Does the app record the road and the driver at the same time?

Yes. SplitRig records both iPhone cameras simultaneously into one synced file. The rear camera covers the road and the front camera covers the driver or cabin. You can show them in Split Screen with an adjustable 30 to 70 percent ratio, Picture-in-Picture with a movable driver bubble, Single Camera, or Face Mode, and switch between them mid-recording without stopping the file.

Is it free, and which iPhones does it work on?

SplitRig is free, with every feature unlocked at first launch and no subscription, in-app purchases, ads, or account. It works on every iPhone from iPhone 11 to iPhone 17 Pro. Apple's built-in Dual Capture only records both cameras on the iPhone 17 line, so SplitRig is how you get a dual-view road camera on the iPhone you already own.

iPhone Dashcam App with a Speed Overlay: Record the Road and You (Free)

A free iPhone dashcam-style app that records the road and the cabin at once, in one synced video, with your live GPS speed baked in. Works on the iPhone you already own, from iPhone 11 up. On-device, no account.

Road, driver, and speed in one shot

Most dashcam apps point one camera at the road and call it done. Driving instructors, test-drive channels, and road-trip creators need more than that: the road ahead, the person at the wheel, and the speed, all in the same frame, all in sync.

SplitRig records your iPhone's front and rear cameras at the same time into a single video file, and bakes your live GPS speed into the picture as you drive. The rear camera covers the road. The front camera covers you, the cabin, or a learner driver. The speedometer reads off the iPhone's own GPS. One take, one file, nothing to stitch together later.

It is free, with no subscription, no in-app purchases, no ads, and no account. Every feature is unlocked the moment you open the app, and it works on the iPhone already in your pocket, from iPhone 11 to iPhone 17 Pro.

What SplitRig records on a drive

You pick a layout based on what the video is for. The layouts are real and switchable mid-recording, so you can change framing at a junction without stopping the file.

Split Screen (road plus cabin). The screen splits between the rear road view and the front cabin view, with an adjustable 30 to 70 percent ratio. Give the road more space, or give the driver more space, depending on the lesson or the story.
Picture-in-Picture (driver bubble). The road fills the frame and the driver sits in a small movable, resizable bubble in a corner. Best for car-POV and reaction-style driving content where the road is the main event.
Single Camera (road plus speed). One full-screen camera, usually the rear, with the speed overlay still baked in. Best for a clean road shot when you do not need a face on screen.
Face Mode. The iPhone's Neural Engine removes the front-camera background and places just the driver over the rear feed, no green screen required.

The live speed overlay (the part that makes it a driving camera)

The speedometer is the hero overlay for road content. It reads your current speed from CoreLocation, the same GPS engine the Maps app uses, and updates twice a second. It shows km/h or mph automatically based on your region. The number is composited at the GPU layer through Metal as you record, so it is baked into the saved file, not added later in an editor.

You can drag the speed readout anywhere on screen and pinch to resize it, and the position is remembered per orientation, so it sits in the same spot every drive. Alongside speed you can add Distance, Duration, Altitude, and a Goal Gauge from the same overlay set, all live, all baked in.

One honest limit: GPS needs a view of the sky. Speed reads cleanly on the open road and recovers after a stop, but it will not update inside a covered car park or a long tunnel, because no GPS does. The reading holds steady at a red light instead of flickering at a standstill, then picks back up the moment you move.

Who this is for

Driving instructors. Record the road, the learner, and the speed together for lesson review. Split Screen puts the learner and the road side by side, and the baked-in speed gives you an objective reference when you go back over a manoeuvre. The footage stays on the iPhone, which matters when a student is in frame.

Car-POV, test-drive, and review channels. Picture-in-Picture keeps the road full-frame with your reaction in the corner, and the live speed adds the context viewers want during an acceleration run or a back-road drive. For higher-motion shots, Action Cam mode shoots ultra-wide at 0.5x with 60 fps and Cinematic Extended stabilization.

Road-trip vloggers. Distance and Duration overlays turn a long drive into a story with numbers on screen, and Face Mode drops you over the moving road without a green screen. For more on motion-heavy setups, see the best motovlog camera app for iPhone and the broader iPhone vlogging app for action sports guides.

Is this a real dashcam?

Honest answer: SplitRig is a dashcam-style road camera for driving content, not an automatic incident or insurance dashcam. It is worth being clear about the difference, because the two tools do different jobs.

SplitRig does not loop-record over old footage, does not auto-start when the engine turns over, has no crash or G-sensor trigger, and does not record in the background or while parked. It records when you tap record, and it saves what you filmed to your Photos library. It is a creator's road camera, not a black box bolted to the windscreen.

So what is it actually for? Filming drives on purpose: a driving lesson you want to review, a car review you are publishing, a road trip you are documenting. The thing no dedicated dashcam app offers is the combination at the centre of this article: the road and the driver at the same time, in one synced video, with live GPS speed in the frame. If you need an always-on black box that captures a collision you did not see coming, buy a hardwired dashcam. If you want to make road video that shows the drive and the speed, that is this.

Setting it up in the car

Mount the iPhone on a windscreen or dash mount with a clear view of the road. Landscape suits YouTube; portrait suits Reels and TikTok. SplitRig records either way.
Pick a layout in the bottom tray: Split Screen for road plus cabin, Picture-in-Picture for a driver bubble, or Single Camera for the road alone.
Enable the speedometer from the overlay picker, then drag it to a corner that does not block the road.
Start hands-free. Press the Camera Control button on iPhone 16 and later, press Volume Down, or tap start in the Apple Watch app. No reaching across the cabin while driving.

A few things that matter on a long drive. There is no recording time limit, so the file runs until your storage fills. For long sessions, 24 fps Cinematic mode saves roughly 20 percent on thermal load versus 30 fps, and the Iron Stream thermal governor scales the frame rate down step by step (30 to 24 to 20 to 15 fps) rather than ever cutting the recording off. Extreme direct sun on the dash can still warm any iPhone, so that is physics, not the app.

Smart Pause is the one made for cars. If a phone call comes in mid-drive and pulls you out of the app, the recording pauses instead of dying. Come back within about two minutes and it resumes the same file; stay away longer and it saves what you had. A wrong number does not cost you the drive.

Privacy: where you drive stays on your iPhone

Filming your commute or a lesson route means filming where you live, work, and drive. SplitRig reads GPS on-device only. Your speed and location are never uploaded, never stored on a server, and never shared with a third party. There is no account, no analytics tied to you, and no cloud component. The video stays on your iPhone until you choose to share it. For drivers, that is the difference between a tool and a tracker.

Frequently asked

Can I use my iPhone as a dashcam? You can use it as a dashcam-style road camera for footage you film on purpose. SplitRig records the road, the cabin, and your live speed in one video. It does not loop-record, auto-start, or detect crashes, so it is not a replacement for an always-on incident dashcam.

Does it record the road and the driver at the same time? Yes. The rear camera films the road and the front camera films the driver, both into one synced file, in Split Screen, Picture-in-Picture, Single Camera, or Face Mode.

Does it show my speed on the video? Yes. The GPS speedometer is baked into the recording as you drive, in km/h or mph by region, composited at the GPU layer rather than added afterward.