Support

Getting Started

1. Open Student Driver.
2. Complete the welcome setup by entering the driver's name, or choose Restore from Backup to use an existing log.
3. Review the state, total-hours goal, night-hours goal, saved supervisors, and saved cars.
4. To change these details later, open Settings, make the changes, and tap Save Settings.

Log a Drive Manually

1. Open Log Drive and select Add Past Drive.
2. Enter the start and end times, then select or add the supervisor and car.
3. Add checkpoints, driving conditions, practiced skills, and notes as needed.
4. Tap Save. The app opens Logbook after the drive is saved.

Record a Drive with Start and Stop

1. Before moving, open Log Drive, select Record Drive, review the supervisor and car, and tap Start Drive.
2. Put the phone away and do not interact with it while driving.
3. After parking safely, tap Stop & Save. The drive is saved automatically.
4. Review the completion summary and goal ring on iPhone. Open the saved drive to adjust details if needed, or start another drive. CarPlay uses a text summary.

Location permission is optional. If GPS is unavailable, times are still recorded; a note is added and available endpoint coordinates are preserved. Address lookup happens later and does not delay saving. Review GPS status and estimated mileage, especially after an interruption.

For the best mileage estimate, keep Student Driver open while driving, or enable Background Location During Live Drive in Settings to continue tracking while the phone is locked. Review iOS location permission and Precise Location there. This option is off by default and applies immediately during a live drive. Do not force-quit the app while recording. Park safely before stopping the drive. Do not interact with the app while the vehicle is moving.

Automatically Detect Night Driving is off by default and applies to the next drive. It estimates sunset-to-sunrise minutes, not legal eligibility. Confirm your goals and night-driving definition with your licensing authority and review the saved minutes.

Create a Report

Open Reports, choose a date range and whether to include private details, then generate a Driving Log PDF, Progress Summary PDF, or CSV export. Names, locations, and notes are omitted by default. Use Preview Export, then Save to Files. Generate again after changing the options.

Reports created by Student Driver are personal records. Confirm the documentation accepted by your licensing authority.

Create a Manual Backup

1. Open Settings.
2. Under Backup & Restore, tap Back Up to iCloud Drive / Files.
3. Choose a location and save the JSON backup file.

Enable Automatic Backups

Under Automatic Backup, choose a folder in Files or iCloud Drive. After saved changes, Student Driver creates a JSON backup in that folder and retains the five most recent automatic backups.

Settings shows the last successful automatic backup and errors, with Back Up Now / Retry. You can change or remove the folder at any time. JSON backup files include sensitive records and are not password-encrypted by the app.

Restore a Backup

1. Open Settings.
2. Under Backup & Restore, tap Restore from iCloud Drive / Files.
3. Select a Student Driver JSON backup.
4. Review the driver name, backup date, and session count.
5. Confirm Restore.

Finish or cancel an active drive before restoring. The selected file is staged and validated before replacement, so backup rotation cannot remove it during restore. Restoring replaces the current on-device data and preserves one previous-log recovery copy. Use Restore Previous On-Device Log in Settings if needed. A successful welcome-screen restore skips setup. Imports support up to 8 MB and 10,000 drives.

Recover a Deleted Drive

Open Logbook, then Recently Deleted. Swipe a drive to reveal Restore. Swipe to delete there to permanently remove it after confirmation. Existing backup and export copies are unaffected.

Troubleshooting

I cannot save settings.

The driver's name is required. Enter a name and tap Save Settings.

The app did not add a location.

Location access is optional. You can enter the start and end locations manually. To enable access, review Student Driver under iOS Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services.

The drive stopped but did not save.

The app preserves the stop time, recorded miles, and recovery information until saving succeeds. Use Retry Save; retrying does not create a second drive. If storage is unavailable, do not uninstall the app. Free device space or contact support before discarding recovery data.

The Watch did not start a drive.

Update both the iPhone and Watch apps. Starting requires a reachable iPhone; offline starts are not queued to run unexpectedly later. A queued stop is tied to the particular drive so it cannot stop a newer one.

My automatic backup folder is unavailable.

Open Settings and select the backup folder again. The Files provider may require you to sign in or reconnect.

I do not see a place to save an export.

Generate the report first, then tap Save to Files under Prepared Export.

I still need help.

Email [email protected] and include the app version, iOS version, device model, and a description of what happened. Please do not email private driving records unless they are necessary for troubleshooting.