Three-factor attendance: how modern login security came to the time clock
Your email, your work account, your phone itself — they all stopped trusting passwords alone years ago. A password plus a one-time code, a tap to approve, a fingerprint on a device the system already knows. That's two-factor authentication, and it's why stolen passwords rarely take over accounts anymore.
Time clocks never got the memo. Most still trust a single factor: a PIN anyone can shout across a stockroom, a QR code anyone can photograph, or a face scan that hauls your staff's biometrics into someone's cloud. Each one is a single point of failure — and buddy punching is what failure looks like on a timesheet.
DailyBrew brings the same idea to the café: three factors, not one.
The three factors
- Something you have — the verified device. The first time a staff member clocks in, their phone is registered and bound to them. Later punches from a different phone simply don't count for that person.
- Somewhere you are — the verified network. Every clock-in records the IP. Punches from outside your shop's network are blocked, or flagged for you to review — so a clock-in "from the parking lot" on mobile data doesn't slip through.
- Something you tap — the NFC tag. A coin-sized sticker by the espresso machine. A tap that has to happen within a few centimeters of a tag that lives only at your shop.
Device (something you have) + network (somewhere you are) + tag (something you tap). To fake a punch you'd need a co-worker's enrolled phone, physically on your shop's WiFi, tapping a tag that's bolted to your wall. At that point they're just... at work.
Why not face recognition?
Face recognition was designed for 200-person factories, not four-person cafés. It verifies who's in front of the camera by storing a mathematical model of their face — biometric data that triggers laws like Illinois' BIPA, which has produced settlements in the hundreds of millions. Your barista doesn't want their face in a vendor's database, and you don't want the legal exposure.
DailyBrew collects zero biometric data. We verify the device, not the person's body.
Why not GPS?
Geofencing tells you a phone is near the shop — not whose phone, and not whether they're actually inside. It also demands always-on location permission and drains batteries, which is why staff hate it. We skip GPS entirely. The network check answers "are they on the shop's WiFi?" far more precisely than a GPS bubble, with no battery cost and no location tracking.
What about forgotten phones and broken screens?
Small teams need flexibility, so the system has honest escape hatches:
- Forgot your phone? Your manager clocks you in from the dashboard — logged as an override with their name, the time, and a reason.
- New phone? Your manager resets your device binding in two taps; the old phone is deauthorized automatically.
- No NFC on an older phone? The QR code is the universal fallback, and it runs through the same device and network checks.
Every override is in the audit trail. Flexibility, without a PIN to share.
Start with what's shipped
QR + device + IP verification is live today and free for up to 10 active employees. NFC tap-to-clock-in is on Espresso and needs the DailyBrew app — same verification stack, just a faster gesture.
See the verification features, check pricing, or start free and have honest timesheets running before the morning rush.