iOS App Review: PaperTrail App Manages Your Mileage and Expense Receipts and Prepares Your Tax Info

Since the beginning of the year,  I've been using an app from Intuit called PaperTrail that makes it easy to enter my trip mileage and track incidental business expenses. Each year I've usually received a gift or found some paper calendar that I used to write down my daily business mileage. It's been quick, fast, and having the calendar tucked away in a cubby on my dashboard has been a reminder to record my mileage and trips. At the end of each year,  I would replace it with a new calendar. I liked weekly paper calendars the best, but this year I didn't receive one and decided it was time to go looking for an app that could track mileage.

I didn't want a full-blown expense management mobile app, just something simple that was quick and easy to use. After looking at a few mobile apps and trying some, I decided that PaperTrail was one that earned my recommendation. It's made by the folks at Intuit, who also make QuickBooks small business accounting software.

Basic App Features

The app is free, but I was ready to pay for one, so this is a bonus. It takes me about 30 seconds to open the app and enter a trip, and I've started me entering individual trips instead of just the total daily mileage.  If you record the year's beginning mileage, the app will track your total business and personal mileage percentage for reporting. All business mileage gets a calculation at the current annual IRS allowable rate for business mileage expenses, with each trip showing the date, total mileage, and any notes you enter about the trip. The notes field supports voice-to-text on iPhones that include a keyboard microphone. This is really helpful for my trip notes since my handwriting is pretty much illegible when I'm writing at a desk, and almost impossible for me to read myself from notes I make quickly in my car.

Backup and Export of App Data

If you use iCloud, your data is backed up to your iCloud account, a handy feature for business and financial expense information. There's an export feature which will export a month at a time, or a full year report with the reports included as email attachments to an email that's automatically prepared ready for you to enter the To address. The mileage in a .csv file format for use in a spreadsheet so it's easy to sort and organize, or even combine multiple reports from several people.

Additional App Features

A bonus I wasn't expecting is the expense feature. Since I only wanted a mileage tracking tool, I wasn't looking for this in my initial app search. Tapping a camera icon opens the camera to take a picture of a real receipt. After taking the picture, you can enter the amount,  a text category label, and add additional notes. Your expenses are totalled for the month and can include up to 400 receipt photos per month. You can go back later to add information to any expense photo in your app database.

After using this so far in January, I've found that I can finally replace my paper calendar, and I get the benefit of not having to add up all those miles from my paper notes. For a small business that wants to track expenses and keep them organized and convenient, this is an excellent solution from Intuit.

P.S.

One other note, I wasn't sure how to go back and add my beginning year mileage since I started using the app after I left my car, so I contacted the app support team by email from within the app, and I received a prompt response within 24 hours, which is excellent for mobile app support.