To make it easier for you to determine how well it fits your needs, we decided to test and review MileIQ and its features and uncover its pros and cons.
Keep reading as we will also discuss some of the issues that might affect your decision to use MileIQ, such as its offline mode and employee privacy.
How should an ideal mileage-tracking app work?
Learn how Timeero - the best mileage tracking app - simplifies mileage reimbursement and tax deductions for companies like yours.
You can use MileIQ on Android and iOS devices to track all your business drives.
MileIQ is a mileage-tracking app designed to track drives in the background. The app uses automatic drive detection, meaning you don’t have to hit start or stop to log miles.
Automatic drive detection is valuable for drivers who forget to turn on their mileage tracker app. However, automatic drive detection might not be helpful if you need more control over when to track miles.
We dug deep into how MileIQ works and found that it recognizes a new trip if it exceeds half a mile (0.8 km). Unfortunately, this also means that the app won’t log mileage for drives that don’t hit that threshold, which is a huge minus for companies with door-to-door mobile teams.
In addition, MileIQ’s automatic drive detection uses a combination of WiFi, cell data, passive GPS map lookup, and location services data to track drives automatically. It means MileIQ doesn’t work without an internet connection — we’ll get to that in a bit.
Remember that the MileIQ app isn’t available on Google Play and Apple’s App Store in many regions worldwide. This probably points to the fact that it’s geared towards rideshare drivers and teams in U.S., U.K., and Canada.
Personalizing MileIQ
Like other mileage-tracking apps, MileIQ lets you personalize the app to suit your needs and preferences. For example, you can add ‘Named Locations’ or specific addresses to make it easy for the app to recognize drives.
You can also set custom mileage rates for the entire team, but this requires you to upgrade to the Teams Pro plan. Custom mileage rates enable you to manage reimbursements and easily adjust them depending on IRS requirements.
In addition, you can add vehicles via Bluetooth or manually. With the Bluetooth option, the vehicle is synced to the driver’s phone, making tracking them easier. The good thing is that you can identify each vehicle with details such as model, make, year, or nickname.
MileIQ App Review: Key Features Walkthrough
We took MileIQ for a ride on a short trip to test how its features work, and here’s what we found out.
So to maximize the mileage deduction, you need a mileage tracker that logs every business mile your team logs.
MileIQ lets you track and classify your drives to boost tax deductions.
We tested MileIQ alongside Timeero — the best mileage tracking app — to see how it performs on a short trip. Our odometer logged 7.07 km (4.39 miles), whereas MileIQ logged 3.6 miles representing an 82% accuracy. Timeero recorded 4.04 miles, garnering a 92%.
Clearly, MileIQ missed some miles. So what could have impacted MileIQ? That’s probably something to do with how the app works.
How MileIQ Works
The drop in accuracy boils down to how MileIQ tracks mileage. Firstly, the app doesn’t track mileage when the vehicle exceeds a predetermined speed. Instead, the drive detection tracks mileage when there’s more than a half-mile difference in your reported location. As a result, the app will occasionally disregard drives shorter than a half mile.
In addition, when the MileIQ app detects a drive, it takes 15 minutes after the drive to decide whether the vehicle stopped.
For example, in our case, it took us about three minutes to cover the first leg of our 4.39 miles test trip. However, it took MileIQ roughly 15 minutes to decide whether our vehicle had reached a resting point. Only after the 15 minutes does the app log the mile covered and display the drive card on the app.
The half-mile rule and the 15-minute grace period can lead to inaccuracies. For example, if you’re stuck in traffic, MileIQ will continue to track your trip unless the vehicle is stationary for 15 minutes.
On the other hand, if you’re a door-to-door sale rep, MileIQ will occasionally disregard drives shorter than a half mile. The shorter trips could add up to a more significant number, ultimately causing you to miss out on mileage benefits.
Disable Drive Detection
Activating or deactivating drive detection on MileIQ mobile app is easy.
The ability to pause drive detection is helpful, particularly if you’re on the free plan or concerned about privacy. When you disable drive detection, MileIQ stops tracking your drives.
For example, you can disable drive detection on personal trips if you’re worried about running over the 40 drives monthly limit. Alternatively, you can pause the app if you’re on personal endeavors and don’t want your employer snooping on your whereabouts.
However, be careful not to disable drive detection against your company’s policy. That could put you on a collision course with the hierarchy. You could face serious repercussions, such as getting fired.
MileIQ Offline Mode
MileIQ doesn’t offer an offline mode. When we switched off mobile data mid-trip, the app displayed an error message “Check your data connection.” The app didn’t track mileage when we turned off mobile data, which explains why the accuracy dropped significantly.
