MileLedger

Applies to: Phone

Automatic mileage tracking

Automatic tracking records drives in the background without you touching your phone. It requires Always location access and works best with Motion & Fitness access enabled. Certain conditions—force-quit, Low Power Mode, and Airplane Mode—will prevent background tracking.

Prerequisites

  • MileLedger installed on a phone running iOS 16 or later
  • Location Services enabled in iOS Settings

Steps

  1. 1

    Open Tracking settings

    In MileLedger, go to **Settings → Tracking**. You will see the current location permission status.

  2. 2

    Grant Always location access

    Tap **Location Access** and choose **Always** in the iOS permission sheet. "While Using" is not sufficient for background detection—the app cannot wake itself to record a trip if it only has foreground access.

  3. 3

    Enable Motion & Fitness (recommended)

    Tap **Motion & Fitness Access** and allow it. Core Motion data lets MileLedger confirm you are driving (not walking or cycling) before it begins GPS sampling, which reduces false positives and conserves battery.

  4. 4

    Enable Automatic Tracking

    Toggle **Automatic Tracking** on. The status indicator should turn green.

  5. 5

    Take a test drive

    Drive at least 0.5 miles (roughly 800 m) in a continuous trip. After you park and the 15-minute settle period expires, the drive should appear in the **Drives** list.

Expected results

  • Drives appear in the Drives list automatically after each trip without any action on your part.
  • Short trips under 0.5 miles (804.672 m) are saved but tagged Short Trip.
  • Trips recorded in areas with poor GPS signal are tagged Needs Review instead of showing an estimated distance.

Important notes

  • **Force-quitting** MileLedger (swiping it away in the app switcher) terminates the background process. iOS may relaunch the app on the next significant location change, but any in-progress trip at the time of force-quit will be incomplete and marked Interrupted Session.
  • **Low Power Mode** restricts background CPU and location activity. Trips may not be detected or may be cut short while Low Power Mode is active.
  • **Airplane Mode** disables the GPS radio entirely. No location data can be collected while Airplane Mode is on.
  • MileLedger never fabricates mileage. If GPS data is insufficient, the trip is flagged rather than estimated.
  • Always location permission is required by iOS for background execution. If you change the permission to 'While Using' after enabling automatic tracking, background detection will stop.

Common problems

Drives are not being detected automatically

Check Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → MileLedger and confirm it is set to Always. Also verify Motion & Fitness access is granted and that Automatic Tracking is toggled on inside the app. Make sure the app has not been force-quit.

Only part of a drive was recorded

A partial recording can happen if the app was force-quit, if the device entered Airplane Mode or a complete GPS dead zone, or if Low Power Mode cut off background processing. Check the trip for an Interrupted Session flag.

Short drives are not appearing

Trips under approximately 0.5 miles (804.672 m) are saved with a Short Trip flag but are hidden from the default Drives view. Use the filter to show Short Trip flagged drives.

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Still stuck? Contact support or browse Mileage tracking.