Car Portfolio

Car Portfolio keeps every car you look after in one place on your iPhone — the paperwork, the upkeep, the running costs and the miles — and tells you before anything runs out. Version 1.0.0 is being tested on TestFlight at the moment and is not in the App Store yet.

Every car gets its own card. The registration, make and model, with the MOT, tax, insurance, breakdown and service dates underneath, each marked in date, due this week or overdue. Below that are the miles, the MPG and the car’s health, and buttons to log a trip, add fuel or open its documents. Every other screen sits on a carousel at the foot of the dashboard: swipe to turn it, tap to open.

The dates that matter. Enter an MOT test date and the expiry follows, keeping the same anniversary if the car was tested in the month before. The app tells you the first day the next test can be done and can put both dates in your iPhone’s Calendar. Insurance, tax and breakdown cover each have their own record, and renewing starts from last year’s details. Reminders go off a month before, a week before and on the day, and before each service is due. They are set on your phone; nothing is sent from a server.

The upkeep and what it costs. Every service, repair and oil change, and when the next one is due by date or by miles. Every fill-up, with MPG between full tanks, cost per mile and the month’s spend. Tyre sizes and pressures, tread checks wheel by wheel, and the regular look at oil, coolant, screenwash, brake fluid, tyres, lights and wipers. Scan the V5C, MOT certificates, insurance schedules and receipts: the edges are found, each page is squared up, and several pages make one PDF, filed by car.

The miles. Log a drive by GPS — personal, business or commute — with the phone left alone in its holder. The car’s mileage moves on, the history totals your business miles, and the mileage screen works out the tax year’s business miles at HMRC’s approved rates. Two phones close together can share cars and their records with each other directly, encrypted, without going through anybody’s server.

Everything stays on your phone in an encrypted database. Location is used only while a trip you started is being logged. There is no advertising or analytics code, and a PIN can lock the app.

• PlatformiPhone, portrait, iOS 15 and later
• StatusVersion 1.0.0 on TestFlight, not yet in the App Store
• StorageOn device only, encrypted, PIN protected
• ScreensMy cars, MOT, insurance, tax, breakdown, services, fuel, tyres, health, documents, costs, mileage, calendar, trips