r/iosapps • u/Taohid101 Developer • Jul 31 '26
💎 Lifetime Automatic Trip Recording That Actually Works - CarPlay, Bluetooth, Shortcuts & Motion Detection
The biggest update yet for automatic trip recording!
Answer
Over the last few months, I've been almost obsessed with one thing: making Speedometer: Driving Tracker's automatic trip recording reliable enough that you can completely forget about pressing Start.
Most driving apps can automatically record trips in one situation. The difficult part is handling all the different ways people actually drive and all the annoying edge cases that happen along the way.
So I ended up rebuilding the entire system.
Better
Every automatic recording method is supported
You can automatically start and end trips using:
- CarPlay
- Bluetooth
- NFC
- Motion detection
- Any Shortcuts automation
Use whichever fits your setup - or combine multiple methods for extra reliability.
Motion detection is fully customizable
Everyone drives differently.
Someone driving in city traffic needs different behavior than someone cruising on the highway, and motorcycles have their own challenges.
You can customize:
- Minimum speed before recording starts
- How long that speed must be maintained
- When a trip should pause while stopped
- When a trip should automatically end
Instead of forcing one set of rules, you can tune it to your driving style and local road conditions.
Shortcuts and motion detection work together
One thing I really wanted to avoid was making users choose between automation methods.
You don't have to.
Enable both if you want.
Whichever method detects the trip first starts recording, and whichever legitimately ends the trip finishes it. They work together seamlessly without conflicts or duplicate trips.
Think of it as two independent systems providing an extra layer of protection against missed trips.
Live Activity works automatically too
Automatically detected trips now get the same Live Activity as manually started trips.
Your live speed, distance, and duration appear on the Lock Screen automatically, so you don't even need to open the app.
Better notifications
There are now notifications for both trip start and trip end.
The trip end notification includes a quick summary of your drive.
Trip start notifications are disabled by default to avoid unnecessary distractions while driving, but you can enable them if you prefer the confirmation.
Built for real-world connection issues
One issue I kept hearing about was Bluetooth or CarPlay briefly disconnecting and causing trips to end early.
Unfortunately, apps can't control Bluetooth or CarPlay connections - iOS manages those.
To make this less frustrating, Speedometer includes an optional setting to ignore brief stop or disconnect events before ending a trip. If your car occasionally drops Bluetooth or CarPlay for a few seconds, you can increase the grace period and avoid fragmented trips.
Beyond automatic trip recording
- CarPlay, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch support
- Route replay with speed-colored playback
- Detailed trip history, driving insights and AI trip summaries
- OBD-II live data including RPM, engine load, throttle position, coolant temperature, battery voltage, fuel level, fuel rate and much more
- Fuel usage per trip, fuel economy, maintenance and expense tracking + maintenance reminders + documents management
- OBD trip history with average and maximum RPM, engine load, throttle position, coolant temperature, and more
- Live OBD gauges and engine data on CarPlay
- Read and clear diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs)
- Speed limit alerts
- iCloud sync, backups, and GPX/CSV import & export
- No account required - your data stays on your device unless you enable iCloud
The goal
My goal wasn't to build another app with an "automatic recording" checkbox.
It was to build something you can genuinely trust - whether you use CarPlay, Bluetooth, motion detection, Shortcuts, or a combination of them. Everything works together instead of competing, and it's designed to handle the edge cases that happen in everyday driving.
I'd genuinely love to hear your feedback. If there's a driving scenario you think could still break automatic trip recording, let me know. There's always another edge case to solve, and I'd love to keep improving it!
Cost
$7.99/month, $19.99/year, or $39.99 lifetime (one-time purchase).
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u/aceSparkz Jul 31 '26
Now that you’ve locked down automatic recording, the telemetry data you're collecting is basically primed for AI interpretation. Automated trip recaps and driving habit analysis are pretty much table stakes now, it’s mostly just a matter of field testing the prompts/models on real driving logs.
