SparkReceipt Help

How to start trips automatically when your phone connects to your car

On the Elite plan, SparkReceipt can start recording a trip when your phone connects to your car and end it when you disconnect or park. Android uses your car's Bluetooth; on iPhone you set it up with a Shortcuts automation.

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Written by SparkReceipt TeamUpdated Nov 2, 2026

SparkReceipt can start recording a trip for you when your phone connects to your car, so you don't have to remember to tap Start trip. On Android, SparkReceipt listens for your car's Bluetooth. On iPhone, a Shortcuts automation runs SparkReceipt's Start trip action when you connect to CarPlay or your car's Bluetooth. Trips that start this way can also end on their own when the car disconnects or when you have been parked for a while.

Starting and ending trips automatically is part of the Elite plan. On other plans you see the settings with an Upgrade to Elite button.

Where to find the setting

In the mobile app, open the menu, tap Account settings, then Mileage Tracker. The setting is the Start trips automatically section.

The setting belongs to your phone, not to the account. Everyone on the account sets it up on their own phone, and changing it doesn't affect anyone else.

Android: start a trip when your car connects

Pair your phone with your car over Bluetooth first, in your phone's Bluetooth settings. Then:

  1. In Start trips automatically, turn on Start when my car connects.
  2. If Android asks, allow Nearby devices. SparkReceipt needs it to see your car.
  3. Pick your car in Choose your car. The list shows the Bluetooth devices your phone is paired with. You can pick more than one car.

Because it uses Bluetooth, this also works with most cars that run Android Auto.

Start with the app closed

If the Start with the app closed row appears under your car, tap it. It lets your car start a trip even when SparkReceipt isn't open:

  1. SparkReceipt explains why it needs your location in the background. Tap Continue.
  2. Android asks for your location. On the next screen, choose Allow all the time.
  3. Android may ask whether SparkReceipt can access your car. Allow it.

SparkReceipt collects location only while a trip is recording, also when a trip was started with the app closed.

When your car connects, the trip starts and the trip notification says Trip started from followed by your car's name. Tap End trip in that notification to end the trip yourself.

If you skip this step, or if Android doesn't let SparkReceipt start in the background, you get a notification instead when your car connects: Start your trip? Tap it to start the trip.

If you later change SparkReceipt's location permission to something other than Allow all the time, the Start with the app closed row comes back so you can set it up again.

If trips don't start

  • Check that your phone is paired with the car and that the car is picked in Choose your car.
  • Some phones stop apps in the background to save battery. If neither a trip nor the Start your trip? notification appears when your car connects, open SparkReceipt's page in your phone's settings and let it run in the background without battery restrictions. The menu names differ by phone maker.
  • A trip doesn't start while another trip is already recording.

iPhone: start a trip with a Shortcuts automation

An iPhone doesn't tell apps when it connects to a car, so SparkReceipt uses the Shortcuts app instead. SparkReceipt adds two actions to Shortcuts, Start trip and End trip. The steps below are also shown in Start trips automatically on your iPhone, with an Open Shortcuts button.

  1. In the Shortcuts app, open Automation and tap New Automation.
  2. Choose CarPlay, or Bluetooth and your car. Pick Connects and Run Immediately.
  3. Add the Start trip action from SparkReceipt.
  4. Make a second automation for Disconnects with the End trip action.

Start trip opens SparkReceipt and starts recording. End trip ends the trip your iPhone is recording without opening the app.

On iOS 17 and later you can also ask Siri: "Start a trip in SparkReceipt" or "End my trip in SparkReceipt".

The Shortcuts actions are visible on every plan. On a plan without automatic trips, Start trip opens SparkReceipt and offers the upgrade to Elite instead of starting a trip.

How automatic trips end

The End automatic trips section sets how a trip that started automatically ends:

  • End when the car disconnects (Android, on by default): the trip ends when the car that started it disconnects. On iPhone, the End trip automation does this.
  • End when parked for: the trip ends after the car has stood still for the time you pick, 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes. The default is 10 minutes. Choose Never to turn it off.

A trip that ends this way ends at the time the car stopped. If the car never moved, the trip is discarded.

These rules never end a trip you started yourself with the Start trip button. The iPhone End trip action is different: it ends whichever trip your iPhone is recording, also one you started yourself. You can always end any trip yourself in the app.