Help Docs / RaceTrips / User Guide
Icons and FAQ
What each icon and badge means, every message in the app, platform notes and limits, fixes that apply across the app, and answers to common questions.
Reference
Icons and badges glossary
Where in the app: Throughout the app
Trip types (list icon and calendar dot color)
| Icon | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Checkered flag | Green | Normal trip report |
| Rain cloud | Blue | Rainout day |
| Money transfer | Orange | Additional expense (no trip) |
| Dollar badge | Gold | Additional income (not prize money) |
| Warning triangle | Red | A report that still needs attention (missing items) |
Calendar days show up to six dots (three on narrow screens), one per entry on that day. Past days have a filled background; future days are outlined.
Under each trip in the list
Small gray icons summarize what has been logged on the trip: a trophy for prize money, a route for miles, and category icons such as bed (lodging), gas pump (race fuel), tire, ticket (pit pass), burger (meals), engine (parts). In a trip's Details list every item shows its category icon in green; in the Save-as-Template list, unticked items turn gray.
Position badges
- P3 (+7) on a trip header: finishing position, and places gained (+) or lost (−) from the start position.
- DNQ, RAIN, N/A: non-racing outcomes that record $0 prize money.
Locks
- Open lock (gold): the feature is available during your free trial; tap it to read about Premium.
- Closed lock (gold): your trial has ended and the feature needs an edition.
Bottom-bar badge
- A red number on Alerts is the count of trips missing prize money or travel distance.
Colors in charts
- Green income and prize money. Red expenses in the Cash Flow chart. Each expense and income category keeps one color across the pie charts and lists. Calendar dots use the entry's own trip-type color, not the category color.
Title-bar buttons
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| ✓ (green) | Save |
| + (green) | Save and add another |
| Trash | Delete (asks to confirm) |
| Pencil | Edit trip basics (normal trips and rainouts only) |
| Envelope | Save and email a receipt (additional income) |
| Round user icon | Open My Profile |
Messages in the app
Validation text, dialogs, toasts and error screens, with where they appear and what to do.
| Message | Where | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Please Enter a valid Email address | Login, Forgot password | Enter a full email address |
| Please Enter Password | Login, Register, Change Password | Fill the password field |
| Minimum password length is 6 | Register, Change Password | Use 6 or more characters (Login only checks the field is not empty) |
| Please enter your Name | Register | Enter a name |
| You need to accept the terms | Register | Tick the Terms and Conditions box |
| Login failed / Registration failed / Password reset failed | Sign-in screens | Read the reason line; check credentials, connection or invite code |
| Password reset has been sent | Forgot password | Check your inbox and spam |
| To continue, you need to verify your email / Verify email / Send Again / Email sent | Upgrade to Premium, My Profile | Tap Send Again, open the link, pull to refresh |
| Profile updated / Errors exist | My Profile | Saved; or fill the required fields |
| Password updated / Error, Password NOT updated | Change Password | Done; or retry |
| Please enter some text | Trip name, profile fields | Fill the field |
| Please select a date or a date range | Create or Edit Trip | Pick a date |
| This is already a trip on this date... | Create Trip | Yes, Create another Trip, or Cancel |
| Do you want to delete this Trip Report? This cannot be undone! | Trip report trash icon | Delete or Cancel |
| Report Saved! / You just increased or decreased your taxable liability by... / DON'T FORGET TO... | Leaving a trip with the back arrow | Tap a reminder, or Done |
| Maximize your tax deductions / You have N FREE trip reports remaining / Trial Completed. Unlock your season / New Year! Don't miss a trip | Trips headline panel | Tap to start a trip or open Upgrade |
| No trips this month, yet / Start a Trip | Trips list | Tap Start a Trip or a calendar day |
| No Internet / Connection timeout / 404 / 500 Internal server error | Trips list, Upgrade product list, race class search | Check connection, pull to refresh; try later on 500 |
| Please enter an Amount / Please enter a valid decimal number | Prize, expense, income forms | Digits with optional decimal, max 9 characters |
| Please enter a Name / Please select a Category | Expense and income forms | Fill the name, pick a category |
| Please select a Date | All entry forms | Pick a date |
| Please select a Start Position / Please select a Finish Position | Prize money form | Pick positions |
| Item Saved / Miles Saved | + button on entry forms | Saved; form cleared for the next one. The message also appears if the save failed to reach the server |
| Do you want to delete this Prize Money / Expense / Additional Income / Additional Expense / mileage item? This cannot be undone! | Entry form trash icon | Delete or Cancel |
| Unsaved changes: Do you want to save or discard modifications. | Back on entry or miles form | Save or Discard changes |
| There are errors on the form (shown in Red). | Back with an invalid form | Continue editing or Discard |
