Mileage tracking eating my data!

Hello there, @shamilt1.

I'll share some insights about using the mileage tracking feature in the QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE) app so you can manage your mobile data accordingly.

The QBSE app's auto mileage tracking feature would need to use your mobile data to efficiently record your business mileage. You can learn more about the requirements for the best experience using the QBSE app by checking out this article: System requirements.

Also, you may want to check out this article as your reference to guide you on what to do if you encounter issues tracking your work trips on your mobile devices: Fix mileage tracking issues (The article is for QuickBooks Online, but also applicable for QBSE).

I'm all ears if you have other concerns about the mileage tracking feature in QBSE. You can drop a comment below, and I'll gladly help. Take care always, @shamilt1.

I understand that data is needed to track mileage, it’s the amount that needed seems excessive. Only an hour of driving per working day uses over 10gb of mobile data per month. 

Hello there, @shamilt1.

I understand how you feel about this, and I want to help you save your mobile data. What you'll want to do is to check within your mobile phone and confirm which apps installed consume most of your mobile data.

One possible reason your data gets consumed fast is that there are apps you don't frequently use, but they're running in the background inside your mobile phone. They can eat up your mobile data since they're still active. Once you've determined which app takes the most data, you may want to disable it to prevent that app from getting or taking your existing mobile data. This way, you can lessen or save more of your data and use it the next day.

Moreover, here's an article if you'd like to export your mileage data out of QBSE: Export mileage info from QuickBooks Self-Employed.

@shamilt1, feel free to mention me in the comment section below if you have any additional QuickBooks-related concerns. I'll make sure to get back to you. Stay safe!

None of this is very helpful I’m afraid. I’ve obviously checked within my mobile phone and checked which apps are using my data…and it was QBSE, that’s where I got the data usage figures from.

What would be helpful would be if you could provide me with information on how much mobile phone data the tracking should use- either from time on the road or distance covered. I personally think that it’s just a very data hungry feature that could do with working on to improve the users data consumption. 

We recognize the importance of saving data usage when tracking mileage in QuickBooks Self-Employed, @shamilt1.

We can tell that the tracking feature would impact the data on your mobile device as it needs to use data to accurately record your business mileage. However, we're unable to determine exactly how much it will consume.

For future reference, check out these useful modules in case you run into tracking problems:

• Fix mileage tracking issues in QuickBooks Self-Employed for iOS
• Fix mileage tracking issues in QuickBooks Self-Employed for Android

Please let us know if you have other concerns with mileage or QuickBooks. I'm here to help. Keep safe.

Just for reference, I downloaded a different mileage tracker app to see how much data it used to track the same journey as QBSE. For the same journey of approximately 4 miles, QBSE used 71.6 MB of my data. The other app I downloaded used only 100 kb. This means that QBSE used 716 times as much data to track the same journey!!!

I guess what I am after is somebody to have a word with the devs about the amount of data used for tracking mileage.

Thanks shamilt1, we appreciate this is a much greater volume and we'll certainly forward to our developers for consideration. 

That’s great- I’d appreciate it. If there is an update to fix it- how would I know?

I appreciate your prompt response, shamilt1. Let me ensure you'll get the assistance you need.

To help us review and provide you with the right information once this gets resolved, I suggest contacting our Customer Care Team. Doing so will help them check your mileage-tracking app and create an investigation ticket if necessary.

Here's how to reach them:

1. Go to this link: Contact QuickBooks UK.
2. Select Connect to an expert via the support page.
3. Enter the description.
4. Once done, Continue.

Moreover, you'll want to browse this reference to guide you in exporting your mileage data from your account: Export mileage info from QuickBooks Self-Employed.

Let us know how things worked for you, shamilt1. You can always get back to this thread if you have other QuickBooks concerns. Have a good one!