Two minutes of setup, then your mileage log builds itself. Here is exactly what happens and why each permission exists.
Stub detects when you drive — in the background, with the app closed. When you open the app, your trips wait in a short review: the AI has already suggested business or personal for each one, with a plain-language reason. It does not guess trip by trip: it reads your whole day — how long you dwelled between drives, stop patterns, weekday and holidays, and your own history — so a delivery run reads like one run, and reasons can say things like “part of the same delivery run as #2.”
You confirm each trip with one tap. Confirm the last one and the log files itself. Every business mile becomes a Schedule C deduction at the IRS standard rate, and an audit-grade PDF (date, route, purpose, odometer, per-year totals) is one tap away in Reports.
What leaves your phone: a trip's start and end coordinates, its trip statistics, and — if you've named the place — the name you gave it (like Home or Office), sent over an encrypted connection for a one-time business-or-personal suggestion. Your full route stays on your phone, Stub doesn't store your trips, and none of it is used to train the AI or ever sold. Prefer to share less? Turn on Private location mode (Settings › Privacy) to send only approximate locations and no place names — the automatic suggestions just get a little less accurate. Details in the privacy policy.
1. Turn it on — Miles tab → Automatic drive detection → Turn on.
2. Location: Allow all the time — Drives happen while the app is closed — “While using the app” literally cannot see them. “All the time” is what makes automatic automatic.
3. Physical activity: Allow — This is the battery saver. Your phone’s motion chip tells driving from walking, so GPS only runs during actual drives instead of all day.
Not asked for it? Phone Settings → Apps → Stub → Permissions → Physical activity → Allow.
4. Battery: Unrestricted — Stops Android from pausing detection mid-drive. Phone Settings → Apps → Stub → Battery → Unrestricted.
Allow Location Always (with Precise on) and Motion & Fitness. iOS may start with “While Using” and ask to upgrade after your first drives — accept the upgrade.
Drive somewhere, come back, open the app: the review shows each trip with the AI’s suggestion and reason. Tap Business or Personal on each — the last tap saves everything and returns you to Miles.
When you visit a spot often, Stub asks what it is — anchored to the exact trip (“This trip left from here Jul 4 · 8:30 AM”) so you recognize it instantly. Naming places makes every future suggestion sharper: with Private location mode off, a place's name is included in that one-time AI check; with it on, only approximate locations are sent.
No — that is what the Physical activity permission is for. GPS only runs while you are actually driving; the motion chip (which uses almost nothing) decides when that is.
Yes. That is exactly what “Allow all the time” location enables.
Stops longer than 10 minutes end a trip; shorter pauses (a drive-through, a quick drop-off) stay inside it. The review lets you fix anything before saving.
Any time — same toggle on the Miles tab. Your saved trips stay.