fines run €250–4,500 (tvderadar.com, "Coimas e fiscalização").

3. **Platform records aren't enough** : Uber and Bolt each track only their own hours and don't add them together, so drivers working both have to keep their own combined total (arterian.pt 2026-07-02).

4. **Launch timing** : the iOS version launched 9-25, right after the new law took effect and media coverage peaked.

### 4. Competitors

| Product | Where | Launched | Scale | vs. Drive Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chronex: Registo de Ponto TVDE(com.veiklo.chronex) | Android | Early 2026 | 1 thousand+ installs, 3.3 stars, 7 reviews (Play page) | All free, with more features: inspection-page QR codes, tamper-proof chained records, floating button, stats. **Android only** . |
| TVDE Driver(Bigorna.Digital) | iOS / Android / web | iOS 2026-10-13 | PT iOS 5 ratings | Free with no ads. Clock-in plus overtime alerts, and it also tracks income, expenses, and documents. **The most direct free alternative on iOS** . |
| Livrete(livrete.pt) | Android + web | 2022 years later | Play 4.7 stars | €24/year plus VAT; web-only on iPhone; has a fleet-manager dashboard |
| Bluwalk time tracking | Web | Not verified | Bluwalk free for its own drivers | You have to be a fleet user first |
| AllDrivers | iOS / web | iOS 2026-05-04 | PT iOS 1 ratings | A fleet subscription that bundles GPS tracking |
| e-lic | Web | Not verified | €70.75–95.75/month | A heavy plan for enterprises |
| Uber / Bolt's built-in hour limits | Platform features | New legal requirement | All drivers | We don't add the two platforms together |

**Verdict: there's no shortage of competitors, and the ones with more features are free.** Drive Time's gap is only the cell "native iOS, for individual drivers", and October is also covered there by the free TVDE Driver.

### 5. Where users come from

- **App Store search and Top Paid chart (confirmed)** : the Portugal Top Paid category has a low bar, so once you chart, people can find you.

- **Facebook page (page confirmed, whether it runs ads not verified)** : the page is named "Drive Time - TVDE" (facebook.com/61591693414371), and the ID suggests it's new. The bio reads: "És Motorista TVDE? A próxima vez que a PSP, o IMT ou ACT te pedir, abre a app "Drive Time" ✔️ Registo de turnos ao minuto ✔️ PDF´s 100% Legal ✔️ Sem ..." The pitch speaks directly to "what to do when they check you." Our Meta Ad Library doesn't include this page (that library only tracks the watchlist), and Facebook pages won't load without logging in, so we can't see whether it's running ads.

- **TikTok / X / media** : TikHub searches for "drive time tvde" and "registo horas tvde app" only return unrelated content, like the US used-car dealer DriveTime. No media coverage or creator recommendations found.

- **Why 11-05 suddenly charted** : unclear. It isn't in our data from 10-28 onward. It could have started running ads, or someone may have recommended it in a driver Facebook or WhatsApp group (TVDE drivers mostly talk in Facebook groups and WhatsApp, such as the pages for associations like AMTVDE and APTAD). No direct evidence.

### 6. Differentiation, and whether it's the reason it charted

- It has no feature differentiation and offers less than the free Chronex.

- The real differences are two: **native iOS** (the best free option at launch was Android-only), and **a one-time purchase, no account, no need to attach to a fleet** . What it sells is the peace of mind of "being able to show a PDF when checked."

- These two points are indeed why it can charge on iOS and chart. But the gap is shallow: TVDE Driver is free on iOS, and if Chronex ships an iOS version, it will squash this overnight.

### 7. How many people know about it

Few people know about it yet. There's no website, no media coverage, no public revenue, and nothing on X or TikTok, just a Facebook page. The market itself is also small: Portuguese TVDE drivers number in the tens of thousands (exact figure not verified), so even once known, few people are worth going after.

### 8. What to borrow

- **A personal compliance tool driven by new regulation** : when a small-language country issues new rules requiring individuals to prove compliance, build an iOS-native, one-time-purchase, offline tool that exports PDFs first. Many such tools are Android-only or web-only, so iOS often has a gap.

- **Small-country paid category charts** : the bar is very low, a few sales can chart you, and once you do, people can find you.

- **Write the fear scenario in the copy** : skip the feature list and write "when the police ask you for your records."

- Where it can be copied: working-hour rules for ride-hailing or courier riders in other EU countries, similar rules in Brazil, and work-hour logging for truck drivers.

### 9. Still unclear

- Real sales: PT Top Paid #4, estimated single-digit sales per day.

- Whether Facebook runs ads, and how much.

- Why 11-05 suddenly charted.

- Whether purchases in the Brazil store come from Brazilian migrant drivers.

- How many Android installs.

- A recall card says the Chronex team made a Brazilian version, PEGGA BR; not verified.

### Sources

- iTunes lookup id=6798022151 (pt), 2026-11-06; App Store page apps.apple.com/pt/app/drive-time/id6798022151

- appstore library chart_rank, app_day, app_profile, v_chart (2026-11-05/06)

- Google Play: pt.drivetime.app and com.veiklo.chronex pages

- chronex.now;livrete.pt;alldrivers.pt;e-lic.eu;tvdedriver.pt

- arterian.pt/blog/registo-tempos-trabalho-tvde(2026-07-02)

- Fieldfisher "Alterações ao Regime TVDE" (2026-09-01); Observador 2026-08-26; SIC Notícias 2026-09-01; Jornal de Negócios; Dinheiro Vivo

- tvderadar.com/blog/registos-diarios-o-caderno-do-turno (2026-11-01), /blog/coimas-tvde-fiscalizacao

- Facebook page "Drive Time - TVDE" (search snippet, Jina/Brave)

- TikHub TikTok search, 2026-11-06

This article was written by AI from public data and the data we collect daily. Numbers are sourced, and inferences are labeled.