Updated 6 August 2026
When the dashboard dial feels small or you are on a bike with no gauge at all, a phone speedometer fills the gap nicely. Among the free options, GPS Speedometer and Odometer is the one that earns a home-screen spot. It is genuinely free, it reads your speed straight from satellites rather than your car, and it works whether you drive, ride, or cycle. Here is how to set it up and what to know before you trust it on the road.
A GPS based app 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.
A good one should 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. The readout settles quickly with a clear view of the sky, and the large digits are easy to catch with a quick glance. Our roundup of the best GPS navigation apps for Android pairs well with a dedicated speed app.
GPS Speedometer & Odometer, our free pick.
4.6★ · 9.67K reviews · 100K+ installs · free, no ads label, skins 2.99 to 9.99 dollars · by Morkam 88 · Play listing · checked 6 August 2026
Install it from the Play Store. 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 happens within a few seconds, though indoors or in a tight parking garage it can take longer or fail to lock on at all, which is normal for anything GPS based. Once you see your speed update as you start moving, you are ready. Step into the settings early to pick your units, miles or kilometres per hour, and turn on keep screen on so the display does not dim 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. Reset it at the start of each ride with a single tap and review the numbers afterwards.
The sleeper feature is 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 keeps your eyes closer to the road. There is also an optional speed limit alert that beeps if you cross a number you set, which is 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. The catch is that it relies on a clean signal. In open country it is spot on. Under heavy tree cover, between tall buildings, or in tunnels, the reading lags or jumps, because the phone briefly loses sight of enough satellites.
A couple of habits make a real difference. 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. Google sets the same expectation in its own Maps help page: "Speedometers shown in the Google Maps app are for informational use only."
On permissions, this app is refreshingly light. It needs location, and that is the core of it. Granting it is reasonable, 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 offers it, 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, the main screen has shown ads in the past, though the Play listing carries no Contains ads label as of 6 August 2026; the paid dashboard skins, 2.99 to 9.99 dollars, are how it makes its money. None of these are dealbreakers, but they are worth knowing before you set off.
If GPS Speedometer does not click for you, here are the alternatives, ranked in the order we would pick them. Choose Google Maps or Waze over a dedicated speed app if you already navigate with them and only want a number on screen. Choose a dedicated app for a full screen readout, a HUD mode, or trip logs on a bicycle or motorcycle, where a navigation app is overkill.
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.
Speedometer GPS Pro, the trip logger: richer trip history and route views, but it is a paid app on a free apps page and its last Play update was July 2024. Choose it over Ulysse Pro if you want the fresher of the two paid apps.
3.8★ · 3.98K reviews · 500K+ installs · 0.99 dollars, no ads label · by luozirui · Play listing · checked 6 August 2026
Ulysse Speedometer Pro, the motorcyclist favourite, paid only since the free edition was delisted. Know what you are buying: no update since 20 August 2021, five years of Android permission, battery and location changes it has never been adapted to, and its rating has drifted to 3.5 stars. Skip it on a current phone unless its bike style dashboards are exactly what you want.
3.5★ · 4.8K reviews · 100K+ installs · 1.99 dollars, no ads label · by binarytoys · Play listing · checked 6 August 2026
Waze Navigation & Live Traffic, a speedometer and speed limit warnings inside the navigation you may already use.
4.3★ · 8.9M reviews · 500M+ installs · free, contains ads · by Waze · Play listing · checked 6 August 2026
Google Maps, the same built-in speedometer, no extra download.
3.2★ · 19.5M reviews · 10B+ installs · free, contains ads · by Google LLC · Play listing · checked 6 August 2026
For everyday use, yes. At steady speeds it is usually accurate to within a mile or two per hour. It can lag in tunnels or among tall buildings where the GPS signal weakens, so treat it as a reliable second opinion rather than a certified instrument.
The speed reading itself works offline because it comes from GPS satellites, not your data plan. You only need a connection if you also want a live map or to load ads. Pure speed and trip tracking keep working in areas with no signal at all.
Continuous GPS use is one of the heavier things you can ask of a phone, so yes, expect noticeable drain on longer trips. Keep the phone plugged into a car charger for any journey over half an hour and it is a non-issue.
Absolutely, and that is one of its best uses. Because it reads speed from satellites rather than the vehicle, it works on a bike with no gauge or a motorcycle whose dial is hard to read. A handlebar mount with a clear view of the sky gives the steadiest results.
Yes. In the Google Maps app tap your profile picture, choose Settings, then Navigation settings, and turn on Speedometer under Driving options. Waze shows one during navigation as well. Google notes the reading is for informational use only.
Car speedometers are allowed to read slightly high and most do, while GPS measures your true speed over the ground. A phone reading a few miles per hour lower is normal. A sudden jump usually means the phone briefly lost its satellite fix.