First setup on Android

This walks through a fresh install on Android, one screen at a time. By the end, Milometry will record your drives by itself and you will have seen what happens when one ends. Allow about five minutes, and do it before you set off rather than in the car.

Android asks for more permissions than iPhone, and phone makers word the system screens a little differently. The app's own buttons are the same everywhere.

1. The welcome screens

Open Milometry. Six orange screens explain what it does: recording, sorting, the claim, privacy and reminders. Swipe or tap Next to move through them, or Skip to jump to the last one.

The last screen has a Turn on reminders button. Tap it and, on Android 13 and later, the phone asks whether Milometry may send notifications. Tap Allow. Notifications are how the app tells you a drive has started or been saved by itself.

Tap Set up.

2. Whose rules?

This screen chooses the rates your claims are worked out under. The Country or scheme picker starts on the one that matches your phone's region. Check the summary underneath, which spells out the rate and when your claim year starts.

If your employer pays something different, tap These are not my rates and change the figures, then Done adjusting. Everything here can be changed later in Settings → Mileage scheme.

Tap Next: your car.

3. Your car, your numbers

Type a Vehicle name. The two fuel fields are optional: fill them in if you know them and you get cost estimates from the first trip.

Tap Continue. Android asks whether Milometry can use your location. Choose Precise at the top, then While using the app. Step 5 asks for the rest.

4. Five things worth doing

You land on the Track tab, with a map of where you are. A card called Five things worth doing appears over it. Every item is optional, and each one has a button that takes you to the right place.

Tap Set up next to Let it record by itself. That opens Settings → Tracking.

5. Turn on Auto-record

Under Departure detection, tap Auto-record. Several screens follow, one after another.

1. Milometry needs your location in the background. This is the app's own screen, explaining what it collects and why. Read it and tap Allow background location. Not now leaves recording off.
2. Location permission. Android opens Milometry's location setting. Choose Allow all the time, check Use precise location is on, then go back to the app.
3. Notifications, if you did not allow them earlier. Tap Allow.
4. Physical activity. Tap Allow. This lets the phone's motion sensors tell Milometry you are in a vehicle, a second way of noticing a drive that works wherever you are. If you decline, recording still works, just with one less way in.

When the dot sits next to Auto-record, a switch called Never miss a drive appears underneath, already on. It keeps a small permanent notification in your shade and watches for movement itself, which makes recording far more dependable on Android. It uses a little more battery. Leave it on unless the notification bothers you.

6. Set battery use to Unrestricted

Android puts apps to sleep to save battery, and a sleeping app can miss the moment you drive away. Open Android Settings → Apps → Milometry → App battery usage and choose Unrestricted. The names vary a little between phone makers.

If this is still set to optimised, the Tracking screen shows a red box saying Battery optimisation is on for Milometry. Tap it to go to the right list.

7. Check nothing is blocking it

Go back to the Track tab. If a red warning button with a triangle shows on the map, something on the phone is still in the way. Tap it: the sheet lists each problem, tapping one takes you to the Android setting, and Why Android misses drives at the bottom opens the full guide. If there is no red button, there is nothing to fix.

8. Take a drive

Put the phone away and drive. Milometry needs nothing from you on the road.

Expect the start to lag a little behind you setting off: Android batches these checks to save battery, and the route fills in from there. A notification may say Trip recording started. When you have arrived and been parked for a few minutes, the trip ends by itself and a notification asks Business or personal? Answer it once you have parked, from the notification or later on the Classify tab. The trip is on the Trips tab either way.

If something is not right

• No drive appeared. Work through making sure Android records your drives. It covers Wi-Fi, battery, precise location and the other settings that quietly stop recording, in the order most likely to matter.
• You swiped Milometry out of your recent apps. On many phones that stops it until you open it again. Open it once and leave it there.
• You would rather be asked before each trip is kept. Choose Ask me afterwards instead. Choosing how it records explains the difference.