Which battery settings keep tracking running?
The short answer
An iPhone has no battery setting to change for OdoTax: iOS decides by itself when an app may run in the background. Two of its settings can still get in the way, Low Power Mode and Background App Refresh. In OdoTax, Settings → Tracking configuration has a row for each.
The short answer
On Android there are two: OdoTax’s battery use set to Unrestricted, and a battery saver that does not switch location off while the screen is off. Some phones add a third, the maker’s own Autostart list. In OdoTax, Settings → Tracking configuration has a row for each, with a button that opens the fix.
Battery optimization
Android pauses apps in the background to save power, and a paused OdoTax cannot notice a drive starting. This is the setting behind most missed drives. In Tracking configuration, the Battery optimization row should read Unrestricted. If it reads Restricted — may pause tracking:
- Tap the row, then Fix it
- Tap Continue
- Tap Allow on the phone’s popup
On some phones the popup never appears and Android opens a list instead: pick OdoTax, turn Allow background usage on, and choose Unrestricted. The same setting is in the phone’s Settings: find OdoTax, then App battery usage → Unrestricted. While it is restricted, Home may also show a card, Optimize battery for tracking, which opens the same popup.
Unrestricted does not leave GPS on all day: GPS runs at full accuracy only while a drive is being recorded. See Will it drain my battery?
Battery saver
Battery savers differ from phone to phone, and the Battery saver row in Tracking configuration says which kind yours is. Some switch location off, or slow it down, while the screen is off. On those phones the row is red while the saver is on, and drives can be missed or cut short: turn the saver off when you drive, or tap the row, then Open settings. Others leave a drive being recorded alone. There the row stays green, reads On — location not limited, and there is nothing to change.
A phone on Android 8 or older cannot say which kind it has, so its row is red whenever the saver is on. While a saver is limiting location, Home shows a card too: Battery saver is limiting location.
Samsung, Xiaomi and other makers
Some makers add power saving of their own on top of Android’s. Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and similar phones keep their own list of apps allowed to start by themselves; Xiaomi calls it Autostart. While OdoTax is off that list, the phone stops it when the screen sleeps and does not start it again after a restart, so drives go unrecorded. On these phones Tracking configuration has an Autostart row: tap it, then Open the list, find OdoTax and turn it on. Android cannot tell OdoTax whether the switch is on, so the row stays grey either way.
Samsung Galaxy phones also put apps to sleep, and OdoTax cannot see those lists. They are in the phone’s Settings → Battery → Background usage limits (on some versions Battery is inside Battery and device care). Samsung says a deep sleeping app never runs in the background. If drives go missing on a Galaxy while nothing in Tracking configuration is red, check that OdoTax is not under Sleeping apps or Deep sleeping apps, and add it to Never sleeping apps (Never auto sleeping apps on some versions).
Low Power Mode
Low Power Mode can slow background work, and iOS does not tell OdoTax by how much, so OdoTax only warns. While it is on, the Low Power Mode row in Tracking configuration is red and Home shows Low Power Mode is on. If drives go missing while it is on, turn it off when you drive, in the iPhone’s Settings → Battery.
Background App Refresh
Background App Refresh lets iOS wake OdoTax in the background to finish a drive and send it. With it off, drives can be missed or saved late. If the Background App Refresh row in Tracking configuration reads Off, tap it, then Open settings, and turn Background App Refresh on for OdoTax.
Low Power Mode turns Background App Refresh off for every app while it is on, so if both rows are red, turn Low Power Mode off first. If the row reads Restricted by Screen Time or a device profile, Screen Time or a profile on the iPhone is keeping it off.
If drives still go missing
Tracking stopped working lists the other usual causes, and What does a red row in Tracking configuration mean? explains every row. Nothing red and still no drives? Send a message and a person will look.
If drives still go missing
If the Drive detection row reads Not running, Android has stopped OdoTax’s background service, usually after an update, a force-stop, or a phone maker’s battery saver: tap the row, then Start it. If it keeps stopping, check Battery optimization and Autostart. Tracking stopped working lists the other usual causes, and What does a red row in Tracking configuration mean? explains every row. Nothing red and still no drives? Send a message and a person will look.
On the web
Battery settings belong to the phone, so they are changed on the phone: open the iPhone or Android tab above. The web account shows every drive the phone has uploaded.