Logging a shift

What it is

A short guided wizard that records one period of work: when it was, who for, how long, how far and what you were paid. Everything else in JoltMile is calculated from these records.

What it asks for, and why

How to use it

1. Press Start shift when you set off, and End shift when you finish. The wizard opens with the date, the times, the miles and the postcodes already filled in.
2. To log a shift you did not time, press the arrow beside Start shift and choose Log a shift you have finished, then fill in the times yourself.
3. Work through the steps. The platform and vehicle are pre-filled from last time.
4. Save, and the shift appears in your shift log and in every total immediately.

Start shift and End shift

The quickest way in, and the one to use: press Start shift when you set off and the app keeps the time for you, including breaks, with the phone in your pocket and the screen off. A running shift shows on your lock screen. Press End shift at the end and it hands the times, the date, the platform, the vehicle, the miles and both postcodes to this same wizard, which then asks for the one thing a phone cannot work out: what the shift paid.

Miles measured for you

A shift you start in the app also measures your miles, using your location from Start shift to End shift. When you finish, the wizard opens with the miles and the postcode at each end already filled in, and you can change any of them before you save.

It only runs while a shift you started is running. It is not drive detection, and it stops the moment you end the shift. The raw positions are thrown away, so what is kept is the miles and the two postcodes, not a map of where you went. If the app was closed partway through, the end of the shift tells you rather than quietly showing fewer miles.

Drafts

If you leave the wizard with real data entered, JoltMile offers to save it as a draft. Drafts are stored against your account rather than the device, so a draft started on one phone can be finished on another.

A draft is deliberately not a shift. It is held in a separate table, so it cannot appear in your earnings, tax estimate, mileage totals or exports - the reliable way to guarantee a half-finished record never contaminates a figure is for it not to be in the table those figures are computed from. When a draft exists, Finish your unfinished shift appears in the menu beside Start shift, and at the top of your shift log.

Mistakes to avoid

• Putting your net payout in base earnings. Use the gross figure before the platform's fee, and record the fee as an expense.
• Counting home-to-depot as business miles. That is commuting - see what counts as a business mile.
• Leaving hours out. Without them there is no hourly rate, which is most of the point.
• Logging a whole week as one shift. Per-shift records are what let you see which days and platforms actually pay.