MileBug alternative for iOS

iOS 26.2 broke MileBug at last; it hadn't been updated in years, the founder having apparently sold to Bending Spoons in 2018.

Failing to find a simple mileage tracker in the App Store, I cobbled together a Shortcuts workflow which does the job:

Setup

Create two files in On My iPhone/Shortcuts/:

1. log.csv with the header line Date,Vehicle,Start,End,Mileage
2. start.txt with your current odometer reading (e.g., 12345)

Workflow

Open Shortcuts and create a new shortcut with the following actions and values:

1. List - Replace the default One and Two with your vehicles (e.g., FJ40 and Fit)
2. Choose from List
3. Get File from Folder - Clear the auto-populated Selected Item, browse to On My iPhone/Shortcuts/, and change example.txt to start.txt
4. Get Numbers from Input - Keep the File token from step 3
5. Set Variable - Set Variable Name to Start and keep the Numbers token from step 4
6. Ask for Input - Change Text to Number and set Prompt to End Mileage
7. Set Variable - Set Variable Name to End and keep the Ask for Input token from step 6
8. Calculate - End - Start
9. Text - Tap these variable tokens from the Select Variable popup, adding a comma between each: [Current Date],[Selected Item],[Start],[End],[Calculation Result] (set Current Date Date Format to Short and Time Format to None)
10. Append to Text File - Keep the Text token from step 9; verify the path is On My iPhone/Shortcuts/, change example.txt to log.csv, and leave Make New Line on
11. Save File - Touch and hold Appended File, tap Variables..., tap End, expand the action, then turn off Ask Where to Save, set Subpath to start.txt, and turn on Overwrite If File Exists

Usage

Run the shortcut, pick a vehicle, and enter the end mileage. The shortcut then:

• Reads the start mileage from start.txt
• Appends the trip to log.csv
• Updates start.txt with the end reading, ready for the next trip

If miles were added without logging (e.g., after switching vehicles or an untracked drive), edit start.txt to match the actual odometer before the next run.

Notes

• Tap the arrow next to the shortcut name at the top of the screen to access Rename, Choose Icon, and Add to Home Screen options.

• Screenshot of the complete workflow.

• To resolve access or permissions issues, tap the ⓘ button on the shortcut and check Privacy settings.

• Plain-text editors like Subtext and Neon Vision Editor make creating and editing text files easy. To set one as the default handler for a file type, touch and hold a file in Files, choose Get Info, and set Always Open With to the desired app. It also helps to enable Show All Filename Extensions (tap the three-dot icon in the top-right corner of Files, then View Options).

Related

• Aidas kindly wrote in to recommend Juan Manuel Merlos' Open GPX Tracker. From the GitHub repo README:

  "Open GPX Tracker is a GPS logger for iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod) with offline map cache support. Track your location, add waypoints and send your logs by email as GPX files.

  "This app has no annoying time restrictions, no ads and no in-app-purchases. You can create unlimited GPX traces :).

  "If you are goint to track without Internet... don't worry! Before you go offline, browse the area where you'll be tracking and it will be cached and available offline.

  "We care about your privacy, all the data recorded using the application is kept in your phone (or in your iCloud), wherever you store it. The app does not share any GPS data with us or any other 3rd pary. For more information see the Privacy Policy."

• Shortcuts Toolkit: "Comprehensive toolkit for generating Apple Shortcuts programmatically using reverse-engineered binary plist format."

• Shortcut Source Tool:

  "Copy and paste multiple actions, view/edit/compare/save/import/repair/web-review shortcuts. ... Web Review can also be converted to and viewed/saved as plain text.
  "

❧ 2026-01-30