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Fahrtenbuch starts and stops recording through two Shortcuts automations that react to your car. You only need to set them up once:

1. Open the Shortcuts app and go to the Automation tab. Tap + (or “New Automation”).
2. Choose CarPlay (if your car has it) or Bluetooth and select your car. Pick Connects, and set the automation to Run Immediately.
3. Add the action Start trip from the app. In Shortcuts it is listed under Mileage Tracker; in the German version the action is called “Fahrt starten”.
4. Create a second automation for Disconnects with the action End trip (“Fahrt beenden”).

That's it. From now on, every drive is recorded as soon as your iPhone connects to your car.

With “While Using the App”, iOS doesn't let Fahrtenbuch record while it's closed – which is exactly when the automation starts a trip. With “Always”, recording works in the background.

The app only uses your location between the start and the end of a trip. Your location data stays on your device. If detection is restricted, the Overview shows a notice explaining how to fix it.

You can run the Start trip and End trip actions yourself – ask Siri, or add them to your Home Screen as a Shortcuts widget. A running trip can also be ended in the app. And you can always add trips manually afterwards: pick the start and destination and the app calculates the road distance.

1. Location access for Fahrtenbuch is set to Always and Precise Location is on (iOS Settings → Fahrtenbuch → Location).
2. Both automations exist in the Shortcuts app and are set to Run Immediately, not “Ask Before Running”.
3. Your iPhone actually connected to the car – check whether CarPlay or the car's Bluetooth was active on that drive.

If a trip is missing, Fahrtenbuch usually notices the gap between two trips and suggests adding it. You can also add it yourself with the + button.

GPS only runs while a trip is being recorded. Between trips, the app doesn't use location at all. While driving, iPhones connected to CarPlay are usually charging anyway.

New trips appear under Trips → To classify. Swipe right for business or left for personal. Tap Select to classify several trips at once, including as commute. You can also classify a trip straight from the notification after it ends.

Sometimes the GPS signal jumps, for example in tunnels or between tall buildings, which makes a trip look longer than it was. Fahrtenbuch compares the recording with the road route and your odometer. Tap Correct to road route to use the road distance, or Route is correct if you really took the longer way. The original recording is kept, and the correction is recorded in the change history.

Closing a week checks that all trips are complete – trip type, purpose, client and addresses – and then locks the week. After that, trips can no longer be changed silently: every change is saved as a correction with the date, the old and the new value, and your reason. Tax authorities expect exactly this kind of tamper-evident logbook.

Go to Reports, choose the period and export the logbook as PDF or CSV. Share it via the share sheet – by email, AirDrop or saved to Files. The export includes the change history and marks trips that were added manually.

Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Australia and Canada with their official mileage rates, units and tax years. For all other countries (including Italy and Japan) you can enter your own rate. The region is taken from your iPhone's settings and can be changed in the app's Settings.

The app is available in German today. English and further languages are coming in an upcoming update.

Pro adds the logbook export (PDF and CSV), closing weeks with documented corrections, and multiple vehicles. Recording, classifying, plausibility checks, reports and exporting all your raw data stay free.

Open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap your name → Subscriptions → Fahrtenbuch Automatisch → Cancel Subscription. Or go directly to your App Store subscriptions. You keep Pro until the end of the current period. To avoid being charged for a free trial, cancel at least 24 hours before it ends.

Open the Pro screen in the app and tap Restore purchases. Make sure you're signed in with the same Apple Account you used for the purchase and that you're online.

All payments are handled by Apple, so refunds are too. Request one at reportaproblem.apple.com.

Only on your device. There's no account, no cloud sync and no server of ours that stores your trips. Details are in the Privacy Policy.

Your logbook is part of your regular device backup. Transfer your data to the new iPhone with Quick Start, or restore an iCloud or computer backup, and your trips come along. We recommend also exporting your data from time to time (Settings → Your data) as an extra copy.

Individual trips can be deleted in the trip detail view (trips in a closed week can only be corrected). To erase everything, go to Settings → Your data → Delete everything. Since we don't have a copy of your data, we can't restore it afterwards.