Best Pick-Up Shift Apps: Flexibility at Your Fingertips

If you’re wondering what is shift work or if your business involves actual shift work, a good pick-up shifts app could be a game-changer for your scheduling workflow. It makes picking up shifts for employees easier and gives managers a bird’s eye view of everything happening within the team. That said, there are many apps to pick up shifts available on the market today. To help you find exactly what you need, we’ll look at some of the most important features of apps for picking up shifts and take a closer look at some of the best pick-up shift software on the market today.

📅 Why Pick-Up Shift Apps Matter in 2025

Shift work isn’t new, but managing it efficiently in a hybrid or remote-first world is a growing challenge. Whether you’re managing a cafe, a retail store, or a remote customer support team, a pick-up shift app keeps scheduling clean, clear, and collaborative.

Instead of endless emails or spreadsheets, these apps allow employees to self-schedule, view open shifts, and even get real-time notifications—so no one misses a beat.

🎯 Must-Have Features in a Pick-Up Shift App

To qualify as the best pick-up shift software, here are key features your team needs:

Additionally, managers should be able to drag and drop different employees on the calendar to schedule them. On top of that, there needs to be a simple and clear shift listing. For employees to effectively pick up available shifts, they need to see which shifts are available and which ones are already taken. This listing should be constantly updated whenever there’s a change to keep everyone on the team on the same page.

👩 User profiles

A good shift pick-up app allows each team member to create unique profiles that they can use to log into the platform and view their schedules. User profiles allow team members to view which shifts are available and which team members are picking up specific shifts. On top of that, user profiles simplify the scheduling process for managers, as they no longer have to input names and employee data manually which makes a massive difference in apps for picking up shifts.

🔔 Notifications

When you open up shifts for employees to take, they must be automatically notified when their shift is booked, coming up, and if one is available. That way, they don’t need to open up the app for picking up shifts to check for any updates constantly.

🎫 Reservation capabilities

The entire point of pick-up shift apps is to reserve open shifts. When employees can reserve open shifts freely, filling up an open schedule is much easier. After all, research shows that people are more productive when they are fully in charge of their schedules. When the reservation feature is available, employees can schedule shifts they are happy to take on.

👍 Confirmations & approvals

While having employees reserve and schedule shifts freely is great, allowing managers or team leaders to confirm or approve schedules is also a great feature to have. Some platforms allow managers to turn approvals on or off, while others have the feature constantly on. Both of these setups may work for your team, depending on your needs.

🔄 Integrations

The last feature that you need to make sure that your pick-up shift app has is the ability to integrate with a variety of different tools. This is especially important if you already use several tools within the business, as being able to integrate them all will have a positive effect on streamlining your workflow and employee shift scheduling processes.

❗ Our assessments remain unbiased, untouched by any payments from specific tools. We are dedicated to offering truthful recommendations and fostering trust in our insights as you delve into pick-up shift apps.

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🛠️ How to Choose the Right App for Your Team

Before you pick any app:

• Define your team size
• Decide if you want approval-based shift pickup
• Determine if mobile accessibility is critical
• Know your budget—many great tools start free!

From there, it will be much easier to determine what features are necessary and what features you can skip out on. This might take some work, but rest assured that once you figure out what you need from a pickup shift app, you’ll easily determine which app is right for you.

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🚀 6 Best Pick-Up Shift Apps

There are many apps on the market right now, and most offer these basic features. This is why you need to look for the software options that stand out and can make a massive difference in your workflow. To help you out, we’ve scoured the internet to find the six best free pick-up shift apps available right now. The apps below aren’t in any particular order, as we believe that each one of them offers a unique set of benefits to the user.

Shifts by Everhour (🏆 Editor’s Pick)

Why it stands out: Real-time availability tracking, powerful project alignment, shift tagging, and seamless time-block management.

Key Features:

• Real-time open shift visibility
• Assign shifts by drag-and-drop
• Shift task breakdown (linked to projects)
• Team availability management
• Everhour integrations (payroll, time tracking)

Perfect for: Teams needing structure + flexibility, especially remote or hybrid teams.
✅ Free plan available
✅ Syncs with Everhour time tracker
✅ Great for task-linked scheduling

One of the standout features of Shifts by Everhour is its real-time availability tracking. It provides a clear view of the work schedule, highlighting the available time slots for picking up additional shifts. This feature is particularly valuable for preventing overcommitment and helping you maintain a healthy work-life balance. However, currently, only managers of teams can assign and edit shifts.

