Use your phone as a HUD speedometer

A head-up display (HUD) shows your speed in the windshield, so you keep your eyes on the road. You can get the same effect at night with your phone and SpeedLog's mirror mode, no extra hardware needed.

How it works

Put the phone flat on the dashboard, screen up, right under the windshield. The glass reflects the screen like a dim mirror. Because the reflection turns the screen upside down, SpeedLog flips the display vertically in HUD mode, so the numbers read the right way up in the glass.

Set it up

1. Open SpeedLog and wait for a GPS fix.
2. Tap the mirror button at the top right of the speedometer screen. The display flips and shows only the speed and its unit, in large digits. If the speed alert is on, the digits turn red above your limit.
3. Lay the phone flat on the dashboard, screen up, with the top of the phone toward the windshield, as close to the glass as it will go.
4. Turn the screen brightness up. The reflection is faint, and full brightness makes it readable.

Tips

• It works at night, not in daylight. In sunshine the reflection is too weak to see. At dusk and at night it is clear.
• A double image is normal. Windshields are two layers of glass, and each one reflects. A small piece of dark, non-slip mat under the phone helps, and the effect is smaller on cars with a HUD-ready windshield.
• Keep it from sliding. Use a non-slip dashboard pad so the phone stays put in corners and under braking.
• Mind the heat. Do not leave a phone on the dashboard in direct sun; phones shut down when they overheat.
• Turn on Do Not Disturb. Notifications would pop up mirrored in the glass.
• Set it up before you drive. Do not touch the phone while moving, and check local rules about objects on the dashboard.

Recording while in HUD mode

A trip you started keeps recording in HUD mode and with the screen off. Tap anywhere on the screen to return to the normal view, then stop the trip when you arrive.