{"id":27,"date":"2026-07-12T13:48:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sidewrenchapp.com\/?page_id=27"},"modified":"2026-07-12T13:48:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:48:59","slug":"faq","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sidewrenchapp.com\/?page_id=27","title":{"rendered":"FAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Answers to common questions about Side Wrench. Can&#8217;t find yours? Email <a href=\"mailto:sidewrenchapp@gmail.com\">sidewrenchapp@gmail.com<\/a> \u2014 include your iPhone\/iPad model, iOS version, and a short description.<\/p>\n<h2>General<\/h2>\n<h3>What is Side Wrench?<\/h3>\n<p>A work order and business management app built for independent mechanics and small repair shops: track jobs, time labor, generate PDF invoices, and monitor your finances.<\/p>\n<h3>What devices does it support?<\/h3>\n<p>iPhone and iPad running <strong>iOS 17 or later<\/strong>. On iPad you get split-view navigation, multiple windows, drag &amp; drop, and keyboard shortcuts. Lock Screen and Dynamic Island timer features work on all supported devices (Dynamic Island requires iPhone 14 Pro or newer).<\/p>\n<h3>Does it need an internet connection?<\/h3>\n<p>No. Side Wrench works completely offline \u2014 your data lives on your device. Internet is only used for VIN lookups and, with Premium, iCloud sync between devices.<\/p>\n<h3>Is my data private?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes. There are no accounts and no company servers. Your data stays on your device and, if you enable sync, in your private iCloud container. See our Privacy Policy for details.<\/p>\n<h2>Free vs. Premium<\/h2>\n<h3>What&#8217;s free?<\/h3>\n<p>Everything, for up to <strong>2 work orders<\/strong> \u2014 enough to genuinely try the whole app on real jobs.<\/p>\n<h3>What does Premium add?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Unlimited<\/strong> work orders and repairs<\/li>\n<li><strong>iCloud sync<\/strong> across your devices<\/li>\n<li><strong>CSV\/JSON data export &amp; import<\/strong> (backups)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Financial &amp; tax export reports<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Premium is <strong>$9.99\/month<\/strong> or <strong>$69.99\/year<\/strong>. Manage or cancel anytime through your <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/account\/subscriptions\">Apple subscriptions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Work Orders<\/h2>\n<h3>What do the status colors mean?<\/h3>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Color<\/th>\n<th>Status<\/th>\n<th>Meaning<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>&#x1f7e3; Purple<\/td>\n<td>Estimate<\/td>\n<td>Awaiting customer approval<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>&#x1f535; Blue<\/td>\n<td>In Progress<\/td>\n<td>Work being done<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>&#x1f534; Red<\/td>\n<td>Awaiting Parts<\/td>\n<td>Waiting for parts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>&#x1f7e0; Orange<\/td>\n<td>Invoice Sent<\/td>\n<td>Billed to customer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>&#x1f7e2; Green<\/td>\n<td>Payment Received<\/td>\n<td>Complete and paid<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h3>Archive or delete?<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Archive<\/strong> hides a finished job from your active list but keeps all its data (and it still counts in reports) \u2014 view archived work orders with the archive-box button at the top of the list, and unarchive anytime. <strong>Delete<\/strong> is permanent.<\/p>\n<h3>Can one work order have multiple repairs?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes \u2014 add as many repairs as the job needs. Each tracks its own labor, parts, and photos; the work order totals everything.<\/p>\n<h2>Timer &amp; Labor<\/h2>\n<h3>Can I see the timer without opening the app?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes \u2014 it appears on your Lock Screen as a Live Activity, and in the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro and later.<\/p>\n<h3>What if I forget to stop it?<\/h3>\n<p>Side Wrench sends a <strong>&#8220;Timer Still Running&#8221;<\/strong> reminder every hour, and the app icon badge shows how many timers are running.<\/p>\n<h3>Can I enter hours manually?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes \u2014 tap the actual-hours field on any repair and type the time instead.<\/p>\n<h2>Invoicing &amp; Payments<\/h2>\n<h3>How do I create an invoice?<\/h3>\n<p>Open the work order and tap <strong>Generate Invoice<\/strong>. You can attach repair photos and documents to the PDF, then share it by email, Messages, AirDrop, or save to Files.<\/p>\n<h3>Can I record partial payments?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes \u2014 add any amount (Cash, Check, Card, or Other) and the balance updates automatically. Add payments until the balance hits zero.<\/p>\n<h3>Who owes me money?<\/h3>\n<p>Open the <strong>Dashboard<\/strong> tab \u2014 outstanding balances are tracked for every unpaid or partially paid work order.<\/p>\n<h2>Data &amp; Sync<\/h2>\n<h3>How does iCloud sync work?<\/h3>\n<p>With Premium, your data syncs through your private iCloud account and appears on every device signed into your Apple ID.<\/p>\n<h3>What if I get a new phone?<\/h3>\n<p>With Premium sync: sign into iCloud, install Side Wrench, and your data appears. Without it: restore the new phone from a backup of the old one.<\/p>\n<h3>Can I back up my data myself?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes (Premium): <strong>Settings \u2192 Data Management \u2192 Export All Data<\/strong> saves a complete JSON backup you can re-import anytime.<\/p>\n<h2>Troubleshooting<\/h2>\n<h3>Timer isn&#8217;t on my Lock Screen<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>iPhone Settings \u2192 Side Wrench \u2192 enable <strong>Live Activities<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Restart the app and start the timer again<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>My logo isn&#8217;t on the invoice<\/h3>\n<p>Settings \u2192 Company Information \u2192 re-add the logo and save, then regenerate the invoice.<\/p>\n<h3>Data seems to be missing<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Check the <strong>archive<\/strong> (archive-box button at the top of the Work Orders list)<\/li>\n<li>Check whether a <strong>filter<\/strong> is active (red dot on the filter icon) \u2014 tap Reset<\/li>\n<li>Try search \u2014 and if you use iCloud sync, make sure you&#8217;re online<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Contact<\/h2>\n<p>Bugs, feature requests, or just want to say hi: <a href=\"mailto:sidewrenchapp@gmail.com\">sidewrenchapp@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Enjoying Side Wrench? A review on the App Store helps other mechanics find it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Answers to common questions about Side Wrench. Can&#8217;t find yours? Email sidewrenchapp@gmail.com \u2014 include your iPhone\/iPad model, iOS version, and a short description. General What is Side Wrench? A work order and business management app built for independent mechanics and small repair shops: track jobs, time labor, generate PDF invoices, and monitor your finances. What [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-27","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewrenchapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewrenchapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewrenchapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewrenchapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewrenchapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sidewrenchapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36,"href":"https:\/\/sidewrenchapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27\/revisions\/36"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewrenchapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}