Recording and managing trips
The app has four main areas: Home, Trips, Statistics and Settings. On phones they are in the bottom bar; on tablets in a navigation rail on the left.
Recording a trip
Manual start
On the Home screen, choose the vehicle and tap Start trip. While a trip is being recorded, the vehicle is locked and a notification shows Tracking active. Tap End trip when you arrive.
Manually started trips are categorized as private by default; you can change that at any time.
Automatic start via Bluetooth
If a vehicle has a Bluetooth device assigned (see vehicles), the recording starts automatically when your phone connects to the car and stops when the connection ends. The home screen shows Auto-start via Bluetooth for such a vehicle.
Trips started via Bluetooth are uncategorized at first. The home screen highlights them with Assign a category now.
For auto-start to work reliably, the app needs background location (Allow all the time), the Bluetooth permission and unrestricted battery usage – see permissions.
GPS interval
After the first GPS fix, the position is recorded at a fixed interval, set under Settings › GPS interval. Shorter intervals record the route more precisely but use more battery.
Time zones
Each trip keeps the time zone of the device at its start and end. Trip times are always shown in the local time of the trip, including daylight saving time – a trip driven in Lisbon shows Lisbon time even if you look at it later in Berlin. In server mode the zones are stored on the server, too.
Trip list
Trips shows all trips grouped by day, with daily totals. Filter by period, vehicle, tag and category; the total for the current filter is shown on top.
Trip details
Tap a trip to open its details:
- Map with the recorded GPS route (MapLibre with OpenFreeMap vector tiles), also in fullscreen. The road route from map matching is currently only shown in the web dashboard.
- Timeline with start and destination, distance, duration and average speed.
- Category: business, private, commute or uncategorized.
- Special category (optional second level): medical, volunteering, education / studies, job application, moving or other. Choose None to remove it.
- Purpose, contact and note: tap the purpose card to edit them – useful for business trips in your tax logbook.
- Tags such as "Vacation". New tags can be created directly in the dialog.
In server mode changes are saved on the server; edits made offline are sent with the next sync. In local mode everything is stored on the device.
Splitting, merging and correcting routes is done in the web dashboard.
Statistics and export
Statistics can be filtered by year, month, category and vehicle. It shows the total distance with number of trips, driving time and average per trip, the distance per category and special category, and a chart per month (tap a bar to filter) or per day.
Tap Export to create a PDF (default) or CSV file for any period. The vehicle and category filters are applied.
- Server mode: the server creates the report – the same one you get in the web dashboard.
- Local mode, or if the server cannot be reached: the app creates the file on the device.
The file is saved with the Android file picker and can be shared directly.
Sync status
In server mode trips are recorded on the device first and uploaded in the background as soon as there is a network connection; the app retries at the latest about every 15 minutes. The trip list marks trips that are Pending (not uploaded yet) or where the Sync failed (the server rejected the trip). The data stays on the phone in both cases – see the FAQ.
Backup
Settings › Back up & restore offers two ways to back up the data on the device:
- Back up to Google account (off by default): vehicles, trips and all app settings – in server mode also the server address and user name – go into the Android backup of your device. Android runs it automatically, usually overnight on Wi-Fi while charging, if backup is enabled in the system settings. It is restored when you install the app on a new device with the same Google account.
- Backup as ZIP file: Save backup … creates a file with all vehicles, trips with GPS points, tags and settings; Restore backup … reads it back. In local mode the data on the device is replaced; in server mode only the local data and settings are replaced, trips on the server are not affected.
Login data (access tokens, device ID) is never part of a backup. After restoring you sign in again; the server address and user name are already filled in. A backup from a newer app version can only be restored after updating the app.
In local mode the backup is your only copy of the data. Save a ZIP backup regularly, or switch on the Google backup.
Tablets and foldables
From 600 dp width (most tablets and unfolded foldables) the app uses a navigation rail. In landscape the trip list and trip details are shown side by side, and Home, Statistics and Settings use two columns. Phones are locked to portrait; tablets can rotate freely.
Appearance and language
The app follows the system's light or dark theme, or you choose one in the settings. The interface is available in English and German and follows the device language.