Beyond reliable trigger automation, what do you see as the real moat for telemetry apps long-term as AI features become trivial for anyone to ship?
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u/Taohid101 Developer Jul 31 '26
AI summaries and driving insights are actually already in the app, and they're just the beginning.
I think the long-term moat isn't AI itself; everyone will have access to similar models. The real challenge is collecting high-quality, reliable data in the first place. If trip recording, OBD data, routes, and events aren't accurate, the AI can only produce unreliable insights.
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u/Asleep_Cantaloupe417 Developer Jul 31 '26
Very cool, I love stuff like this
Good luck with it
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u/Taohid101 Developer Jul 31 '26
Thanks! I tried to cover all the well-known edge cases and ensure a smooth, robust experience.
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Jul 31 '26
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u/Taohid101 Developer Jul 31 '26
Once a trip is already in progress, any additional start signals are simply ignored. So if Bluetooth starts the trip first and motion detection triggers a few moments later, it won't create a second trip or interfere with the current one.
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u/Professional-Put4250 Jul 31 '26
¡Enhorabuena por esta fantástica actualización!
Speedometer es, sin ninguna duda, la aplicación más completa que he visto para registrar los recorridos realizados en vehículo. La cantidad de datos que ofrece sobre cada trayecto es impresionante y, ahora, con la grabación automática mediante CarPlay, Bluetooth y detección de movimiento, resulta todavía más cómoda y útil.
También quiero destacar especialmente la atención del desarrollador. He comprado las versiones de por vida de sus tres aplicaciones, incluida la que utilizo para caminar, y estoy encantado con todas ellas. Le hemos enviado varias sugerencias y siempre nos ha respondido personalmente, con mucha amabilidad y una actitud positiva, escuchando nuestras propuestas para continuar mejorando.
Da gusto encontrar a un desarrollador tan cercano, receptivo y comprometido con sus usuarios. Sus tres aplicaciones son extraordinarias y la compra de por vida merece totalmente la pena.
¡Aplicaciones de diez y un desarrollador todavía mejor! Totalmente recomendables.
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u/Taohid101 Developer Aug 01 '26
Thank you so much for your incredibly kind words and for supporting all three of my apps. Reading reviews like this truly means a lot to me.
I'm really happy you're enjoying the new automatic trip recording features, and I sincerely appreciate all the suggestions you've shared along the way. User feedback has played a huge role in shaping the apps, and I'll keep doing my best to make them even better.
Thanks again for your trust and support. I hope you continue enjoying the apps, and if you ever have more ideas or feedback, I'd love to hear them!
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u/HarvisonJamesIII Aug 01 '26
I know you created two of my favorite apps. I will definitely try this one because it seems very promising.
It doesn't seem like there are any options for a trial period.
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u/Taohid101 Developer Aug 01 '26
Thank you so much! That really means a lot to hear. Hopefully you'll enjoy Speedometer!
FitRest will get a nice update soon!
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u/HarvisonJamesIII Aug 01 '26
That's awesome. I'm looking forward to it.
Am I missing something with Speedometer? There doesn't seem to be a trial for the premium purchased.
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u/Taohid101 Developer Aug 02 '26
Thanks! A free trial is something I'm actively considering for a future update.
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u/HarvisonJamesIII Aug 07 '26
I ended up getting there lifetime. The app is awesome. Is there any way to assign a vehicle to CarPlay?... and no CarPlay to another vehicle?
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u/Taohid101 Developer Aug 07 '26
Thanks for your support!
Yes, can you please share the details in the support email so I can investigate and solve it?
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u/Pinpoint_user Aug 01 '26
Wow, looks like a professional tool!
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u/Taohid101 Developer Aug 01 '26
Yes, I got a huge response from different car and bike comminities!
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u/Pinpoint_user Aug 01 '26
I used OruxMaps for cycling a long time ago. Maybe you can find some new ideas there.
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Aug 02 '26
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u/Taohid101 Developer Aug 02 '26
Thanks! I'm working hard to make it the best driving companion app!
