How auto mileage
works
calQledg records your drives in the background. Here’s how it decides where a drive starts and ends, how close your miles should be, and what your phone can and can’t do.
How a drive is recorded
Your phone does the noticing. calQledg turns what it notices into a drive.
It starts when your phone notices you driving
Your phone tells calQledg when it senses a car trip. Like other automatic mileage apps, that usually happens a few hundred yards to about half a mile after you pull away.
It picks up where you parked
calQledg starts each drive where your last one ended, so the stretch before your phone noticed is still counted.
It ends when you walk away or stay parked
A drive ends when your phone notices you walking, or after you’ve been stopped for about 5 minutes.
Miles come from your route
Distance is measured along the points your phone records on the road. Points too rough to trust are left out, so they never add miles.
How close should my miles be?
The easy check: drive from A to B, then back from B to A.
The two trips should be within about 0.2 mile
Small differences are normal: one-way streets, a different turn, or circling a lot for a parking space all add real road.
Don’t grade it against a map app or your odometer
A map app shows the route it suggests, not the one you drove. Most odometers only read to a tenth of a mile, and many read a little high.
Your very first drive may be a little short
Why the first drive is different
Every drive starts where your last one ended. Your very first drive after setup has no earlier parking spot, so its start is counted from where your phone first noticed it, often a few hundred yards to half a mile in. From your second drive on, each drive picks up where you parked. You can fix the first one by editing its miles.
Things your phone controls
calQledg records what your phone reports. These are limits of the phone, not of your mileage log, and every drive can be edited.
iPhone: a sleeping app can start late
When calQledg hasn’t been open for a while, iPhone can deliver the “you’re driving” signal late. calQledg fills the gap from where you parked.
Short drives
Drives under about half a mile may be missed or only partly recorded, because the phone may not notice them in time. Add them by hand.
A stop of more than about 5 minutes
A drive-thru or a quick errand can split one trip into two. The total distance is still right; join them if you want one entry.
Leaving the car running with CarPlay
If you step out while the car is still on and connected to CarPlay, two back-to-back trips may be recorded as one. The distance is still right; split it if the legs belong to different businesses.
Tunnels, garages and tall buildings
Where your phone loses GPS, calQledg draws a straight line across the gap, which can read slightly short.
Not every phone behaves the same
GPS and motion sensing differ between makes and models, and even between two phones of the same model. Two phones on the same trip can record slightly different miles.
Phone settings
Set location to “Always” (iPhone) or “Allow all the time” (Android), with precise location on. If location is off or allowed only while using the app, drives aren’t recorded. On Android, also set calQledg’s battery use to “Unrestricted” so drives aren’t cut short.
Your phone, not your car
calQledg records where your phone goes. Rides in someone else’s car are recorded too; mark them personal. If your phone is off, add the drive by hand.
You’re always in control
Review and edit every drive
Change the miles, split or join drives, mark a drive personal, or add one by hand. A drive you edit is marked as edited, so your log stays honest.
What your phone’s data is used for
Only to record your drives. Motion tells calQledg when you’re driving and when a drive ends; location measures the drive and records where it started and ended. We also use both to fix problems with drive recording. Never for ads.
Turn it off anytime
Switch auto mileage off in the app or in your phone’s settings whenever you like. Adding a drive by hand doesn’t use your location.
Your route stays private
Your route is never sent to an outside map company. The maps you see come from our own map server, and we work out each drive’s start and end address on our own servers. Detailed routes are deleted after 90 days unless your plan keeps them as proof.
Distances are estimates from your phone’s location and can differ from your odometer or a map. Review your drives and add a business purpose for each one; the IRS asks for both. You’re responsible for the mileage you claim, so check your log before you file, and ask a tax professional if you’re unsure. calQledg doesn’t give tax advice. How we handle location data is in our Privacy Policy.