iBiz

If you are looking for an invoicing and time-tracking app that has Calendar synchronization (for those that like to track jobs with notes in Calendar, like me, and for those that don't like subscription-based web products) try OfficeTime. I just moved over to it from iBiz and I'm liking it.

Sad to see it go. It worked really well for me in my work flow. Cheers, Ian. Best of luck with your other products.

I believe IGG should just focus on iBank, which I have not tried and will not, while staying away from more serious software development that is clearly beyond their coding capabilities. The software is in a nutshell: UNINTUITIVE AS BUGGY AS WINDOWS 3.1 AMATEURISH AT BEST We almost lost a client because of a series of bad invoices were issued and the program did not calculate discount properly (a pretty simple task). We have had to find work-arounds for a lot of pretty basic tasks. The only reason why we chose iBiz was their ability to pull information from iCal; even that it DOES NOT DO WELL and it is quite temperamental. PLEASE DO NOT BUY IT if you are a consultant. I do not know which software I will use from now on but to be sure I will need to go back to Excel until something decent is released.

I've been using iBiz for close to two years. I chose it following a lot of research and having tested a number of other Mac offerings. While I think it's the best of the lot, sadly the bar is pretty low. I like the synchronization with iCal (Calendar) and some of the basic functions (time entry, reports, etc.) are adequate, the fact that you still can't create invoices that easily break out expenses as a separate subtotal is just frustrating. They've been promising a fix forever! Lastly, it doesn't have a companion app for the iPhone. They have created one for iBank, their sister app, so they have the talent to so. I'm jumping ship yet, but I'm constantly on the look out for a better tool.

Just updating my review to reflect the ongoing improvements to iBiz and to counter-balance the odd negative ratings iBiz has received here lately. I still find iBiz to be the best program in this category since it easily allows me to synchronize work log data between iCal and iBiz... so I can record time and work events in iCal (individual calendars for each client) and synch these directly with iBiz (specifying whatever date range I prefer) for billing. Other programs I have tried are more limiting in how they allow data synchronization with iCal, especially in selecting specific client work log events and date ranges.

Downloaded the demo to try it out. Tried to add a client several times, but each time all of the information disappeared. It's hard to make further comments because all the other features require a client in order to work.

IBIZ 4.1.4 LEAKS MEMORY LIKE A SIEVE. Why do the 4.1.4 notes say that the leak has been fixed? I upgraded recently from 2.x after many years and am now being forced to revamp my entire time tracking scenario because of this SERIOUS BUG. I just sit here in Activity Monitor and watch 1-2 MB leak every minute, and 1-3 MB every time I start a timer. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. And worse, why did they lie about fixing the leak in version 4.1.4 when it is leaking like crazy? This is devious. And the company has closed their forums in favor of a skimpy "knowledge base."

I've been using this crappy software for 6 or 8 years now and can't get out of it! All my business records are in iBiz and can't be exported. When it works, it's OK; keeps track of my clients, what I did for them and what they owe me and makes and sends out reasonable invoices, but the damn thing crashes about 2 or 3 times a day and the IGG tech support is non-existent. I hate to give Vermonters a bad review but this is awful software.

While I can understand that some people prefer the old interface of earlier versions (I was of the same opinion originally) I have readily adapted to the interface on the new version and better understand the reasons for the changes. Users of the old versions just need to give the new version a try for bit. This program still works best out of all similar programs I have found and tried via MacUpdate. It works perfectly within my work flow and allows me to track time either at my workstation or away at a job site (via events transcribed into iCal on my other devices.) The ability to synchronize calendars within specific time periods and the flexibility of creating very customized invoices makes this superior to other such time tracking/invoicing programs.

I used ibiz a while ago when it was called iWork, it wasn't the easiest program to use but there weren't many choices. I recently upgraded because i started freelancing again. The current version is imposible to use, it is not intuitive in the least. Its really difficult to setup a client and add projects. This type of programs should be easy its really not complicated...

Loved iBiz 2. In fact I'm still using iBiz 2 because after version 2 the dev team went and added a whole mess of HUGE icons that fill the screen unnecessarily. In addition, anything after iBiz 2 makes it impossible to see the status of a project. You are forced to use the in-app invoicing (which plainly sucks) and as soon as you do, a project is closed. You can't immediately tell if a project has been paid, needs invoicing or is open. All this was instantly possible with iBiz2. Until the dev team gets back to thinking "Business" and not "pretty graphics" the app is pretty annoying. Used to be a 5 star app at version 2.. now, the best I can give is 3 stars.