| Scan the receipt: Would you like to automatically scan this receipt with AI? | After attaching a photo | Smart-Scan or Don't scan |
| No Image available for scanning: Please add a receipt first | Smart Scan | Attach a photo first |
| Error: Failed to pick image | Camera or gallery | Grant Camera and Photos permission |
| Send Receipt via Email / Please enter a valid email address / Email Sent / Failed to send email / No line item available to send | Additional Income envelope icon | Enter a valid address; the item is saved for you when you tap the envelope, so clear any red form errors if the dialog does not open |
| Please enter an email address | Send Receipt via Email, with the field left blank | Type the recipient address |
| Please enter a value / Enter a valid number / Must be greater than 0 / Please fix the form errors | Miles form | Enter a positive number, max 5 characters, with a decimal point |
| Red text under Calculate | Miles form | Make the locations more specific |
| New Tag / Add / Could not add tag: Tag already exists / Unknown error | Tag chips | Use the existing tag, or retry |
| This is an active tag on one or more Race Trip Reports... Would you like to permanently delete the tag? | Manage Tags | Yes, Delete Tag or No, cancel |
| If you continue, your changes are not saved. / Template created / This will permanently delete this template. | Create a Trip Template, Manage Templates | Keep editing or Discard the Template; Ok to delete |
| Ready to upgrade to Premium? / Your trial has N Trip Reports remaining before you'll need to upgrade... | Season lock icon | Close, or Upgrade to Premium |
| Upgrade to unlock advanced stats / Upgrade to unlock your tax reports | Season, Reports | Buy the year's edition |
| Get Ready for YYYY! Looks like you're trying to see data about a year you haven't activated yet... | Season, Reports | Buy that year or change the year |
| No expenses to display / No income to display / No income yet | Season | Add entries or clear the tag filter |
| No issues found with your Trip Reports! / MISSING PRIZE MONEY / MISSING TRAVEL DISTANCE | Alerts | Tap a trip to add what is missing |
| Loading... | Tax Summary | Wait or pull to refresh |
| Tax Summary YYYY / Receipts of YYYY / Could not send email. | Email buttons on Tax Summary | Retry if it failed |
| You've created N more Trip Reports than your free trial allows. | Upgrade, My Profile | Upgrade to unlock reports |
| Store issue: This product is currently not available in your region | Buy Now | Buy on your phone; check store sign-in and region |
| Shop error / Purchase error / Congratulations! Purchase succesful | After Buy Now | Fix the store issue and retry; contact us on Purchase error; done on success |
| Not available: In the web environment there is no app store | RacePrep Download button on web | Use your phone's store |
Platform notes and limits
Platform notes
- Web has no store. Editions are sold only on iOS (App Store) and Android (Google Play). On the web, Buy Now shows "Store issue". Purchases are tied to your account, not the device, so a phone purchase unlocks the web too.
- Receipt photos are built for phones. The receipt panel and the Smart Scan prompt appear on every platform, including the web version, but the camera capture and file handling behind them are written for mobile devices, so attaching a receipt is only reliable on iOS and Android.
- Help links open your browser. Tutorial Videos and Help and Feedback in the side menu open raceyear.app pages in your device browser.
- Camera and photos. The camera needs Camera permission and the gallery needs Photos permission. Receipt photos are compressed to 80% quality and scaled to fit 1024 by 2048 pixels before upload. On a simulator or emulator the camera option opens the photo library instead.
- Location for miles. The crosshair icon needs Location Services on and permission granted; if denied it does nothing. On success the start field reads "Current location" and your coordinates are used for the calculation.
- Text scaling is capped at about 103% of normal regardless of the OS setting.
- Dark theme only in this version; the product tour is always dark.
- Session. Your login is remembered on the device until you sign out. If the server cannot find your account the app returns to the login screen.
- Pull to refresh is available on My Race Trips, the Trip Report page, Alerts, Reports, My Profile and Upgrade to Premium. Season refreshes when you change the year or come back from adding an entry.
- The thin loading bar is not on every screen. It appears on Season, Reports, the Trip Report page, the trip, line-item and template forms, and My Profile, but not on the mileage form, My Race Trips, Alerts or Upgrade to Premium.
- No offline mode. All data lives on the server. Failed requests are mostly silent: the progress bar under the title stops. Reconnect and refresh.
- Registering takes you into the product tour; logging in goes straight to My Race Trips.
Limits and rules
- Password: at least 6 characters on Register and Change Password; the Login form only checks the field is not empty. Registration name: up to 128 characters. Invite code: up to 10 characters, optional.
- Amount field: up to 9 characters, digits with one optional decimal point or comma, no dollar sign.
- Miles field: up to 5 characters, must be greater than 0, and uses a decimal point rather than a comma. Miles default to One Way.
