New IRS 2013 Mileage Rates for Tax Deduction and Reimbursement

The new rates from the IRS are now out for mileage reimbursement when driving your own vehicle for business, charity, and/or medical/moving purposes. Please look for a new release of MileBug containing these rates in the next week or so, depending on Apple's review process.

Business:            56.5 cents/mile
Charity:               14 cents/mile
Medical/Moving: 24 cents/mile

Both the business and medical/moving rates went up 1 cent/mile while the charity rate remained the same. For more information, you can refer to the official IRS announcement.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/2013-Standard-Mileage-Rates-Up-1-Cent-per-Mile-for-Business,-Medical-and-Moving

Online Help on new MileBug.com website

If you're here looking for online help, you're certainly welcome to search the blog. But the most current posts and insights can be found at the new milebug.com website.

For the blog/help, simply go to http://www.milebug.com/bloghelp

See you there!

MileBug for Android in AMAZON App Store

The Android version of MileBug is now available in the Amazon App Store! So all you people with the Amazon Store on your phones and not Google Play, check out MileBug at the link below:


MileBug in Amazon App Store

If you don't have the Amazon App Store on your Android phone, just click below and follow the instructions:

Recommended Solution for White Icon on iOS

The full solution can be found on our new site at www.milebug.com.

Here's a direct link to the solution:

http://milebug.com/2012/04/24/white-icon-recommended-solution/

Reviews of MileBug at The Daily App Show

MileBug was recently featured at The Daily App Show.  Below are the video reviews for each of the platforms.

          

99c Spring Sale for iPhone and Android!

Welcome to Spring! What a great time for a fresh start! And with all the fun of doing your taxes either fresh on your mind or still pending in the Inbox, think of how much easier it will be next year with the MileBug reports capturing all your miles...when you start today!

So to help out, we're putting MileBug on sale for only 99c for the next 3 days. To be clear, this is only the iPhone and Android versions. The Windows Marketplace had a little slip-up and we couldn't get the price change done there in time. We'll try to make it up!

Only 99c through March 23rd - Get it now!

     

    

Reports vs. Backups

Some people have written in about not being able to open the .mbdata backup file on their computer, so I thought to clarify the difference between Reports and Backups. This pertains to the iPhone version.

Backups
Under the Backup tab in MileBug, you can create a backup file of all your data. It stays on your phone until you email it to yourself or pull it off using iTunes File Sharing. There is a help guide to iTunes File Sharing at the bottom of the Backup tab. Just click "What is iTunes File Sharing?". The .mbdata file generated by the backup process is readable only by MileBug and is intended to be used to restore your data if you have problems with your iPhone or get a new iPhone.

Reports
Under the Reports tab, you can generate a human-readable report in either HTML or CSV (Excel or Numbers) format. You may choose the date range, the business(es), the vehicle(s), and the sort criteria. You can preview the report right in MileBug, too! Then hit Send, and the iPhone Email Composer will appear with your report as an attachment. After entering your email address, hit Send on the email composer and your report will arrive in your Inbox shortly.

Happy Taxes Everyone!

Using Favorite/Frequent Trips

We often go to the same places with the same purpose, and so it makes sense to capture these for quick reuse later. That way we don't have to enter all the information over and over again each time we make one of the frequent or favorite trips.

Add to Favorite Trips
To do this in MileBug, simply scroll to the bottom of the Add Trip or Edit Trip screen and you'll see the "Add to Favorite Trips" button. The screenshots shown here are for iPhone, but the buttons are in the same places on both Android and Windows Phone.

Use a Favorite Trip
The next time you add a trip, you can now choose the "Favorite/Frequent Trips" button at the top of the Add Trip and Edit Trip screens. This will bring up a list of the favorite trips you've saved. Just tap the one you want, and the data all fills in. The end odometer reading of your last trip with this vehicle is used as the start odometer for this new trip, and the end odometer is simply the miles/km recorded in the favorite trip added to that new start odometer.

Enjoy using Favorite/Frequent Trips!

MileBug for WP7 hits #4 in Business!

With just over 2 months in the Windows Marketplace, MileBug for Windows Phone (WP7) hits #4 in the Business category! And to top it off, it has a 4.5-star rating! Thank you everybody!

Please leave reviews so we know what you like and what we can improve. Spread the word!

Save the trip to have GPS continue tracking

A few users have written in concerned about the GPS stopping in the middle of tracking a trip. Turns out they hadn't saved the trip before driving away. We're working on devising a more intuitive UI, but wanted to help users understand the intended way to use MileBug to get the most out of it.

When you add a trip and turn on GPS, you actually need to return to the Add Trip screen and save the trip for the GPS to continue tracking. The incomplete/ongoing trip will appear in red in the Trips List while the GPS continues to track in the background. When you arrive at your destination, simply tap the red trip and stop the GPS tracking. The end odometer reading will be filled in automatically with the totals added to your mileage log.

