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What Are Reliable Minutes?

Understand reliable minutes and why they matter more than raw recorded time.

Core 5 min read
Recorded

Everything the app captured

Recorded time includes raw coverage, even when some periods are too noisy for analysis.

Reliable

Only the minutes you can trust

Reliable minutes remove low-confidence periods so comparisons stay more meaningful.

Use

Compare with less noise

Hydrogen can give cleaner answers when the comparison is based on reliable coverage.

Sample view

Reliable minutes protect comparison quality

If you use raw recorded time alone, you can mistake noisy data for a real pattern. Reliable minutes make the comparison stricter and safer.

Recorded minutes vs reliable minutes
Illustrative day-by-day split showing why raw time can overstate usable coverage.
Sample data
Sample data only. Reliable minutes are the stricter portion used for cleaner comparisons.
Recorded
1,720m
Sample total raw time captured during the week.
Reliable
1,428m
Sample usable coverage after filtering noisy periods.
Coverage quality
83%
Sample share of captured time strong enough to compare.
How to read it

Treat low reliable minutes as a confidence warning

Low reliable minutes do not make the day useless. They mean the day should carry less weight in stronger conclusions.

High coverage
Weak · Use total time without checks.
Better · Compare windows with more confidence.
Low coverage
Weak · Still force a conclusion.
Better · Ask for coverage summary before interpreting.
Mixed week
Weak · Average everything together.
Better · Separate normal days from noisy days.
  • Use recorded minutes to understand volume.
  • Use reliable minutes to judge comparison quality.
  • Treat interrupted days as context, not proof.
  • Prefer several normal days over one high-volume noisy day.
FAQ

Quick answers

What are reliable minutes?

Reliable minutes are the minutes you can trust enough to use in comparisons, not just the minutes that were recorded.

Why not use total recorded minutes?

Recorded minutes can include noisy or low-confidence periods, which makes comparisons less trustworthy.

When should I care about them?

You should care whenever you want Hydrogen to compare one period against another with less guesswork.

Next step

Install and track first

Track a few normal workdays, then compare reliable minutes before asking for deeper analysis.