Test OdoTax on iPhone
OdoTax records your drives on its own and keeps the mileage log you need for your IRS deduction. You can try it on your iPhone before it’s in the App Store for everyone: send the short form on this page with your email address, and Apple emails you an invitation through TestFlight, its free app for testing. The steps on this page show every tap after that.
What you need
- An iPhone with iOS 17 or newer. To check, open the Settings app, tap General, then About, and look at iOS Version. If it says 16 or lower, update first: Settings → General → Software Update.
- An email address you can open on that iPhone. Apple sends the invitation there, and you’ll log in to the app with the same address. It doesn’t need to be the address of your Apple Account (Apple ID).
- A few drives a week. OdoTax notices them on its own; there’s nothing to press.
Read your email on a computer? Apple’s invitation installs the app only when you open it on the iPhone. If that inbox isn’t in your iPhone’s Mail app, you can open it on your email’s website in Safari.
Join the test
Use an email address you can open on your iPhone. It doesn’t need to be the address of your Apple Account.
We use this address only to have Apple invite you to the test and to email you about it. These two statements are dated September 17, 2026; if we change them, we’ll ask you again.
Step by step
Step 1 takes a minute, so do it as soon as you’ve sent the form. Steps 2 to 8 are for when Apple’s email arrives: do them on your iPhone, in this order. Under each step, Show me or Help with this step opens pictures and what to do if your screen looks different.
Step 1: Get TestFlight now
Do this today, right after you send the form. On your iPhone, open the App Store, search for TestFlight and tap Get. It’s free and made by Apple. It stays empty until Apple’s email arrives; that’s normal.
TestFlightBy Apple, free. Open it in the App Store The App Store won’t install it
TestFlight needs iOS 16 or newer, and OdoTax needs iOS 17 or newer. Check in Settings → General → About → iOS Version, and update in Settings → General → Software Update.
TestFlight asks to send notifications
Tap Allow. That’s how TestFlight tells you a new version of OdoTax is ready.
TestFlight asks about automatic updates
Turn them on. New versions of OdoTax then install by themselves (step 4).
Step 2: Open Apple’s email on your iPhone
Apple’s email comes from TestFlight and invites you to test Mileage Tracker by odo.tax, the name OdoTax goes by there. It usually comes soon after you sign up; if Apple is still checking a new version, it can take up to a day. Open it on the iPhone you’ll test on, in the Mail app or on your email’s website in Safari, and tap View in TestFlight.
No email from Apple after a day
Apple’s email usually comes soon after you sign up; if Apple is still checking a new version, it can take up to a day. After that, look in your Spam or Junk folder (in Gmail, also the Promotions and Updates tabs) and search your email for TestFlight.
Didn’t get our confirmation email either? The address may have a typo: send the form again with the right one.
Deleted Apple’s email, or still nothing? Reply to our confirmation email, or write to hello@odo.tax, and we’ll have Apple send it again.
I opened it on a computer
Nothing is used up. Open the same email on your iPhone, in the Mail app or on your email’s website in Safari, and tap View in TestFlight there.
If the page on your computer shows a code, you can use that instead: on the iPhone, open TestFlight, tap Redeem and type the code. Either way, accept the invitation on the iPhone you’ll test on.
Is this email really from Apple?
Yes. Apple sends it from TestFlight because we asked it to when you signed up. It may name Odo Labs LLC: that’s the company behind OdoTax.
Step 3: Accept and install the app
TestFlight opens on the invitation. Tap Accept, then Install.
Mileage Tracker by odo.taxWhat you install from TestFlight. On your home screen it’s called OdoTax (on older test versions, odo), with an orange dot before the name: that’s how your iPhone marks a test app. Install doesn’t work
Check that your iPhone has iOS 17 or newer: Settings → General → About → iOS Version. Then try again in TestFlight.
TestFlight shows Update or Open instead
You’ve tested OdoTax before. Tap Update if it’s there, then go on to step 4.