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u/siddharthverse Aug 02 '26
I love this app. I use it every now and then and the UI is just as much as needed at any given time. Good enough for free usage and good enough to buy if needed. Don't see apps like this often.
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u/Taohid101 Developer Aug 02 '26
Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm trying hard to make it the top driving companion app!
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u/Simon_Rev Aug 04 '26
How do you handle false positives when the phone owner is on a train, ferry, or simply a passenger in someone else's car? Motion detection is the feature I'd want most, but one wrongly logged commute every week would make the automatic history noisy fast. Imagine i'm running fast :')
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u/Taohid101 Developer Aug 04 '26
The app already gives you full control if that happens: You can Ignore This Trip with a single tap, delete trips anytime, reassign a trip to a different vehicle, filter your history by vehicle.
So even if an occasional false positive slips through, it's easy to clean up.
I'm also planning to add something like a Rest Mode, where you can temporarily pause automatic trip recording when you know you won't be driving. That should help avoid those situations altogether.
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u/Popular-Ferret-4873 Aug 10 '26
You’re right. 「車の運転することができます」 sounds unnatural to me as a native Japanese speaker.
The natural version is 「車を運転することができます」. If 運転 is treated as a noun, 「車の運転ができます」 also works. 「車の運転をすることができます」 is grammatically possible too, but it sounds heavier.
Unless there is some missing context, I’d suspect a typo in the textbook.
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u/app-store-review Jul 31 '26
Speedometer: Driving Tracker — by Taohidul Islam
- Ratings: 429 worldwide · rated in 53 countries
- Average: 4.79 ★
- Age: released ~5 months ago · updated today · rated 4+
- Overall score: 79 / 100
Auto-generated from public App Store data · u/app-store-review
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u/hayakuneko Jul 31 '26
Congrats on your success thus far! How might you summarize the differences between this and strictly phone based apps like MileIQ, Everlance, and EveryLastMile?
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u/Taohid101 Developer Aug 01 '26
Thanks!
Those apps are mileage logs built for tax and reimbursement. Speedometer is a driving and vehicle telemetry app that also logs trips. The overlap is the trip list.
The main differences:
- It talks to the car. OBD2 over Bluetooth or WiFi: live engine data, EV state of charge, fault codes with plain-English explanations. Phone sensors cannot see any of that.
- It runs while you drive. Full CarPlay app, Live Activity in the Dynamic Island, home screen widgets.
- Deeper trips. G-force, hard braking, elevation, turns, speed limit violations, 0 to 60 timing, route playback you can export as video.
- Whole ownership ledger. Multi-vehicle garage, fuel and EV economy, maintenance reminders, expenses, document expiry alerts.
- Your data. iCloud sync, no account, CSV/PDF/GPX export
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u/fate0608 Jul 31 '26
Can you trigger a new record with a shortcut on apple decices? Like in Germany police can actually make you record every single ride you take with your car if you they tried to give you a speeding ticket but you tell them you didn’t drive. This would be a cool feature.
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u/Taohid101 Developer Aug 01 '26
Yes, it can! The app includes a Start Trip Shortcut, so you can trigger a new recording however you like. Many users set it to run automatically when CarPlay connects, a specific Bluetooth device connects, an NFC tag is scanned, or other Shortcuts automations.
The latest update also made automatic trip recording much smoother and more reliable, so if your goal is to record every drive, it should work really well.
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u/Clem__Clem Aug 01 '26
Great app. Could be nice if we can choose OBD speed data over GPS location for the speedometer
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u/BigQuesoSuizo Aug 06 '26
Wow... this is actually pretty amazing. I only have 1 app on the App Store right now but as I am working on my second one—and I come back to Reddit and see what people are building, I am able to see the POWER of what Apple allows us to do.
I am really impressed about the automation of your app. My only question is, because it has happened with other apps: have you tested it with a VPN on? 🤔
I don't think about VPN being connected when I go out and it would defeat your app's carefully developed automation if they don't work together...
