Best Speedometer App for Android: Try Google Maps First
Google Maps and Waze both show your speed while you drive. For a big dial with no map, SpeedometerX and Speedometer Speedbox are free and carry no ads.
If you only want your speed on screen while you drive, you may not need a new app. The navigation app that came with your phone has a speedometer, and it is one switch in the settings. A separate speedometer app is worth installing when you want a large dial with no map behind it, a log of your trips, or a reading on a bicycle or a boat.
We read Google’s help pages for the built-in options, then went through the Google Play listings of the speedometer apps. Three of the ten apps this article listed in 2019 have left the store, and a fourth had a name too common to match to one listing.
The speedometer already on your phone
Google Maps
Google Maps can show how fast you are driving while it navigates. Google’s help page gives these steps for Android:
- Open Google Maps and tap your profile picture or initial.
- Tap Settings, then Navigation.
- Under “Driving options”, turn on Speedometer.
Google describes the speedometer as part of navigation, so start a route to see it. Where Google has speed limit data for the road, the speed indicator changes colour when you go over the limit, and tapping the speed limit sign during navigation turns the speedometer on or off.
Google attaches a warning. The speedometer in Maps is for information only, and you should confirm your real speed on the vehicle’s own dial. The help page adds that outside factors can make the two differ.
Waze
Waze has the same feature. Open Settings, tap Speedometer and turn on Show speedometer. On the same screen you can choose when the speed limit is shown, set what Waze should count as speeding, and switch on a sound alert. The speedometer turns red when you go over the limit. Waze’s help page says these settings, made on the phone, also apply when you use Waze on the car’s screen.
Google Maps and Waze are both free, and Google Play marks both as containing ads.
What a GPS speedometer can and cannot do
Every app on this page works the same way. It has no connection to your wheels. It reads the phone’s GPS receiver and reports how fast the phone is moving. That has consequences.
- It needs open sky. GPS.gov, the US government’s site for the system, says a phone is typically accurate to within about 4.9 metres under open sky and gets worse near buildings, bridges and trees. It gives no single figure for speed, because that depends on the satellites in view, anything blocking the signal, the atmosphere and the quality of the receiver.
- It loses the signal in tunnels. GPS.gov lists underground use among the common causes of error, and Google Maps shows “Searching for GPS” in or near a tunnel or a parking garage. A speedometer app has nothing to read there. Ignore the number until you are back in the open.
- It does not need the internet. Several listings say their app works offline, because the speed comes from GPS alone. Galileo’s adds that its maps load only when there is a connection.
- The phone matters. Ulysse’s listing says its precision depends on the phone’s hardware, and that trip distance can be 2 to 3 per cent off the car’s odometer.
On which reading to believe, the app makers and Google disagree. Code Sector’s listing for SpeedView claims a GPS speedometer is more accurate than the one in your car. Google tells Maps users to go by the car. Android’s documentation does note that the speed a phone reports can draw on Doppler measurements of the satellite signals, which may be more accurate than timing the distance between two positions. Under open sky, then, the app is a useful second opinion. Among tall buildings or under trees, treat it as a rough guide.
The listings blur one more thing. The speed alerts in these apps are limits you type in yourself. For the real limit on the road you are driving, Google Maps and Waze are the ones that show it, where they have the data.
Several apps also have a HUD mode. It mirrors the digits so that a phone lying on the dashboard shows a readable number reflected in the windscreen. COOL NIKS describes its version as a mode for night driving, which suggests it is not much use at noon.
Speedometer apps compared
| App | Maker | On Google Play | What its listing offers |
|---|---|---|---|
| SpeedometerX : AdFree | PrdpLabs | Free, no ads, in-app purchases | Digital and analogue dials, HUD, speed alerts, trip history with export, home screen widget |
| Speedometer Speedbox | Hans Schneider | Free, no ads, no purchases | Four dial designs, mph, km/h or knots, distance, average and top speed |
| SpeedView: GPS Speedometer | Code Sector Pty Ltd. | Free, no ads, no purchases | Cut-down edition with a HUD mode and a speed graph |
| Simple GPS Speedometer | Flaki | Free, no ads, no purchases | Speed in km/h or mph, HUD option |
| Galileo GPS Speedometer | GalileoApps | Free, no ads, no purchases | Analogue gauge, trip statistics, route on a map, GPX export |
| GPS Speedometer: Speed Tracker | COOL NIKS | Free with ads | HUD, speed alerts, trip history, compass, floating window over other apps |
| Speedometer: GPS Speedometer | Simple Design Ltd. | Free with ads, in-app purchases | Limit alarm, HUD, floating window, route on a map |
| Speedometer GPS | luozirui | Free with ads, in-app purchases | Car and bicycle modes, satellite status, speed chart, map |
| Ulysse Speedometer Pro | binarytoys | Paid | Overlays on other apps, trip computer, track export, HUD, acceleration timer |
Free with no ads
SpeedometerX is the fullest of the free apps. Its listing promises no ads, no trackers and no sign-in, and says your trips stay on the phone. It has a digital readout and an analogue gauge, a HUD mode, alerts by sound and vibration, a home screen widget, and a trip history you can export as GPX or CSV. Routes are drawn on OpenStreetMap. Google Play shows in-app purchases, which the listing explains as an optional tip jar.
