How does detection actually work?

What starts a recording

Between drives the iPhone watches for movement: a boundary around where it last stopped notices when you leave it, and the motion sensors confirm you are in a vehicle. OdoTax then switches GPS on, records the route, and ends the drive once you have been stopped for about five minutes. When the iPhone wakes OdoTax a little late, the start of the drive is filled in from where the car was parked.

What starts a recording

Between drives the phone watches for movement: the motion sensors notice you are in a vehicle, and a boundary around where the phone last stopped notices when you leave it. OdoTax then switches GPS on, records the route, and ends the drive once you have been stopped for about five minutes.

What you have to do

Nothing. The app does not need to be open — with location set to Always, a drive that starts with the phone in your pocket is caught like any other. To end a drive early, tap Stop drive on its Live Activity, or tell Siri “End my drive in odo”.

What closing the app, a restart or an update changes is in Do I need to keep the app open?

What you have to do

Nothing. There is no start button and no stop button, and the app does not need to be open — with location set to Allow all the time, a drive that starts with the phone in your pocket is caught like any other. A car whose Bluetooth is linked in OdoTax also starts detection the moment the phone connects to it — see Can OdoTax tell my cars apart by Bluetooth?

What closing the app, a restart or an update changes is in Do I need to keep the app open?

What is not recorded

Drives shorter than 0.2 mi, or over in less than a minute, are dropped — add one by hand if it matters: A drive didn’t show up — what do I do?. A flight is recognised by its speed and set aside. A trip faster than a car usually goes (a fast train, say), or one that moved like a ferry crossing, is kept but held for you to review, and it is not counted until you do — see Why does a drive say Held?.

Checking it is on

Settings → Tracking configuration lists everything detection depends on — starting with whether drive detection is running at all — each with a green tick or a red issue and a button to fix it. If that screen is all green, OdoTax is listening.

Checking it is on

Settings → Tracking configuration lists everything detection depends on — starting with whether drive detection is running at all — each with a green tick or a red issue and a button to fix it. If that screen is all green, OdoTax is listening.

On the web

Detection happens on the phone. The web account shows every drive the phone has uploaded, usually within a minute of it ending.