Set a date when the service ages the part regardless of use, set a mileage target when the service wears with distance, and set both when your manual says "whichever comes first". Maintano fires the reminder on the first one to arrive.
Most service intervals are really two limits. Engine oil is the classic case: a distance and a number of months, because oil degrades sitting in a warm engine even when the vehicle is parked. Brake fluid, coolant, timing belts and inspections are the same. Which one wins depends on how you use the vehicle, and that is why the app lets you set either or both.
By date is right for the things that expire on the calendar: brake fluid, coolant, the annual inspection or registration, winter tires on and off, the battery check before the cold months, and the antifreeze check on a boat or RV going into storage. A trailer or a bicycle, which has no odometer to speak of, lives entirely on date reminders.
By mileage is right for what wears with distance: oil and filters, tire rotation, brake pads, spark plugs, belts and chains. On a boat or a jet ski the same idea runs on engine hours, and Maintano tracks those instead of distance for vehicles that meter that way.
Both is what the manual usually means, and it is the honest choice for oil on a vehicle you do not drive every day: the short-trip commuter reaches the months first, the road-tripper reaches the distance first, and the reminder catches whichever it is.
How does Maintano know when a mileage target is coming? It learns from your odometer readings. Every log entry that carries an odometer, whether it is a fuel stop, an oil change or a quick mileage update, becomes a dated reading. Once it has readings at least a week apart, the app works out your average daily distance from the real numbers and projects when the target will arrive, so the notification lands before the deadline rather than on it. Until then it uses the estimated daily distance you typed when you added the vehicle. Readings always beat the estimate. If it has been a couple of weeks since the last reading, the app nudges you for a fresh one, because an estimate is only as good as its newest number.
Check it yourself:
- Open your owner's manual and find the maintenance schedule table. Each row shows a distance, a time, or both, and that is exactly how to set each reminder.
- In Maintano, open Reminders and tap +. Choose the vehicle and a title, then set a date target, a mileage target, or both.
- Look at the vehicle's card in the Garage. A reminder with a mileage target shows how soon it is due, projected from your readings, and that estimate sharpens with every reading you add.
- Log the odometer whenever you fuel up or service anything. A couple of readings a month keeps the projection honest.
When a reminder is due, the notification opens the app, and you complete it there: tap the empty ring on the reminder card, or take the offer that appears after you save a log that matches. Either way you choose whether to be reminded again at the same interval or to call it done for good, and the same sheet can create the log entry for you. Set one now for the next service you already know is coming, and the app keeps count for you.
Sep 11, 2026