App guides
Does automatic mileage tracking drain my iPhone battery?
How much battery a background mileage tracker uses on iOS, what affects it, and how MileTracker keeps battery impact under 2% per day.
By MileTracker · April 16, 2026 · 6 min read
The most common concern about automatic mileage trackers is battery drain. Here's the honest answer: a well-built tracker uses very little battery, and MileTracker is designed to be one of those.
How iOS background location works
iOS provides several APIs for background location. The cheapest is significant location change, which only fires when you move a meaningful distance. The most expensive is continuous high-accuracy GPS, which is what fitness apps use.
MileTracker uses significant location changes and motion APIs to detect a trip start, then briefly enables higher accuracy GPS for the duration of the trip, and falls back when you stop. This keeps battery impact minimal.
What you can do
- Grant 'Always' location — paradoxically uses less battery than 'While Using'
- Enable Background App Refresh for MileTracker
- Don't force-quit MileTracker — iOS won't restart it
MileTracker detects every drive in the background, lets you classify business or personal in one tap, and exports an IRS-ready PDF and CSV at tax time. Download MileTracker free on the App Store.