The app might miss some of your trips or track miles inaccurately if you traverse areas without an internet connection.
MileIQ users traveling through areas without internet coverage might miss out on the opportunity to maximize mileage deduction.
Drive Classification
One feature that sets MileIQ from other mileage trackers is drive classification. As a business owner or a self-employed driver, you wouldn’t want a mix-up between personal and business trips, which is why the drive classification tool is handy.
Using the drive classification tool is child’s play. When MileIQ downloads a drive card on the app, you swipe it right for business or left for personal trips. Alternatively, you can log into the web dashboard, select the trip, and hit the button below the map to classify the journey.
MileIQ lets you separate business trips from personal trips for reimbursement and tax purposes.
In addition, MileIQ comes with a custom purpose classification for business and personal trips, which lets you pick a subcategory. Subcategories for personal trips include:
Moving
Charity
Medical
Commute
On the other hand, you can classify your business trips under the following custom categories:
Meeting
Customer visit
Errand supplies
Between offices
Meal/entertain
Airport/travel
Temporary site
Custom personal and business purposes aren’t limited to the options on these lists. MileIQ allows you to add more purposes based on your driving needs and preferences to simplify drive classification.
Even better, MileIQ lets iPhone users classify trips without opening their apps. The iOS app has an exclusive classifier widget that enables users to classify drives straight from the notifications. The feature works seamlessly on iPhone 7 and above.
MileIQ Frequent Drives
To make it even easier to classify trips, MileIQ offers frequent drive functionality. This tool is helpful for delivery drivers or drivers who usually take the same route. So how does the feature work?
When you classify a drive the same way two times, MileIQ serves up a prompt at the bottom of a drive card to notify of the potential for the drive to be a “Frequent Drive.” If you classify the drive the same way a third time, a prompt will appear asking you to auto-classify the trip in the future.
MileIQ lets you set specific trips as ‘frequent drives’ to simplify classification.
When you choose “Yes, Auto-classify,” the drive will be set as a frequent drive. In that case, you’ll not have to classify that trip in the future manually. Instead, MileIQ will auto-classify the trip for you, shaving off that repetitive task.
Work Hours and Shifts
Works Hours and Work Shifts are meant to simplify drive classification further.
MileIQ lets you stipulate your regular business hours. Then, the app will automatically classify any trip within those hours as business and categorize trips outside that timeframe as personal. By default, the app predefined works hours to be between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, but you can tweak the hours to suit your schedule.
The Work Shift is geared toward drivers with irregular working schedules. For example, the feature is for you if you work a regular 9-5 job and do cab business in the morning and evening. In this case, you can set a morning and evening shift on MileIQ. This way, the app will auto-classify any drive recorded during the shift as a business trip.
How Much Does MileIQ Cost?
The MileIQ pricing model has a plan for personal drivers and teams. The personal model has a free version and paid plan.
MileIQ pricing model comes with plans for self-employed drivers and teams.
The free plan comes with usage limits. For example, you track up to 40 drives per month, which is abysmal, given how the app tracks mileage. While MileIQ tends to disregard shorter trips, it can quickly rack up the drives, especially if your job involves frequent stops.
The paid personal plan costs $59.99 per year, which is quite affordable. However, while it offers unlimited drives, it doesn’t unlock key features such as custom rates, mileage reports, and the option to add/remove drives. To these features, you have to subscribe to a Teams plan.
There are three team plans. The Team Lite sets you back $50 per user per year, slightly over $4 per user per month. For that price, you get to build teams and track unlimited drives. Sadly, the Team Lite plan doesn’t offer reporting capability.
The Team plan costs $80 per user per year and comes with Lite features plus reporting capability. The final plan is the Team Pro for $100 per user per year. This plan offers all MileIQ features, including reporting, multiple admins, invoicing, and custom mileage rates.
Timeero: Best MileIQ Alternative
MileIQ has shown the true potential to become an excellent mileage-tracking app. Using drive detection is a good move, but sadly, the technology impedes accurate mileage tracking. If anything, the half-mile rule and the 15-minute grace period can hamper accurate mileage tracking.
That, coupled with the missing offline mode, drags MileIQ down the pile, and, unsurprisingly, it misses out on the spot in our list of best mileage tracking apps.
If you want to track miles and monitor driver behavior accurately, we recommend starting with Timeero for various reasons. To learn more about the app, check out our detailed Timeero review.
Privacy-Conscious Mileage Tracking
Nowadays, employees care a lot about their privacy. They will resist any app that they deem to intrude on their privacy. They could sue you if you force them to use an app that doesn’t prioritize their privacy.
