A digital speedometer for the car that does not have one.
A broken dial, a dial in the wrong units, a classic with a needle you cannot read at night, a rental across a border. Torq turns the phone you already own into a large, accurate readout with the posted limit next to it.
Four situations this solves
Each is a reason people go looking for a speedometer app, and each has a detail worth knowing.
The dial is dead
A failed speed sensor or an instrument cluster fault leaves the car with no reading. The phone fills in while you arrange the repair: the GPS speed is accurate to a mph or so on open roads, and the speed-limit alert takes over the job of reminding you where the limit is.
The dial is in the wrong units
An imported Japanese car reads km/h in a mph country; an American car on a European road reads mph. Converting in your head at every sign is tiring and error-prone. One setting in Torq puts the right unit on the screen and the right unit on the limit.
The dial is hard to read
A classic car's needle, a dim cluster, a small digital readout low on the dash. A phone in a mount at eye level shows a numeral the height of your thumb, white on black, and it does not fade at night.
It is not your car
A rental, a borrowed van, a moving truck with a cluster you have never seen. The phone is the one instrument that is the same in every vehicle, and Torq keeps the drive afterwards, which a rental's odometer will not.
Setting it up as the primary readout
- Use a dashboard or vent mount near eye level with a view of the sky. Cup holders and pockets work for speed but hide the screen and starve the motion sensors.
- Plug into power. GPS at high accuracy is the hungriest thing a phone does; a lighter adapter makes the battery a non-issue.
- Set the unit system, and turn on the speed-limit alert if you want the limit beside the number.
- Turn on the Live Activity, so the reading is still there if a call comes in or you switch to Maps.
- Press Start before you pull out. Then leave it alone until you park.
What to expect from the number
On open roads, the GPS reading is within a mph or two of true speed and usually a little under what a working dial would have shown, because dials are built to read high. In a tunnel or a parking garage there is no reading, and Torq shows none rather than a stale one. The full account is on the accuracy page; the short version is that the phone is the more honest instrument on an open road and the car is the only instrument underground.
What you get that the dial never gave you
The car's speedometer forgets every reading the moment it changes. Torq keeps them: the route of the drive as a heat map, the top speed, the distance and time, every corner, and a score. For the car with a dead dial that is a bonus; for the rental it is a record of a trip you would otherwise have no trace of. The replay page shows what a saved drive contains.
Two honest limits
A phone is not a type-approved measuring instrument and does not satisfy a legal requirement for a working speedometer where one exists; get the car repaired. And the phone must stay untouched while the car moves. Torq is built for passive recording, and every overlay it offers exists so that there is never a reason to pick it up.
Questions people ask
My car's speedometer stopped working. Can I use my phone instead?
Yes, as a temporary readout. A phone in a dashboard mount running Torq shows a large GPS speed that is at least as accurate as the dial was, in mph or km/h, with the posted limit beside it. Get the car fixed: a dead speedometer usually means a failed sensor or cluster, and in many places it is a roadworthiness defect. The phone is the stopgap, not the repair.
Can I use it in a car that shows km/h when I need mph, or the reverse?
Yes. That is one of the most common reasons to run a phone speedometer: an imported car, a rental across a border, a classic with a dial in the wrong units. Switch the unit system in Torq once and every readout, including the Lock Screen overlay and the speed-limit alert, follows.
Is a phone speedometer legal to use?
Running a speedometer app on a mounted phone is legal in most places, in the same way a navigation app is; the rules that apply are the ones about handling a phone while driving. Mount it, start it before you move, and do not touch it. Whether a phone satisfies a legal requirement for a working speedometer varies by jurisdiction, and usually it does not.
Does it work in an old car with no electronics at all?
Yes. Torq needs nothing from the car. GPS comes from the sky, the motion data from the phone, the power from a cigarette-lighter adapter or a battery pack. A 1970s car gets the same readout as a new one.
Does it work on a motorcycle, a scooter or a bicycle?
The speed, distance and time do, because they come from GPS. Put the phone in a handlebar mount with a clear view of the sky. The cornering and G-force analysis is calibrated for a car and will not read correctly on a leaning vehicle, so ignore those grades on two wheels.
Will the screen stay on?
While the drive screen is open, yes. If you switch to another app or lock the phone, the speed stays visible in the Live Activity on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, and it can float over other apps as a Picture in Picture window.
Is the phone speedometer accurate at low speeds?
Down to a walking pace, yes. Under about 3 km/h the reading becomes noisy and Torq shows a stop rather than a jittering number. At parking-lot speeds the dial in a car is often the less reliable of the two.
A readout for any car, in the units you need.
Mount the phone, press Start, and the speed is on the screen, on the Lock Screen and beside the posted limit. Every drive is kept.
iPhone, iOS 17 or later. No account. First drive free.