Your speed, on screen, whatever app is in front.
A speedometer is only useful while you can see it. Torq keeps the current speed visible when the phone is locked, when Maps has the screen, and when a podcast is playing, without you touching anything after you press Start.
Three places the speed appears outside the app
Each one is a setting you turn on once. All three come from the same recording.
Live Activity
When a drive starts, a Torq card appears on the Lock Screen with current speed, distance, elapsed time and a REC or PAUSED state. It stays there until you stop the drive, so a glance at a locked phone in a mount tells you your speed and how far you have come.
Dynamic Island
On iPhones with the Dynamic Island, the same activity lives at the top of every screen. The compact view shows the speed and a red REC dot; a long press expands it to distance and elapsed time. Switch to any app and it is still there.
Picture in Picture
A floating window draws the speed in a large numeral with a progress track under it, refreshed every second. It works the way a video PiP window does: drag it to a corner, pinch it larger, and it floats above Maps, Music or anything else.
An overlay, not a reflection.
Some apps advertise a HUD mode that mirrors the display so it reflects in the windshield at night. Torq does not do that, and the page says so plainly because a search for a speed HUD can mean either thing.
What Torq means by HUD is the readout that follows you around the phone. The reason is practical: most people navigate with a maps app while they drive, and a speedometer that disappears the moment you open Maps is a speedometer you stop using. The Live Activity and the PiP window solve that, and they do it with the phone in a normal mount, right side up, where the camera and the sensors are steady.
If the car has no working speedometer at all, the page on using a phone as the primary readout covers mounting, units and what to expect from GPS.
Settings involved
- Live Activity. Show recording progress on the Lock Screen.
- PiP Speed Display. Keep current speed visible while using other apps.
- Speed Limit Alert. Warn when your current speed exceeds the route limit.
- Unit System. Imperial or metric, applied to every overlay.
Names as they appear in the Torq settings screen. PiP uses an audio session, so a phone set to silent still shows it; no sound is played.
Why the number in the overlay can lag the gauge
The gauge inside the app redraws with every GPS fix. The PiP window and the Live Activity are refreshed about once a second, which is the rate iOS delivers location updates at, so the two agree to within a fix. On a hard acceleration the overlay can appear one step behind; on a steady road the difference is invisible.
Live Activities have their own budget, set by iOS, for how often they may update. Torq sends the speed at the rate the system allows, and the system may coalesce updates when the phone is under load. For a reading you act on, the gauge in the app is the source; the overlay is the glance.
The alert that pairs with the overlay
With the speed limit alert on, the posted limit of the road you are on appears beside the gauge, and Torq warns when the current speed passes it. The limit comes from OpenStreetMap and is looked up as you move, once every 30 seconds or 500 meters, so it needs a data connection. The speed-limit page explains how exact and inferred limits differ and how to set a manual one.
Safety
The point of the overlays is that you do not touch the phone. Start the drive before you pull out, put the phone in the mount, and drive. Torq is designed for passive recording, and the driver is responsible for the vehicle at all times.
Questions people ask
Is this a windshield HUD that reflects the speed onto the glass?
No. Torq does not have a mirrored or reflected display mode. HUD here means a speed readout that stays in view outside the app: a Live Activity on the Lock Screen, the Dynamic Island on phones that have one, and a Picture in Picture window that floats over whatever app is in front. If you want a glass-reflection display you need a dedicated device or a windshield film.
Can I see my speed while Apple Maps or Google Maps is open?
Yes. Turn on PiP Speed Display in Torq's settings, start a drive, and switch to Maps. A small window with the current speed floats over the map. You can drag it to any corner. It updates once a second and shows a REC indicator while recording.
What does the Live Activity show?
The Live Activity shows current speed, distance, elapsed time and a REC or PAUSED state. On the Lock Screen it is a card; in the Dynamic Island it collapses to the speed and the recording state and expands with a long press to show distance and time as well.
Does the overlay drain the battery?
The overlay itself costs little; the recording behind it is what uses power, and it uses the same power whether the overlay is visible or not. GPS at high accuracy is the main draw. On a long drive, use a car charger, or set GPS Accuracy to Balanced.
Does the Live Activity work on iPhones without a Dynamic Island?
Yes. Every iPhone running iOS 17 shows Live Activities on the Lock Screen. The Dynamic Island layout is used on the models that have one; other models show the same information as a Lock Screen card and in the notification area.
Is Live Activity and PiP part of the free drive?
Live Activity and PiP overlays are listed among the Torq Pro features. The first free drive is meant to show what the recording and the scorecard produce; the overlays are part of the subscription.
The speed, wherever you are looking.
Turn on the overlays once. From then on, every recording puts the current speed on the Lock Screen, in the Dynamic Island and over any app.
iPhone, iOS 17 or later. No account. First drive free.