What is a shift planning app?

A shift planning app is mobile software that lets businesses plan shifts and assignments digitally, distribute them to staff and document them. Unlike traditional scheduling software, an app runs directly on the smartphone — staff see assignments instantly, without paper or Excel files. SMARTCHILLI is a shift planning app where staff accept open shifts themselves with a swipe.

How much does a shift planning app like SMARTCHILLI cost?

Plans start at €49.00 per month for the Start plan (50 shifts included). The larger your volume, the cheaper each shift — down to €0.70 per additional shift on the Max plan (€449.00/month, 600 shifts included). All prices are net plus VAT, cancellable monthly, with a 30-day free trial. That makes SMARTCHILLI one of the most cost-effective shift planning apps for mid-sized businesses in the German-speaking market.

Which shift planning app is GDPR-compliant?

SMARTCHILLI processes all personal data on servers in Germany and provides a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR. No data is transferred to US cloud providers. This makes the app fully usable for businesses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland — including data-sensitive industries such as care or the public sector.

Which industries is the shift planning app suited for?

SMARTCHILLI is optimised for businesses with many assignments and changing availability: event agencies, exhibition construction, catering, hospitality and hotels, staffing agencies and temporary work, retail, and any business with shift, assignment or on-call work. In general, the app fits wherever traditional scheduling software fails because of chat chaos or last-minute absences.

How does SMARTCHILLI differ from traditional shift planning apps?

Traditional shift planning apps distribute shifts top-down: dispatch assigns, staff respond by chat or phone. SMARTCHILLI turns this around — suitable staff see open assignments as cards and accept voluntarily with a swipe. The result: fill rates of up to 95% (instead of the industry-typical 60%), less back-office effort and higher staff satisfaction, because staff decide for themselves.

From what company size is a shift planning app worthwhile?

As a rule of thumb: from around 10 regularly scheduled staff or about 50 shifts per month, SMARTCHILLI pays off — covered by the Start plan (€49/month). The app is especially cost-effective for 20 to 500 employees. Our savings calculator shows how much your business can actually save.

How quickly is the shift planning app ready to use?

Usually productive after 2 working days: onboarding, importing existing staff data and the first shift plan take half a day. A no-obligation live demo with Frank Spiegelhoff takes 20 minutes and shows you the app using a practical example from your industry.

Shift planning, rethought

The shift planning app your staff actually want to use.

No more WhatsApp broadcast lists and 6 a.m. no-show alarms. Staff see open shifts in the app and accept them voluntarily with a swipe. 95% of shifts filled in 3 minutes, GDPR-compliant, from €0.70 per shift.

GDPR · Servers in GermanyiOS · Android · PWALive in 2 days

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Catering17€/h

Stuttgart Trade Fair

Stuttgart Sat, May 18 · 09:00–17:00

Trade fair

Server18€/h

Match

Nope

Rooftop Bar Sky

Frankfurt Fri, May 17 · 18:00–02:00

CocktailsTips

Tip: drag the card left or right.

Why traditional shift planning apps fail

Anyone who assigns shifts top-down struggles with the same three problems every day:

Chat chaos
WhatsApp, email, phone — every shift creates 20+ messages. Nobody knows who accepted or declined.
Last-minute absences
Sick call at 6 a.m. Who covers? Traditional shift planning apps only help once dispatch is awake.
Effort per shift
5–15 minutes of coordination per open shift. With 200 shifts a month, that is 25–50 hours of pure back-office time.

How swipe planning works

From open shift to confirmed booking — in three steps

01
Step 1
Publish open shifts
Dispatch creates assignments with date, location, role and duration. Suitable staff see them instantly in the app — no chat lists.
02
Step 2
Staff swipe to accept
Swipe right = accept. Voluntary, transparent, in seconds. Can't make it? Swipe left. No back-and-forth.
03
Step 3
Dispatch confirms
The best-fitting acceptance is confirmed with a tap. Everyone else is declined automatically. Documented in a legally compliant way — ready for payroll export.

What makes this shift planning app different

95% fill rate in 3 minutes
Instead of the industry-typical 60%: SMARTCHILLI customers reach a 95% fill rate — in minutes, not days.
GDPR-compliant, servers in the EU
Personal data stays in Germany. Data processing agreement included, no US cloud required.
Legally compliant time tracking
Clock in/out on the smartphone, compliant with the Federal Labour Court ruling and the German Working Hours Act. Export to DATEV, sevDesk, Personio.
From €0.70 per shift
Starting at €49/month for 50 shifts. The more you plan, the cheaper each shift — down to €0.70.

95 %

fill rate within minutes

−97 %

communication effort

€0.70

per shift (Max plan)

“Today we fill shifts in minutes, not hours. Our temps use the app voluntarily — that was unthinkable with traditional scheduling tools.”

Customer from the events industry · see Case Studies

From €0.70 per shift — the more you plan, the cheaper it gets

Starting at €49/month for 50 shifts. 30-day free trial, cancel monthly. The calculator shows your actual savings potential.

View all plans Calculate your savings

FAQ

Everything about the shift planning app

Ready for the next shift season?

Try the shift planning app free for 30 days

20-minute live demo with Frank Spiegelhoff — or information material by email. No credit card, no sales pressure.

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The shift planning app your staff actually want to use.

Stuttgart Trade Fair

Rooftop Bar Sky

Chat chaos

Last-minute absences

Effort per shift

Publish open shifts

Staff swipe to accept

Dispatch confirms

95% fill rate in 3 minutes

GDPR-compliant, servers in the EU

Legally compliant time tracking

From €0.70 per shift