Remember: Save the newly added trip to have the GPS continue tracking.

Using MileBug Internationally

A new MileBug user from the UK just wrote in wanting to know how to use MileBug in the UK as the app description promised. Believing she may not be the only one wanting to know, I thought this post could be helpful.

MileBug is setup to use the locale/country settings of the iPhone itself. Please follow these steps to set your iPhone for the UK (or whichever country you desire):

1) Open the Settings app on the home screen of your iPhone
2) Tap "General"
3) Scroll down to and tap "International"
4) Tap "Region Format"
5) Select United Kingdom (or your country) from the list

Now go back to MileBug and you're using pounds (or your currency)! You may need to scroll your trip list for it to refresh, or go to another tab, then back again.

To use km instead of miles:
1) Open the Presets Tab inside MileBug
2) Choose "Settings"
3) Choose "Kilometers"

Now you're recording Km!

MileBug for Android breaks into Finance Top 20

If you take a look in the Android Market at the Top Paid apps in the Finance category, you'll see something that's been very familiar in the iOS Top 20 Finance - MileBug! Sitting pretty at #19. So now MileBug is ranked in the Top 20 in both the Apple App Store AND in the Android Market. How cool is that? Get Android MileBug in the Android Market.

To top it off we have a new version of MileBug for Android coming very soon that incorporates data backup to the SD card. Users have been asking, and we're listening. Look for it soon!

How to Remove MileBug Backups from your iPhone

An iPhone MileBug user wrote in asking if there was a way to remove old backup files from his iPhone. There certainly is, and such, I thought there may be others out there wondering the same questions.

WARNING: For either answer, DO NOT DELETE "appData.mbdata"

Short Answer:  via iTunes File Sharing.

Step-by-step answer:

1) Connect your iPhone to your computer, open iTunes, select your iPhone listed on the left

2) Choose "Apps" on the top and scroll down to "File Sharing"

3) Select MileBug and you'll see your backup files listed on the right

4) Select the files you wish to delete and hit "Delete" on your keyboard

5) DO NOT DELETE "appData.mbdata" as this is your current working database for MileBug

Don't be afraid to write-in with questions. We would love to help you, and more than likely there are others out there looking for the same answers.

MileBug now on Windows Phone 7!

It's finally arrived! MileBug for Windows Phone 7 is now in the Windows Marketplace and ready for download. And there's some fun features that are unique to WP7, too! Like live tiles! Create a favorite trip and put that trip on your home screen for an even quicker start.

WP7 also includes a 2-week free trial period. So go ahead and download it. It's free to try! Then two weeks after you log your first trip, just upgrade and you're good to go.

MileBug for Windows Phone 7 (Free trial, $2.99 upgrade)

Users tell the world about MileBug

It's always great to see people getting great use out of MileBug! So I thought I would share some those that are posting their reviews:

1) Advanced IT Solutions -- http://www.bnits.net/news/31-iphone-app-milebug

2) Real Estate eBroker, Inc. -- http://reebroker.blogspot.com/2011/12/agent-advice.html

3) itbusiness.ca -- "Top Android apps we used in 2011"

4) HomeBuyingAndSellingExpert.com -- "Apps - Jet Fuel for Your Business"

5) AppComments.com -- "MileBug Reviews"

Do you have your own review of MileBug? Let us know (support@milebug.com) and we'll post it! Everyone can use a little more traffic, right?

Happy New Year!

Start the New Year right by tracking your trips!

Welcome to 2012! Even though it's potentially a few months before you start putting together your taxes for 2011, right now is the time to start your 2012 taxes the right way by tracking ALL your business miles, charity miles, and medical miles. And MileBug is here for you to do just that.

How does $1000 tax deduction sound?
The IRS left the very nice tax deduction rate for business miles at $0.555/mile. That's $5.55 for every 10 miles you drive your personal vehicle for business purposes. If you average 10 miles per trip, and 2 trips per week, that's over 1000 miles on the year for a very respectable tax deduction of over $550! If you drive more than a couple trips per week and they average more than 20-30 miles or more, then you're looking at well over a $1000 deduction. And who couldn't use that?

"Favorite Trips" make logging the short trips easy and thus profitable, too!
What about the little trips? The short trips to the supply store, or to the post office? Too much hassle? Not with MileBug. And the little trips add up, too. Set up a Favorite Trip for each of these common outings, and it's a quick few taps to log the trip. Two to three miles here, 3-4 miles there...and you have another hundred or more on your tax deduction.

MileBug on iOS (iPhone), Android, and very soon Windows Phone 7
Apple and Google have emerged as the giants in the mobile app world with iPhone apps and Android apps. MileBug is available for both. Microsoft is making great efforts to join the party with the new Windows Phone 7, and MileBug is almost there, too. It's been submitted...just awaits approval and release from the Microsoft powers that be. We're upgrading both iPhone and Android versions, too. So keep the feature requests coming!

Happy New Year everyone! Let's make it great!