This is exactly the kind of problem that feels small until you live with it every day. A three-person team, a shared iPad, a small apartment, and a privacy concern that isn't about corporate secrets but about something more fundamental: the dignity of not having your coworkers know exactly how many hours you worked. The paper system works, but it leaks information. The texting idea shifts the burden to you. The dedicated timekeeping app was a nightmare. The person who posted this needs something that sits between a paper form and an enterprise tool, and that gap is where most good spreadsheet solutions actually live.
The instinct to reach for Excel is the right one, but the execution needs care. A single shared file with three separate sheets, each password-protected, is technically possible. But it requires discipline: every attendant must remember to save, not close without saving, and navigate to their own tab. On an iPad, that friction multiplies. A better approach is to use a simple online form, Google Forms or Microsoft Forms, that feeds into a single spreadsheet only you can see. Each attendant opens the form on the iPad, enters their name and hours, and submits. They never see anyone else's data. You get a clean, timestamped log. No passwords to manage, no tabs to protect, no paper to lock up.
What makes this solution human-centered is that it respects everyone's time and privacy without asking you to become an IT administrator. You don't have to unlock a cabinet, remember to lock it, or chase down missing texts. The form lives on the iPad's home screen as a shortcut. Attendants see it every shift, just like the paper sheet. If someone forgets to log out, the blank form reminds them. And because the data lands in a spreadsheet you control, you can export it directly to your bookkeeper without re-entering a single number. It is simple, it is private, and it puts the complexity on the tool, not on you.