- Trip and entry dates: January 1, 2020 through January 1, 2030. Custom report range: 2020 through today.
- Free trial: 8 trip reports by default (the server can change this). Trips can still be added after the trial; Season and Reports lock per year.
- Creating a trip on a date that already has one asks for confirmation.
- Start positions DNQ, RAIN and N/A fill the finish position, hide it and set the amount to $0; any other start position clears a $0 amount and requires a finish position.
- New trip entries default to the trip's end date; entries started from a calendar day default to that day; stand-alone entries start with no date and show the placeholder "[DAY MON DD, YYYY]", unless you started them by tapping a calendar day, which pre-fills that date.
- Category auto-fill runs half a second after you stop typing a name, and only while no category is selected.
- Payment method (Check or Cash) exists only for prize money and additional income and defaults to Check.
- The receipt-by-email option exists only for additional income entries.
- Calendar days show up to 6 dots (3 on narrow screens).
- Tags are selected and created in the trip editor; they are deleted only in Manage Tags. Templates are deleted only in Manage Templates.
- Tax Summary covers January 1 to December 31 of the selected year; Custom Report defaults to Year to Date.
- Snackbars stay 2 to 3 seconds; the splash runs about 3.5 seconds; the sponsor overlay shows at most once every 24 hours.
Your data and privacy
- Sign in anywhere. Your email is your username. Log in on a new phone and your trips are there; nothing is stored only on the device.
- Change your password from My Profile → Reset Password (6 characters minimum), or use Forgot Password on the login screen.
- Delete your account. My Profile → Request Account Deletion opens the delete account page, where you can request permanent deletion of your RaceTrips account and data.
- Privacy and terms. See the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.
Troubleshooting
These fixes apply across the app. Fixes for one area are at the end of its topic page: Trip reports, Tags and templates, Season stats and tax reports and Account and purchases.
- Nothing works and the progress bar keeps running. Most likely no connection. RaceTrips has no offline mode; reconnect, pull down to refresh, or restart the app.
- The splash screen plays every launch, and a sponsor logo sometimes appears. Normal. The animated splash runs about 3.5 seconds; if your account has a sponsor, a sponsor overlay appears when you return to the app, at most once every 24 hours.
- Text is slightly smaller than my phone's accessibility setting. The app caps text scaling at roughly 103% so layouts stay intact.
- I cannot switch to light mode. RaceTrips runs in dark mode in this version.
Frequently asked questions
Is RaceTrips a subscription?
No. You buy a RaceTrips edition per tax year as a one-time in-app purchase. The free trial has no time limit; it is limited to a number of Trip Reports.
How many free Trip Reports do I get?
The trial includes 8 Trip Reports by default. The exact number is shown in your profile as "Your trial has N/8 Trip Reports remaining".
Do additional expenses and income use trial reports?
No. Only normal trip reports and rainouts count toward the trial.
I used all my trial reports. Can I keep logging?
Yes. You can keep adding trips, expenses, income and miles. Season stats and Reports stay locked until you buy the edition for that year.
Why is a year showing "Get Ready for YYYY!"?
You own an edition for another year but not this one. Buy the edition for the year you want to view.
Why can't I buy on the web?
Editions are sold only through the App Store and Google Play. Buy in the mobile app; your account unlocks everywhere you log in.
The Upgrade screen says I need to verify my email.
Open My Profile and tap Send Again on the red bar, then tap the link in the email.
How does Smart Scan work?
Take or choose a receipt photo. The AI reads the amount, merchant/name and date and fills in the form. Always review before saving. Scanning overwrites those three fields.
Why did the Category fill in by itself?
When you type an expense or income name you have used before, RaceTrips selects the category you used last time. Change it if needed.
How do I mark a race I did not qualify for or that was rained out?
Add prize money and tap Mark as DNQ, or choose RAIN or N/A as the start position. The amount becomes $0 and no finish position is needed.
What is the difference between Summary and Details on a trip?
Summary groups amounts by category. Details lists every individual item and lets you tap to edit.
What is a template?
A copy of a trip's expense items you can pre-load into a new trip. Create one from Save as a Template on a trip; delete them under Manage Templates.
Can I delete a tag from one trip only?
Deselect it in Edit Trip Report. Removing a tag in Manage Tags deletes it from every trip.
How do I get my numbers to my accountant?
On the Tax Summary tab tap Email Tax Summary and Email Receipts of this year.
Is RaceTrips tax advice?
No. It organizes your racing income and expenses in a Schedule C layout. Confirm deductibility with a tax professional.
How do I delete my account?
My Profile → Request Account Deletion opens the deletion request page.
Still need help?
If something is not working, or you cannot find the answer here, contact us. Telling us which app you are using, your device, and what you were doing when the problem happened helps us sort it out faster.