Welcome to Trip Tally. This guide explains how to get the most out of the app across Dashboard, History, and Settings — including maps, charts, filters, destination and towing types, color themes, and how to safeguard your data with backups.
Privacy‑Conscious by Design
- Your trips are stored locally on your device. We don’t run any developer servers and we don’t collect your data.
- There is no iCloud sync in this version. To avoid data loss when changing or resetting devices, please back up your trips regularly using Settings → Data.
- Location access is optional and used only to improve map search and coordinate refinement. The app remains fully functional without it.
Core Concepts
Each trip includes:
- Required: Date, Start Location, Destination, Distance (internally stored in kilometers; display/entry respects your unit preference).
- Optional: Notes, Destination Coordinates (for maps and city labels), Preference (Liked / Disliked / No Preference), Destination Type (e.g. Campground, HipCamp, National Park, Hotel, Other), Towing (None, Trailer, Caravan, etc.), Mobile Coverage (select one or more carriers, including None and a custom “Other”).
Smart help:
- Coverage inference: If a trip doesn’t have coverage set, the app can infer it from your most recent trip to the same destination name (including your last custom carrier name when “Other” is present). You can always set coverage explicitly.
- Geotag labels: If a destination has coordinates, the app can show a city/suburb label in History and on maps. Reverse‑geocoded labels are cached locally for speed.
- Defaults: In Settings, you can define Default Destination Type and Default Towing for new trips. Start Location is often prefilled with your last destination to speed up round‑trip logging.
Dashboard
The Dashboard gives you an at‑a‑glance view of your travels.
- Time frame selector: Scope metrics to a Year, Custom range, or All Time.
- Maps: A Visited Map shows pins for destinations that have coordinates. Tap a pin to jump into History filtered for that place.