Farm Mileage Tracker Help
Farm Mileage Tracker logs farm trips with GPS and exports them for tax time. This is the same manual that’s inside the app.
How trip tracking works
Tracking is manual from start to finish, and nothing runs unless you tell it to.
- Tap Start trip on Home when you head out.
- GPS logs the distance in the background while you drive. The screen can be off.
- Tap End trip when you arrive, then pick a category (Cows, Bees, Lavender and so on).
- No GPS runs at all until you start a trip, and none once you end one.
Why background location access matters
Without the Always location permission (on Android, Allow all the time), a trip stops logging as soon as you lock your screen or switch apps. “While using” alone isn’t enough. If a trip’s mileage looks short, check this setting first. The permission is used only between tapping Start trip and tapping End trip.
Logging a trip you already took
You don’t have to remember to hit Start. Add a trip by hand afterwards in one of two ways:
- Odometer: enter the start and end readings and the app works out the distance.
- Total miles: enter the distance directly if that is all you have.
Either way you pick the date, category and vehicle, and the trip lands in History alongside your tracked trips and counts the same on the export. The form shows the IRS rate it will use, which is the published rate for that trip’s own date, and you can change it for that one trip.
History
Every saved trip shows its distance, category, vehicle and date. You can edit the category, vehicle and notes afterwards if you tapped the wrong one, and delete a trip that shouldn’t be there.
Export
Export pulls your trips into a CSV, with mileage valued at the IRS rate set in Settings. It is useful for tax records or reimbursement. Export at least once a year and keep your own copy.
The rate is stored on each trip as it is logged, so changing the rate in Settings does not rewrite trips you already recorded. The IRS can change the rate during the year, and the app only knows the rates it has been given, so Settings tells you if yours isn’t today’s rate. The dollar figure is an estimate to help with your records. It is not tax advice and not proof that a trip is deductible, so check irs.gov and ask your accountant.
Vehicles and categories
- Add vehicles with a name and icon in Settings, so trips can be tied to the one you used.
- Pick a category on every trip. Categories are what make the export useful at tax time.
Signing in and syncing
Signing in is optional. Without an account the app works fully on your device, including offline. Signing in with Apple or Google keeps your trips synced across your own devices.
- No name or email is requested. Sign-in returns an anonymous identifier.
- Sync runs when the app opens and whenever you come back to it. There is also a Sync now button in Settings.
- Trips logged without an account stay on the device. After you sign in, the app asks whether to add them to your account.
- Delete account, in Settings, removes your account and everything synced to it. Export first, because it cannot be undone. You can also delete it from any browser, without the app, by signing in with the same Google account at farmmileage-api.bloomcal.workers.dev/delete-account.
If a trip’s mileage looks wrong
- Short or missing distance: almost always background location. Set location to “Always” and check the Diagnostics panel in Settings.
- A “Tracking was interrupted” note: the app lost GPS for part of the trip, so its miles are probably short. Add the trip again as a manual trip from the odometer, then delete the short one.
- Phone restarted mid-trip: open the app and it picks the trip back up, but miles driven while the phone was off are not counted.
- Distance slightly off: GPS drift on slow or wooded routes is normal. Use the odometer entry if you need an exact figure.
- A trip is missing on another device: both devices must be signed in to the same account. Open the app on both and give sync a moment.
Still stuck?
In the app, use Help → Report a problem or idea. It reaches me with your app version and device attached, so I can reproduce it. For anything private, or if you would like a reply, email rdshad@beesbloomsandbytes.com.