What Does Supershift Actually Do?
Supershift is a well-built shift management app with a focus on scheduling and rota planning. Its core features include adding and viewing shifts on a calendar, setting shift reminders, tracking total hours worked over a period, and managing different jobs or work locations in one place.
It's particularly popular with people who work irregular shifts across multiple employers, and those who want a clean visual overview of their upcoming working week. The UI is polished and the calendar view is genuinely useful for planning.
Supershift has a free tier and a premium subscription (Supershift+) that unlocks additional features like wage calculations, overtime tracking, and more detailed reports. At the time of writing, premium pricing sits around £2.99–3.99/month.
What Does Overtime Live Do?
Overtime Live is built around a fundamentally different concept: what are you earning right now, this second? Rather than a scheduling tool, it's a live earnings tracker. The core experience is tapping 'Start Shift' and watching your cumulative earnings update in real-time — both in the app and on your iPhone Lock Screen via Live Activities.
The features built around this core include split-rate shifts (where your rate changes mid-shift — common for NHS and police workers), a complete shift history, earnings goals, lifetime stats, and an overtime pay calculator. Everything is free. No subscription, no account required, and all data stays on your device.
Side-by-Side Feature Comparison
| Feature | Supershift | Overtime Live |
|---|---|---|
| Live Lock Screen earnings counter | ✗ No | ✓ Yes (Live Activities) |
| Real-time earnings update during shift | ✗ No | ✓ Yes (per-second) |
| Shift scheduling / calendar view | ✓ Yes | Limited |
| Multiple jobs / work locations | ✓ Yes | Via different rates |
| Shift reminders / notifications | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| NHS / police variable overtime rates | Premium only | ✓ Yes (free, Split Shift) |
| Earnings goals & progress | Premium only | ✓ Yes (free) |
| Lifetime earnings history | Limited (free) | ✓ Yes (free) |
| Free (no subscription) | Free tier only | ✓ Fully free |
| Works on iPhone Lock Screen | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Overtime pay calculator | Premium only | ✓ Yes (free, web) |
| Android support | ✓ Yes | Beta / coming |
What Supershift Is Missing
The headline gap: Supershift does not tell you what you're earning right now. You can log a shift after the fact and see your total, but there's no live earnings counter updating during the shift itself. There's no Lock Screen widget showing your current earnings climbing in real-time.
For many shift workers — especially those on overtime — this real-time visibility is the whole point. Watching the number go up during a long shift is motivating. It also helps you spot immediately if you've been clocked in on the wrong rate.
Supershift's overtime and wage features are also paywalled in the free tier. If you want to calculate your actual take-home from a shift, you need to upgrade. Overtime Live handles this entirely for free, including the ability to calculate NHS and police variable rates within a single shift.
What Overtime Live Doesn't Do
To be fair: Overtime Live is not a scheduling app. If you need to plan your rota, set shift reminders, or see your upcoming week at a glance, Overtime Live doesn't have a dedicated calendar view for future shifts. It's focused on the present and past — live tracking and history.
Overtime Live also currently only has a polished iOS app. If you're on Android, Supershift is a more complete option for now.
Who Benefits From Using Both
The shift workers who get the most out of both apps tend to be those who:
- Work complex rotas with varying patterns (NHS, police, fire service)
- Do bank or agency shifts in addition to contracted hours
- Are actively tracking towards an earnings goal for the year
- Want the motivational push of seeing their live earnings during a shift
The workflow is simple: use Supershift to plan and see what's coming up on your rota. When you start a shift, open Overtime Live — tap start, set your rate, and let the Live Activity handle the rest. When the shift ends, your total is logged permanently.
The Verdict
Use Supershift if:
You primarily need shift scheduling, rota management, and reminders. It's genuinely good at the planning side of shift work, and the calendar view is one of the better ones in this category.
Use Overtime Live if:
You want to know what you're earning right now, build a complete earnings history, track towards goals, and calculate variable NHS or police overtime rates for free. It's the only free app that shows your live earnings on your iPhone Lock Screen during a shift.
Use both if:
You work complex shifts with variable rates and want both planning and live tracking. It takes less than 10 seconds to start a shift in Overtime Live at the beginning of a shift you've planned in Supershift. Many users find this to be the ideal setup.