A German driving log (Fahrtenbuch) for iPhone that you keep by hand. Saved trips stay exactly as you entered them; a mistake is put right with a follow-up entry that remains visible in the log.
| Device | iPhone |
|---|---|
| Interface | German and English |
| Distribution | App Store |
Each trip gets its date, the odometer reading on departure and on arrival, start and destination, the purpose and one of three categories: "Geschäftlich" (business), "Arbeitsweg" (commute) or "Privat" (private). You choose the category; the app does not assess it. A private trip needs only the odometer readings, with start and destination optional. For business trips you note the business partner you visited, and under "More details" you can switch on "Detour driven" to record the route you really took.
From the second trip on, the form starts where the vehicle's last trip ended: the start and the starting reading are already filled in. The way back and your recent destinations wait as suggestions under "To"; one tap takes over destination, purpose, business partner and category.
You can set up several vehicles with make, model and registration number. Each trip takes the vehicle details as they stood at the moment of saving, so later edits to a vehicle leave older rows alone.
On saving, the app compares the odometer reading with neighbouring trips of the same vehicle and reports gaps or overlaps, as well as trips entered more than seven days after their date. These hints never stop you from saving and are neither a deadline nor an assessment.
There is no edit function: every change is meant to stay visible as a dated entry of its own. "Eintrag korrigieren" (correct entry) creates a further entry that points at the old one, has its own recording time and, if you like, states the reason. The old entry stays in the list and in every export, labelled "Korrigiert" (corrected).
A trip that did not happen as recorded does not disappear either. Swipe it away and it is marked for voiding; as soon as you close the banner or the app goes to the background, Fahrtenheft appends a void entry with 0 km. The voided trip stays in the log, struck through and labelled "Storniert" (voided), and is printed in full in the CSV and the PDF, but it no longer counts. A saved entry cannot be erased from inside the app.
Over every field of an entry — vehicle details, business partner, route and correction data included — the app computes a SHA-256 checksum that also takes in the checksum of the entry before it. The CSV file carries each row's position in the chain, its checksum and the previous checksum, and the exact checksum input is published in the help.
The checksums have no secret key. Anyone who deliberately rewrites a logbook copy and recomputes every checksum is not caught by the chain; that is why every load of a logbook copy is recorded in the log for good, with its date, the date of the copy and the number of trips.
In the CSV file the "Nr." and "Status" columns explain every correction and void in plain words, and the PDF brings the trip list, the corrections, the running odometer per vehicle and a legend together in one document.
"Hand over" produces three files: a spreadsheet (CSV) with every field and checksum, a print copy (PDF), and a logbook copy (JSON) from which the entire log, checksums included, can be brought back unchanged. CSV and PDF always cover every recorded trip. Where a file goes is up to you in the iOS share sheet.
Before a logbook copy is loaded, the app checks its chain and lists altered or missing entries in the confirmation dialog, the first three by date and route and any further ones as a count. Loading replaces the log and the vehicles, and the event stays recorded in the list, the PDF and the CSV afterwards.
The log sits on your iPhone. Fahrtenheft works without sign-up, developer server, advertising, analytics or tracking, opens no internet connection of its own and uses no location services; trips are never recorded automatically.
Two features can be switched on in the "Logbook" sheet when you want them: "Lock the logbook" with Face ID, Touch ID or the device passcode, and "Remind me to save a copy". The details are in the privacy information.
Once Apple has released it, Fahrtenheft is offered in the App Store as a one-time purchase, and the price that counts is the one the App Store shows for your country. The App Store is its only source; there is no subscription and there are no in-app purchases. More in the conditions of use.
Fahrtenheft is no substitute for tax advice and says nothing about how a German tax office will view your log. No official seal or certification exists for electronic driving logs, and the app lays claim to none. Keeping the entries complete and correct and retaining your records is your own responsibility; to that end, save a logbook copy regularly somewhere other than the iPhone.
Fahrtenheft · Aleksei Bukhalov · alex@bukhalov.com · Legal notice