Tripbook

Tripbook is an Android trip log for recording vehicle trips on a phone. The app is designed for personal trip recording without accounts or hosted sync. Trip data stays local; network access is used for map tiles when picking saved places.

The installed app label is Tripbook, and the Android application ID is com.snupai.tripbook.

Features

• Start and stop local trip recording from the app.
• Track active trips with a foreground location service.
• Pick place rules on a map for common trip start or end locations.
• Optionally keep a foreground auto-record service running so the app can detect configured vehicle Bluetooth devices or Google Play Services driving-motion transitions in the background after the user accepts the in-app background location disclosure.
• Review completed trips, quickly classify common categories, and maintain custom notes.
• Configure work-hours auto-categorization, vehicles, odometer readings, and custom per-category distance rates.
• Export date-range trip reports as CSV or PDF files/share sheet payloads.
• Keep trip data local by default; map picking loads external map tiles.

Project Structure

• app/ - Android application module.
• app/src/main/java/com/snupai/tripbook/ - Java source for UI, trip tracking, storage, Bluetooth/motion detection, reports, and notifications.
• app/src/test/ - JVM tests for pure Java helpers.
• app/src/androidTest/ - Instrumented tests for Android-backed storage behavior.
• docs/ - Play Store release checklist and privacy policy draft.
• app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml - App components, features, and permissions.
• gradle/wrapper/ - Checked-in Gradle wrapper used for reproducible builds.

Requirements

• Android Studio or Android SDK command-line tools.
• JDK 17 or newer.
• Android SDK Platform 36.
• A configured SDK path through Android Studio, ANDROID_HOME, or local.properties.

Build

Build the debug APK from the project root:

./gradlew :app:assembleDebug

Run Android lint:

./gradlew :app:lintDebug

Run local JVM tests:

./gradlew :app:testDebugUnitTest

Build the instrumented test APK:

./gradlew :app:assembleDebugAndroidTest

Build the release app bundle for Play upload:

./gradlew :app:bundleRelease

Open the project in Android Studio and launch the app configuration on an emulator or device running Android 8.0/API 26 or newer.

Privacy

Trip data is intended to remain on the device. Android backup is disabled with android:allowBackup="false" so trip records stay local by default. The map picker uses network access to load map tiles.

The Play Store privacy policy is hosted at:

https://snupai.github.io/tripbook/privacy-policy/

The source text is in docs/privacy-policy.md, and the GitHub Pages HTML version is in docs/privacy-policy/index.html.

Permission Notes

• Foreground location: ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, FOREGROUND_SERVICE, and FOREGROUND_SERVICE_LOCATION support active trip tracking while a foreground service notification is shown.
• Background location: ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION must be requested separately on modern Android versions. The app now shows a prominent disclosure before opening this permission flow.
• Notifications: POST_NOTIFICATIONS is needed on Android 13+ so the foreground tracking notification can be shown normally.
• Bluetooth auto-recording: BLUETOOTH_CONNECT is used on Android 12+ for paired-device connection state. FOREGROUND_SERVICE_CONNECTED_DEVICE supports the persistent drive-detection notification. Legacy BLUETOOTH and BLUETOOTH_ADMIN permissions are limited to Android 11/API 30 and below. Bluetooth auto-record is off by default and only becomes available after disclosure acceptance, at least one vehicle Bluetooth device, location, background location, Bluetooth, and notification permissions.
• Motion auto-recording: ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION is used on Android 10+ for Google Play Services driving-motion transitions. Motion auto-record is optional and can be left off if the user wants Bluetooth-only auto-recording.
• Internet: INTERNET supports the place map picker. It is not used for account sync or trip upload.

Testing Notes

Before release, manually cover first launch permissions, notification approval on Android 13+, physical activity approval on Android 10+, background location opt-in, start/stop trip flows, map place picking, PDF/CSV report export, vehicle/rate/work-hours settings, app backgrounding, process death recovery, Bluetooth connect/disconnect behavior with a paired vehicle device, and motion auto-recording. The release checklist in docs/play-release-checklist.md tracks Play Console, policy, and QA work that cannot be fully automated from this repo.