Timeero values employee privacy and only tracks mileage during predefined working hours. Unlike MileIQ, which has no start or stop button, Timeero requires employees to clock in to track mileage.
Timeero requires employees to clock into their designated jobs to start tracking mileage.
That means employees have complete control over mileage tracking. They can decide when to track or not to track mileage, provided they do it without breaching the employer’s policy. The bottom line is that employees remain on top of their privacy.
Accurate IRS-Compliant Mileage Logs
Timeero uses motion detection technology but applies the technology in a way that espouses accuracy. For example, with motion detection, the app logs miles for drives that exceed a predefined speed, say 4 miles per hour.
Doing so ensures that every drive is logged, whether short or long. Moreover, it ensures that the app doesn’t track mileage when the vehicle is idle. If the driver stops along the way or is stuck in traffic, Timeero will not log mileage.
As a result, you can rest assured that the miles the app tracks are accurate. No more reimbursing drivers for miles they didn’t drive. It’s also a boon for drivers. Timeero doesn’t miss any trip — ensuring each driver gets maximum mileage reimbursement.
Regarding mileage reimbursement in California and other states with strict laws, Timeero helps you ensure law compliance and safeguard your business from potential lawsuits and fines.
One shortcoming of MileIQ is that it doesn’t help monitor driver behavior. For example, that app doesn’t show a driver’s route; it only provides their start and stop location.
Timeero route replay provides breadcrumbs with detailed timestamps and vehicle speed data.
On the contrary, Timeero’s route replay provides a clear route that a driver took while on the clock. You can replay the route to confirm whether the driver took the longer route for scenic purposes.
In addition, the route replay breadcrumbs provide detailed timestamps. For example, if a customer claims a parcel was delivered late, but a driver claims otherwise, you only need to click the breadcrumbs closest to the customer's location. This will give you a timestamp when your driver was at the customer’s location, helping you solve the dispute.
Moreover, you can monitor driver behavior while on the road. For example, if you require drivers to maintain certain speeds to save fuel costs, the breadcrumbs will give you a hint of drivers violating the fuel-saving policy.
Follow Shortest Routes With Suggested Mileage
If your drivers tend to deliver packages to the same place, Timeero suggested mileage can help you save fuel and improve delivery times. The feature analyzes a driver’s route and checks whether there’s a shorter alternative route.
Track Mileage in Remotest Areas
In addition to these features, Timeero comes with a solid offline mode. So even if your team travels through areas without internet coverage or runs out of mobile data mid-trip, the app will continue tracking mileage. It will then sync the data to your database when there is an internet connection.
Other Key Timeero Features
Time tracking with geofencing and facial recognition
GPS location tracking
Scheduling tool
Message blast
Final Thought: Is MileIQ Worth It?
We have tested multiple mileage-tracking apps, and our honest opinion is that MileIQ needs some fine-tuning. The vendor needs to improve how the app tracks mileage, notably rethink the half-mile policy and 15-minute grace period. As we’ve seen in our MileIQ review, these rules could impede accurate mileage tracking.
If you’d like to use an app that tracks mileage without disregarding trips because they’re short, try Timeero. As mentioned, Timeero automatically tracks mileage when the vehicle speed exceeds a predetermined threshold.
Plus, it doesn’t matter whether there’s an internet connection. With the solid offline mode, Timeero tracks mileage even when you traverse remote areas. Not to mention that the app gives employees total control over their privacy as far as tracking is concerned.
Subscribe to Timeero’s 14-day free trial and get a first-hand feel for all the features.
FAQs: MileIQ App Review
What Is MileIQ Used For?
MileIQ is a mileage-tracking app designed with rideshare drivers and small business owners in mind.
What Are the Cons of MileIQ?
Some of the shortcomings of MileIQ include the non-existence of offline mode, the half-mile rule, which makes it disregard shorter trips, the lack of route optimization features, and the app use more mobile data than other mileage tracking apps.
How Much Does MileIQ for Teams Cost?
MileIQ has three plans for teams: Lite ($50/user/month), Teams ($80/user/month), and Pro ($100/user/month).
Is MileIQ Worth It?
If you need an app to track mileage and don’t mind it missing a few trips here and there, then MileIQ is a safe bet. However, if you care about mileage accuracy and want to log every mile, even when traversing areas without internet coverage, MileIQ isn’t worth it.
Take Timeero mileage tracking tools for a whirl risk-free.
Samson is a mathematician turned content marketer specializing in SaaS and Tech content. He focuses on the practical aspects of software systems while keeping abreast of the industry’s cutting-edge principles to create informative and engaging content. When he’s not writing, Samson spends time playing or watching soccer.