I can’t find the app later
Open TestFlight: every app you test is listed there, with Open or Update next to it.
Step 4: Turn on Automatic Updates, then open the app
Stay on the same TestFlight screen. Under App Information, turn on Automatic Updates. A new version comes out every few days, and this installs each one by itself. Then tap Open.
TestFlight already asked about automatic updates
If you said yes when TestFlight first opened, the switch is already on. It’s worth a look anyway.
To check later
Open TestFlight and tap Mileage Tracker by odo.tax. Automatic Updates is under App Information, and the same screen shows how many days the version you have keeps working.
Step 5: Log in with email
The app starts with two welcome screens: tap Continue, then Get started. Then tap Log in with email, even if you’ve never used OdoTax, because it creates your account. Type the email address you gave us in the form, tap Continue, and enter the 6-digit code we email you.
Don’t use Continue with Apple or Continue with Google. They can sign you in under a different address (Apple can even give us a hidden one), and then the app can’t tell you’re a tester. The address from the form is what gives you everything in the app, free, while you test.
The code
It comes in an email from us, usually within a minute. Your iPhone may offer it above the keyboard; tap it there.
I already tapped Continue with Apple or Google
Then the app can’t tell you’re a tester. Tap Settings, then Log out at the bottom, and log in again with Log in with email and the address you gave us. Already recorded drives you want to keep? Reply to our email instead, and we’ll fix it on our side.
I had an OdoTax account before I signed up
Log in with it as above, then reply to our confirmation email. For an account that already existed, a person turns tester access on.
Step 6: Answer the setup questions
First the app shows a privacy screen: tap Continue. Then it asks four questions, one at a time. Before each one it explains on its own screen what’s coming: tap Continue, then answer your iPhone like this:
- Location: tap Allow While Using App. Not Allow Once. Leave Precise: On as it is. This is only the first half; step 7 adds the rest.
- Location always (screen 2 of 4): your iPhone usually asks nothing here yet. That’s normal, so just tap Continue; the question comes later (step 7). If it does ask now, tap Change to Always Allow. The app’s own screen says “keep it on Always”: that means Change to Always Allow, not Keep Only While Using.
- Motion & Fitness: tap Allow.
- Notifications: tap Allow.
In these questions your iPhone calls the app OdoTax (on older test versions, odo).
In each picture, the app’s screen is on the left and your iPhone’s question is on the right. The hand marks what to tap. Tap a picture to see it bigger. The pictures come from an older test version, so the questions say odo.
1. Location
Your iPhone asks to use your location. Tap Allow While Using App, the middle button.
2. Location always
Usually no question yet. Tap Continue and carry on; step 7 shows the question when it comes.
3. Motion & Fitness
Tap Allow. It’s how the app tells driving from walking, so a drive is recorded from the start.
4. Notifications
Tap Allow. The app shows a drive on your Lock Screen while it’s recorded, and tells you when a drive is ready for you to mark business or personal.
Tapped the wrong button?
Nothing is lost. Step 8 shows how to check every setting at once and fix the one that’s off.
Step 7: Later, tap Change to Always Allow
Your iPhone asks about location once more: right after setup, or later on its own, often the next day while you’re in another app. It asks whether the app may “also use your location even when you are not using the app”. Tap the second button, Change to Always Allow.
Not Keep Only While Using. With that, your iPhone won’t ask again, and drives aren’t recorded unless the app is open.
I tapped Keep Only While Using
Your iPhone won’t ask again, so set it yourself. Open the Settings app, tap Privacy & Security, then Location Services, then OdoTax (or odo). Choose Always, and leave Precise Location on. Whenever location isn’t Always yet, after a wrong tap or before your iPhone has asked, the app’s Home screen shows a card that says Set location to Always; tap it to fix it.
Weeks later, a map of where I’ve been
Days or weeks after setup, your iPhone may show a map of places where OdoTax used your location and ask whether to keep allowing it. That’s a normal iPhone check for any app that works in the background. Tap Always Allow. With Change to Only While Using, drives stop being recorded.