(This review is for the multi-user version) As a single-user app, iBiz worked pretty well. As a multi-user version running in a small office, it was a mixed bag. For instance, users could add new clients, but editing clients has to be done on the server. And there was no out-of-the-box easy way to link iBiz to a networked address book (LDAP or other). Data loss and corruption were infrequent, but when it would happen, there was no good way to analyze or recover from the problem. Sometimes, a month of tracked time would just vanish. As a networked business system, it leaves a lot to be desired, but it has a lot of potential if the developers pay attention.

after having lots of troubles with ibiz 3 (scrambled or lost addressbook entries, ghost-invoice or orphaned invoices with no relation to customer, unusable interface, and more of these weird bugs), I switched to grandtotal last autumn and would never never never turn back.

I've used iBiz for over two years now and thoroughly enjoy it. iBiz has made my life much easier when keeping track of the time I need to bill for, sending invoices to clients, and collecting payments, storing the information in iBiz and iBank. This program has saved more time for me than I ever thought would be possible with a time-tracking tool. I had tried about half a dozen other tools before I finally settled on iBiz, and two years later, I'm really happy I did. My one small complaint is that the new version if iBiz4 does not appear to contain a great deal of new useful features (for me at least). I think they took a small step back with the design as well, eliminating a few of the more prominent icons that I found extremely helpful.

Garbage. I tried to use iBiz 2 (starting when it was still called iWork), and experienced nothing but frustration with its endless stream of bugs and problems that were either replaced with new ones or never resolved. Eventually iBiz 3 appeared, and sure enough, many of the problems I had reported with iBiz 2 were STILL not fixed. I paid nearly $40 CAD for this junk; I thought it was overpriced, but needed something like this for my business, and at first glance it seemed nicer than the alternatives. But soon I discovered it had serious problems, such as miscalculations and data loss. One would be "fixed" and another one would turn up. No one could trust its numbers enough to actually use it for tracking time and billing clients (in other words, it's completely useless). What a waste of time and money. I find it hilarious that the price has actually gone UP as the quality of the software remains consistently poor. Billings is vastly superior, and even Studiometry (which I don't particularly like) is at least reliable and does what it's supposed to do. This developer has proven himself incompetent and incapable of creating a quality, reliable application. iBank is even worse; you know you're in the wrong business when you can't even write software that does math properly, despite the fact that a computer doing all the actual computation. Do yourself a BIG favor and steer clear of IGG's terrible software.

This program (at least the demo version I tried) has some serious issues with reliability. I like the interface a lot, especially the payment feature and the file-based timer triggers, but I would not trust it with time-tracking.

after trying v 3.1.5 for a few days i turned back to version 2.5. ibiz 3.x is incredible slow (on an macbook with 2 gb ram an 2x2 ghz!) , takes over 100% cpu and several minutes to changes from project to invoice-view, meanwhile it blocks everything else. it has still no import or export function (i.ex for excel or filemaker), ittrashes addresses, has a bad gui, and so on. this programm is not worth a dime. very disappointed.

I ditched iBiz and its performance/reliability issues long ago. For my needs, Billings is the better bet...with iRatchet placing a close second.

I quit using this app a while back due to some strange behavior and thought I’d upgrade to this new version. What I’m getting now is completely unacceptable to me: * Duplicates entries get added for no apparent reason * Manual time and date entry is messed up and frustrating to accomplish * iCal synch sometimes duplicates entries already logged * iCal calendars in iBiz drop down menu get duplicated * Inability to use custom templates for reports I realize this is beta software (the 10th!) but these issues are simply quite unacceptable. I hope that the developers get these fixed, because the software has potential. For now I will use something else. I suggest others do likewise.

I've been using iBiz (and its predecessors) for years. I've been through version one through this current beta, and the versions keep improving. This version - even though is still in beta - is incredibly build, stable, and ready for prime time. The revised invoicing section opens up a side of the program that was previously closed. While the choice of client specific billing versus project specific billing may seem to be a unique one, the billing side makes logical sense. I would never give money back on one project while another project was owing. i've been running a law office of five attorneys and support staff on this for years, and I have found it to be a wholly reliable program. I reccomend it to my clients and my colleagues without reservation. Good job!