GPS Speedometer: The Free Speed App We Rely On for Android

The reason a GPS based app appeals to us is simple. It does not care what vehicle you are in. Your car has a built in speedometer, sure, but your bicycle does not, and a motorcycle gauge can be hard to read at a glance. Because this app pulls speed from the same satellites your maps use, it gives you a consistent number on foot, on two wheels, or behind the wheel.

We also wanted something that did not bury the basics under a wall of ads or demand a subscription before showing a single digit. GPS Speedometer keeps a clean main screen with your current speed front and centre, plus trip distance and average speed if you want them. In our testing the readout settled quickly once we had a clear view of the sky, and the large digits were easy to catch with a quick glance. If you are still shopping around for the right travel toolkit, our roundup of the best GPS navigation apps for Android pairs well with a dedicated speed app.

Installation took us about two minutes. Open the Play Store, search for GPS Speedometer, and tap Install. On first launch the app asks for location permission, which is the one thing it genuinely needs to work, so allow it and ideally choose the precise option rather than approximate. Without precise location your speed reading will be rough or simply will not appear.

Next, give the phone a moment to get a satellite fix. Near a window or out in the open this happened within a few seconds for us, though indoors or in a tight parking garage it took longer or never locked on at all, which is normal for anything GPS based. Once you see your speed update as you start moving, you are ready. We recommend stepping into the settings early to pick your units, either miles per hour or kilometres per hour, and to set whether the screen should stay awake while the app is open. Turning on keep screen on saved us from the display dimming halfway through a ride.

Day to day, the live speed display is the star, but a few extras earned their place. The trip odometer tracks how far you have travelled in a session, along with your average and top speed, which is oddly satisfying to check after a long cycle. We reset it at the start of each ride with a single tap and reviewed the numbers afterwards.

The feature that surprised us most was the head up display, or HUD, mode. Flip it on and the app mirrors your speed so you can lay the phone flat on the dashboard and read the reflection in the windscreen, a bit like the HUD in pricier cars. It is not perfect in bright daylight, but at dusk and after dark it kept our eyes closer to the road. There is also an optional speed limit alert that beeps if you cross a number you set, which we found handy on motorways where it is easy to drift faster than you mean to. For riders who want to log more than just speed, pairing this with one of the best OBD2 apps gives you engine data alongside it.

GPS speed is usually accurate to within a mile or two per hour at steady cruising speeds, and that matched what we saw against our car dashboard. The catch is that it relies on a clean signal. In open country it was spot on. Under heavy tree cover, between tall buildings, or in tunnels, the reading lagged or jumped, because the phone briefly loses sight of enough satellites.

A couple of habits made a real difference for us. Mount the phone where it has a clear view of the sky, ideally on the dashboard or a handlebar cradle rather than deep in a pocket. Keep it charging on longer trips, since continuous GPS use drains the battery faster than almost anything else. And give it a few seconds to settle before you rely on the number, especially right after starting off. Treat the app as a helpful second opinion rather than a legally precise instrument and you will get the best from it.

On permissions, this app is refreshingly light. It needs location, and that is the core of it. We were comfortable granting it because location is literally how a GPS speedometer functions. Be a little wary of any free speed app that also asks for your contacts, messages, or call logs, since none of those have anything to do with measuring speed. Where the app offered, we set location access to only while using the app rather than all the time.

The honest downsides are mostly about the nature of GPS itself. It will not work reliably indoors, in tunnels, or in dense urban canyons. Battery drain is real, so a long unplugged journey will eat into your charge. And because it is free, you will see ads on the main screen, which most of these apps use to stay free. A small one off payment usually removes them if the banners bother you. None of these were dealbreakers for us, but they are worth knowing before you set off.

If GPS Speedometer does not click for you, there are solid options. Speedometer GPS Pro and Ulysse Speedometer both offer richer trip logging and more customisation, with Ulysse being a favourite among motorcyclists for its detailed dashboards. If you mainly want speed inside your navigation, Google Maps and Waze show a live speedometer and speed limit warnings without a separate download, which is the simplest route for a lot of drivers.

For something purpose built around cycling or running, a dedicated fitness tracker may suit you better since it adds heart rate and route history. And if you are kitting out the car more broadly, take a look at our picks for the most reliable dash cam apps, then browse the wider navigation and auto hub for launchers, trackers, and GPS tools to round out your setup.