Step 8: Check that it works
In the app, tap Settings at the bottom, then Tracking configuration. It should say Everything looks good. Until your iPhone has asked step 7’s question, the location line is red: that’s expected, so look again a day or two later. Any other line with a red warning sign: tap it and follow what the app says.
Then drive as usual: there’s no need to open the app before a drive or close it after. After your first drive, open the app and tap Drives: the drive should be there. If it isn’t, reply to our email.
A line has a red warning sign
Tap it. The app says what’s off and how to fix it.
After a drive
Your Lock Screen shows the drive. Tap it to mark the drive business or personal, now or later.
Leave the app running
Please don’t swipe the app away on the screen that shows your open apps. Left alone, it notices every drive.
If something goes wrong
Open the one that matches what you see.
Apple’s email usually comes soon after you sign up; if Apple is still checking a new version, it can take up to a day. After that, look in your Spam or Junk folder (in Gmail, also the Promotions and Updates tabs) and search your email for TestFlight.
Didn’t get our confirmation email either? The address may have a typo: send the form again with the right one.
Deleted Apple’s email, or still nothing? Reply to our confirmation email, or write to hello@odo.tax, and we’ll have Apple send it again.
Nothing is used up. Open the same email on your iPhone, in the Mail app or on your email’s website in Safari, and tap View in TestFlight there.
If the page on your computer shows a code, you can use that instead: on the iPhone, open TestFlight, tap Redeem and type the code. Either way, accept the invitation on the iPhone you’ll test on.
Testers get everything free. A purchase in a test version is never charged, but you don’t need one.
Don’t pay. It means the app doesn’t know you’re a tester, usually because you logged in with Continue with Apple or Google, or with a different address from the one you gave us. In the app, tap Settings, then Log out at the bottom, and log in again with Log in with email and the address you gave us. Already recorded drives you want to keep? Reply to our email instead, and we’ll fix it on our side.
In the app, tap Settings, then Tracking configuration, and fix any line with a red warning sign. Then reply to our email with the day, about what time and where the drive started.
Days or weeks after setup, your iPhone may show a map of places where OdoTax used your location and ask whether to keep allowing it. That’s a normal iPhone check for any app that works in the background. Tap Always Allow. With Change to Only While Using, drives stop being recorded.
Take a screenshot of your iPhone’s Settings app → Battery: press the side button and volume up together (on an iPhone with a Home button, the side button and Home). Reply to our email with it. It shows how much battery the app used, which we can’t see from our side.
Good to know
Telling us something is wrong
If a drive came out wrong, open it in the app, tap its map, and tap Report an issue. The report tells us which drive you mean.
For anything else, reply to any email from us, or use the contact page. Tell us the day, about what time and where the drive started.
You can also send feedback through TestFlight. Take a screenshot, tap the small picture that appears, tap Done, then Share Beta Feedback; add a sentence and tap Submit. Or open TestFlight, tap Mileage Tracker by odo.tax, then Send Beta Feedback. Either way it reaches us with the app version, your iPhone model and its iOS version.
About test versions
- Each version works for 90 days from the day we upload it, and TestFlight shows the days left under the app’s name. A newer one arrives well before then; with Automatic Updates on, you don’t need to do anything.
- Apple may email you, or TestFlight may notify you, each time a new version is out. With Automatic Updates on, you can ignore it.
- There is nothing to buy: your account already has everything. A purchase in a test version is never charged.
Your drives
Your drives are kept in your OdoTax account, not only on the phone. When the App Store version replaces the test version, your drives are still there.
Leaving the test
Open TestFlight, tap Mileage Tracker by odo.tax, and tap Stop Testing. Then delete the app: press and hold OdoTax (or odo) on your home screen, tap Remove App, then Delete App. You need both: deleting the app doesn’t take you off the test, and TestFlight keeps telling you about new versions.
To have your account and everything we hold about you erased, ask us. The privacy policy says what that covers and how long it takes.