Speedometer Speedbox is the opposite. You get four dial designs, a choice of mph, km/h or knots, and your distance, average and top speed. There is nothing to buy. One of the dials is styled like a computer terminal, which the developer recommends for maximum nerdiness.
SpeedView comes in three editions, and the names do not make the difference obvious. SpeedView: GPS Speedometer is a cut-down version with a HUD mode and a speed graph, and its listing says it has no ads and no in-app purchases. SpeedView: Legacy Edition is the fuller one, with speed warnings for three types of road, GPX export and a background mode. It shows ads, and its listing says it sends raw sensor data, GPS included, to a company called Sense360 for analytics and marketing. Read that paragraph before you install it. SpeedView Pro is the paid edition.
Simple GPS Speedometer does what its name says: speed in km/h or mph and a HUD option. Galileo GPS Speedometer leans towards trip records, with speed and altitude charts, your route on a map, export to GPX, and a timeline that marks where the GPS signal was lost.
Free with ads
GPS Speedometer: Speed Tracker from COOL NIKS is, as far as we can tell, the app this article used to call GPS Speedometer and Odometer. It has a HUD mode, speed alerts, trip history, a compass and a floating window that keeps your speed on top of another app such as Google Maps. The same developer sells a separate paid edition, GPS Speedometer Odometer (Pro), whose listing says it has no ads.
Speedometer: GPS Speedometer from Simple Design covers the same ground: a limit alarm with vibration and voice, a HUD, a floating window, and your route on a map. It shows ads and sells in-app purchases.
Speedometer GPS from luozirui switches between a car speedometer and a bicycle odometer. It also shows satellite status, which helps when you want to know why the reading has stalled. The developer sells Speedometer GPS Pro as a paid app.
Ulysse Speedometer: paid only now
The free edition of Ulysse that this article once recommended has left the store. Ulysse Speedometer Pro is still there as a paid app. Its listing offers overlays on other apps, a trip computer, track export in GPX or KML, a HUD and a timer for 0 to 100 km/h runs.
The same listing suggests using it on a camel, among other vehicles. The dial reads up to 1,900 km/h, which should cover the camel.
Which one to pick
- You drive with directions on: the speedometer in Google Maps or Waze. It also knows the road’s speed limit where the data exists.
- You want a big dial and no ads: SpeedometerX. Pick Speedometer Speedbox if you would rather have nothing to set up.
- You want your speed on top of another app: GPS Speedometer: Speed Tracker or Speedometer: GPS Speedometer, both with ads.
- You cycle or sail: SpeedometerX reads in km/h, mph, m/s or knots. Speedometer GPS has a bicycle mode.
- Your car’s speedometer is broken: an app is a stopgap at best. Google’s own advice is to confirm your speed on the vehicle’s dial, so get the dial repaired.
Several of these apps include a compass. If direction is what you are after, see our guide to compass apps for Android.
What happened to the old list
DigiHUD Speedometer, HUD Widgets and the app listed as Speedometer Free Speed Limit Alert + GPS Black Box no longer turn up on Google Play. “GPS Speedometer” is now part of the name of so many apps that we could not tell which one the old article meant. The app it called Speedometer Free Speed Box appears to be the one listed today as Speedometer Speedbox.
Quick answers
Does Google Maps have a speedometer?
Yes. In Google Maps, tap your profile picture, then Settings, then Navigation, and turn on Speedometer under “Driving options”. It appears while you navigate.
How accurate is a GPS speedometer app?
It depends on the sky above you. GPS.gov says accuracy falls near buildings, bridges and trees, and Google says to confirm your speed on the car’s own dial.
Do speedometer apps work without internet?
The listings for SpeedometerX, GPS Speedometer: Speed Tracker and Galileo GPS Speedometer all say they work offline. Galileo’s adds that its maps need a connection to load.
Is there a speedometer app for Android Auto?
Not as a separate app, going by Google’s rules. Its developer documentation limits Android Auto to certain kinds of app, such as media, messaging and navigation, and a plain speedometer is not among them. Waze’s help page says its own speedometer settings carry over to the car’s screen.
