Getting started

Can a drive start the moment I get in the car?

What it does

The iPhone decides when to wake OdoTax, and on a short trip that can be several hundred yards in, so the log begins after the car has left. An automation in Apple’s Shortcuts app hears the phone connect to the car straight away and tells OdoTax which car it is: the drive is recorded from the moment the car pulls away, and it goes on that car. It is optional — without it, drives are still logged.

Before you start

It takes about two minutes, once per car. You need:

  1. CarPlay, or a car stereo the iPhone connects to over Bluetooth
  2. The car in OdoTax, under Settings → Vehicles — the one you already have is fine
  3. Location set to Always, with Precise Location on — see How do I turn automatic tracking on?

Step 1. Start from the car in OdoTax

  1. In OdoTax, open Settings → Vehicles and tap the car
  2. Scroll down to Start drives when connected
  3. Tap Open Shortcuts

The same steps are written there with your car’s name in them, so you can follow them without this page. Opening Shortcuts from here is also what makes odo’s action fill in this car for you in step 6.

Step 2. Make a new automation

  1. In Shortcuts, tap Automation at the bottom
  2. Tap New Automation — or + at the top, if you already have automations

Step 3. Choose the car’s connection

  1. With one car that has CarPlay: tap CarPlay, then Connects
  2. Otherwise: tap Bluetooth, then Choose, and pick the car’s device — the car’s stereo, often named after the car

The CarPlay trigger runs in every CarPlay car the phone joins, so with more than one car use Bluetooth and make one automation per car, each with its own device.

Step 4. Let it run on its own

  1. Tap Run Immediately
  2. Tap Next

This is the setting that matters. With Run After Confirmation, the iPhone asks you every time and nothing starts until you answer — on the road, you won’t.

Step 5. Add odo’s action

  1. Tap New Blank Automation
  2. In the search at the bottom, type Car connected
  3. Tap Car connected — it has odo’s icon

Step 6. Check the car and save

  1. Check the car named in the action, in blue before connected
  2. To use another car, tap its name and pick one from the list
  3. Tap Done

Only cars you already have in OdoTax are listed — the action never adds one.

Check that it works

The next time the phone connects to the car, open the car in OdoTax again. Start drives when connected now shows when the car last connected, and a green tick with Drive detection started. means it works. A red line says what stopped it:

  1. Location wasn’t set to Always with Precise Location on — fix it in the iPhone’s Settings → Apps → odo → Location
  2. Tracking was paused or Automatic tracking is off — resume it, or turn it back on, in OdoTax’s Settings
  3. This vehicle wasn’t in odo when the shortcut ran — the car was hidden: edit the automation and pick the car again
  4. Your iPhone hadn’t been unlocked since it restarted — iOS keeps apps asleep until the phone is unlocked once

To try it without driving, open the automation in Shortcuts and tap ▶. Nothing is recorded unless the car moves.

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