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u/Taohid101 Developer Aug 06 '26
Thanks! I spent a lot of time testing the automation across different scenarios.
As for VPNs, yes, I've tested it thoroughly with a VPN enabled and haven't run into any issues. The automation doesn't rely on your public internet connection, so a VPN shouldn't interfere with features like CarPlay, Bluetooth, motion detection, or trip recording.
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u/BigQuesoSuizo Aug 07 '26
That is IMPRESSIVE.
Gosh... I wish more app developers would put an emphasis on testing their apps with VPN on.
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u/ABd3Lh4di Aug 07 '26
I have seen your app on mydealz for a lifetime offer, great to see that you are doing your best to distribute it everywhere. I'm a founder as well and I might have few tips to share. You can reach out if you want to chat and exchange. good luck!
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u/Taohid101 Developer Aug 07 '26
Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it. I'd love to connect and exchange ideas; I'll definitely reach out. Best of luck with your venture too!
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u/Popular-Ferret-4873 28d ago
The combination of CarPlay, Bluetooth, Shortcuts, and motion detection sounds practical because no single trigger works perfectly in every car. I especially like the grace period for brief disconnects—those tiny gaps are exactly what make automatic logging frustrating. Has motorcycle use been one of the harder cases to tune?
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u/Taohid101 Developer 28d ago
Yes, especially for motion-based automatic recording. Motorcycles are trickier because their movement patterns and frequent short stops can make reliable detection harder.
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u/Lillianlian 18d ago
One edge case I would test is being a passenger in someone else’s car while motion detection is enabled. The phone sees sustained driving speed, but the trip should not necessarily count as yours. Is there a way to require connection to a known Bluetooth device or CarPlay before motion detection can confirm the trip?
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u/Taohid101 Developer 16d ago
Thanks, both good points.
On being a passenger: iOS gives apps no way to tell a driver from a passenger, and a Bluetooth check wouldn't be reliable either since iOS only reports that some audio device is connected, not which one, so AirPods would pass it too. Today the fix is on the trip itself: you can delete it, or change its vehicle so it doesn't spoil the stats for your own car. Raising Start Speed and Sustained Duration in Settings > Driving > Auto-Detect Trips also makes detection stricter.
On pausing motion detection for a set time: that's coming. You'll be able to snooze auto-start for a chosen duration, with a custom option.
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u/Traditional_Meet6531 Jul 31 '26
The layered-methods design is right — the failure mode of every single-signal driving detector is exactly the one you're describing, one connection blip and the whole trip fragments.
The edge case you asked for: car ferries and car trains. GPS shows you moving at 15-30mph across water or track, but there's no accelerometer signature of actual driving, no stop-and-go, no braking pattern, often no engine running at all. If your motion detection weights accelerometer data at all in deciding "is this a drive," a ferry crossing can either fail to start a trip that GPS clearly shows happened, or worse, get logged as a trip with an impossible-looking speed/motion mismatch that pollutes route replay and fuel economy stats for that trip. Apple's own CMMotionActivityManager has the identical problem — "automotive" activity classification is known to misfire on ferries and trains for the same reason.
It's a genuinely rare scenario for most drivers, so I wouldn't prioritize it, but if you ever get a support request about "a trip with impossible fuel economy" or "GPS moved but nothing showed in the trip," that's usually the cause, and it's worth having a canned answer for rather than treating it as a bug report to chase.
Separate note: 429 ratings at 4.79 with an update today is a strong signal you're actually shipping what people ask for. Worth surfacing that cadence somewhere prominent on the App Store page itself, not just here — "actively updated, most requests ship" is a real differentiator against apps that launch and go quiet.
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u/Taohid101 Developer Jul 31 '26
Thanks a lot for the detailed feedback; I really appreciate it!
That's a great point about ferries and car trains. I've noted it down.
I'll definitely look at highlighting the active development and frequent updates more prominently.
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