Shifts by Snagajob

Best for: Part-time & hourly gig workers

Why it works: Users can claim open shifts listed by businesses in real time, without committing to a fixed job.

Employers can use Shifts by Snagajob and post any job openings they have that need to be filled. Then, freelancers can browse through the different jobs that are available and schedule themselves for any shifts that are suitable for them.

✅ Completely free
✅ Ideal for hospitality & retail

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Zelos

Best for: Volunteer-based and hybrid teams

Why it’s unique: Lets managers choose which employees can view or claim each shift. Simple UI but strong logic settings.

Another cool feature of Zelos is allowing managers to choose who gets a shift. For example, if there’s an open shift that multiple employees apply for, you can choose which employee gets that shift. That way, you can ensure a fair and equal distribution of the workload while still allowing employees to take on additional shifts if they want to.

While the app is free for teams with low shift volume, you will have to pay a monthly subscription if you want to increase the volume of shifts you make available for employees to pick up. 

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Shifts by Everhour also includes features for managing shift-related tasks and responsibilities. Users can create dedicated projects and tasks for each shift, set deadlines, and allocate specific time slots. This level of organization contributes to clear and efficient shift management.

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Shiftbase

Best for: Small-to-medium-sized businesses

However, we mainly featured this app on the list because managers can create a shift list of open shifts and send it to all eligible employees. From there, the team can schedule themselves based on availability. Even better, the list automatically updates whenever someone takes on a new shift, which means that you won’t have to update the schedule and make adjustments yourself.

That said, the app is only free for small teams. Once you reach the maximum threshold for employees, departments, or teams, you will have to pay a fee to use the platform fully. That said, considering all the great features that Shiftbase has to offer and how easy it makes picking up shifts, it may be a worthwhile investment for your team.

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Sling

Best for: Simple, lightweight scheduling

Why it works: Great entry-level scheduling app that allows employees to view and claim open shifts, swap schedules, and chat in-app.

To start, managers can take the lead by building a basic schedule of shifts for employees to follow. From there, managers can mark different shifts as open, which employees can then pick up. You can add various tags and filters to the shifts so that they are only open to certain employees, making things much easier for everyone in the organization.

On top of that, Sling gives employees much more freedom over their own schedules. Aside from picking up open shifts, employees can swap assigned shifts, chat with each other, and even interact on a community news feed.

The basic scheduling version of this app is completely free for an unlimited number of employees. However, if you want to use the more robust and premium features, you will have to pay a fee.

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Connecteam

Connecteam barely requires an introduction. This is because it comes with all the features you need for scheduling and picking up shifts while adding extra functions like a learning platform, feedback forum, and even building a mini social network for your employees.

Using Connecteam, employees can clearly view the shifts that are open for pick up and apply for the shift. It also gives you a lot of control and options for customizing the platform. For example, you can choose whether or not shifts require admin approval. So, if you want to give your team complete freedom over their schedule, that feature is available on this platform. 

With that said, while there are many features that you and your staff can benefit from, choosing the right plan can be quite confusing. This is mainly because all the different features Connecteam has are distributed across a dozen vastly different plans.

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Best Pick Up Shifts App: Conclusion

For most businesses—Shifts by Everhour delivers unmatched clarity, task alignment, and scheduling speed. It allows employees to self-manage while giving managers full control where needed.

If you’re a large team with compliance needs → Connecteam

If you’re just starting and need quick wins → Sling or Shiftbase

If you’re an hourly freelancer → Snagajob

❓ FAQs About Pick-Up Shift Apps

Can employees really pick their own shifts with these apps?
Yes! Most offer real-time open shift claiming, plus optional manager approvals.

Do these apps handle payroll too?
Some (like Everhour + Shiftbase) integrate with payroll tools. Others are strictly for scheduling.

Are pick-up shift apps free to use?
Many offer free plans with core features. Premium plans unlock analytics, integrations, or user limits.

What’s the best app for large teams?
Connecteam or Zelos – due to permission controls and team segmentation.

Which app works best with Everhour?
Shifts by Everhour – it’s natively integrated and tailored for team shift management.