Why isn't automatic mileage tracking detecting my drives?

Updated September 17, 2026

If your tracking mode says Automatic but no trips are appearing, the fix that works most often is to re-select the tracking mode: open the Mileage tab, tap Manage on the tracking card, tap Tracking mode, and choose Automatic again. Then take a short drive to confirm.

That sounds too simple, but it addresses the most common cause. Tracking can occasionally fail to restart after a phone restart or an app update. When that happens the app still shows Automatic, because that's the setting you saved — but background tracking isn't actually armed. Re-selecting the mode arms it again.

Start Here

1. Open the Mileage tab
2. Look at the top of the screen for a warning banner. If one is there, it names the problem (location services off, permission denied, or Always access needed) and has a Fix button -- use it, and you're done
3. No banner? Tap Manage on the tracking card, tap Tracking mode, and select Automatic again
4. Drive somewhere that takes more than a couple of minutes
5. Check the Mileage tab for the trip, or for the Trip saved -- tap to classify notification

If a trip appears, you're fixed. If not, work through the checks below.

Check Your Permissions

Automatic tracking needs more than location permission alone. All of these have to be on.

On iPhone

Always is the one people miss. While Using the App is not enough -- your phone is in your pocket while you drive, so the app has to be allowed to record in the background. iOS also sometimes asks you to confirm Always again a few days after you first grant it; if you tapped "Keep While Using", tracking stops there.

Low Power Mode is worth a second look. iPhones switch it on automatically at 20% battery, so it can be on without you choosing it, and it suspends the background activity tracking depends on.

On Android

"Optimised" battery usage is the usual culprit on Android -- it lets the system suspend Flippd in the background. Set it to Unrestricted.

Is Tracking Alive at All?

This is the fastest way to tell whether the problem is automatic detection or tracking generally:

1. Tap Manage on the tracking card, then Tracking mode, and choose Manual
2. Tap Start Trip, drive for a few minutes, then tap Stop Trip

• The manual trip records a distance -- tracking works on your device, and the problem is with automatic detection. Switch back to Automatic (which also re-arms it) and try a drive.
• The manual trip records nothing -- tracking isn't running on your device at all. Go to Reinstalling as a last resort, below.

Remember to switch back to Automatic when you're finished testing.

What a Working Setup Looks Like

• The Mileage tab's tracking card shows tracking is active, and shows the live distance while a trip is in progress
• When a drive finishes and saves, you get a Trip saved -- tap to classify notification
• The trip appears in your mileage log waiting to be classified as business or personal

If you see the trip in your log but never got the notification, that's a notification permission issue, not a tracking one -- tracking is working fine.

Things That Look Like a Fault but Aren't

• Very short or slow drives may not register. Automatic detection waits until it's confident you're driving rather than walking or sitting at a light. A two-minute trip around the corner often won't trigger it -- add those by hand.
• Your trips don't appear in the web app. Trips and their GPS routes are stored on your device for privacy, not in the cloud, so the web app shows Trips live on your phone. This is by design, not a sync failure.
• There's a delay before a trip appears. A trip is saved once it's finished, not while you're driving, so give it a few minutes after you park.
• You have to classify trips yourself. Detected trips wait in your log as business or personal until you classify them, unless you've set up auto-classify rules.

Reinstalling, as a Last Resort

If manual tracking also records nothing, deleting and reinstalling Flippd clears the tracking system's stored settings and usually restores it.

Read this first. Your trips are stored on your device, not in the cloud. Deleting the app deletes any trips you haven't saved to your mileage log yet.

Before you reinstall:

1. Open the Mileage tab and classify and save every trip still waiting for review -- saved trips keep their mileage and deduction in your account
2. Reports > Tax Reports > Mileage Log exports an IRS-ready PDF of your log
3. Only then delete and reinstall the app, sign back in, and set the tracking mode to Automatic again

Everything else -- inventory, expenses, saved mileage entries -- is in your account and comes back when you sign in.

Still Not Working?

Contact us from Settings > Help & Support and tell us:

• Your phone model and OS version
• When it last recorded a trip, if it ever has
• Which of the checks above you've already tried
• Whether a manual trip records a distance

We can look at your account's tracking status from our side, and we may ask you to send a diagnostics export so we can see what your phone's tracking system is reporting.

Good to Know

• Automatic tracking is included on the free plan -- the free plan caps how many trips you can log each month, but not whether detection works
• You can always add a trip by hand while you're sorting this out, and hand-entered trips count as business mileage
• Changing your tracking mode doesn't affect trips you've already saved
• Automatic tracking uses efficient background location, so the battery cost is small -- but it does need the background permissions above

Related Articles

• How does automatic trip detection work?
• How do I track business mileage for tax deductions?
• How do I make Flippd classify my regular trips automatically?
• Are there any known issues or workarounds?