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Any recommendations for an iPhone car dash cam app?

RedTomato

RedTomato

macrumors 601
Original poster
Mar 4, 2005
4,161
444
.. London ..
Hiya

I'm a new driver & I now drive regularly. Two cars crashed in front of me :eek: just the other day, while I was waiting for them to cross a roundabout in front of me (I had my kids in the back).

Fortunately no-one was hurt, but I'm now looking at using my iphone as a dash cam both to record what happens in front of me, and to help me with any insurance claims. I've had a look in the app store and there's a wide selection (they usually record on a loop, or save clips in 5 minute segments, deleting the old ones, until you tell them to keep a clip.)

The problem is I absolutely need the dashcam app to show me a GPS map while it's recording, otherwise I'll just get lost every day (I drive to lots of different places and no regular routes). Apple Maps, or Google Maps, or any other half-decent map is fine. So far, most of the apps I've looked at don't show a map.

Any recommendations?

Thanks, RedTomato
 
How about something like this:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/car-camera-dvr.-dashboard/id557827515?mt=8


RedTomato said:
Hiya

I'm a new driver & I now drive regularly. Two cars crashed in front of me :eek: just the other day, while I was waiting for them to cross a roundabout in front of me (I had my kids in the back).

Fortunately no-one was hurt, but I'm now looking at using my iphone as a dash cam both to record what happens in front of me, and to help me with any insurance claims. I've had a look in the app store and there's a wide selection (they usually record on a loop, or save clips in 5 minute segments, deleting the old ones, until you tell them to keep a clip.)

The problem is I absolutely need the dashcam app to show me a GPS map while it's recording, otherwise I'll just get lost every day (I drive to lots of different places and no regular routes). Apple Maps, or Google Maps, or any other half-decent map is fine. So far, most of the apps I've looked at don't show a map.

Any recommendations?

Thanks, RedTomato
Click to expand...
 
I was watching a car show the other day and apparently this is become a growing trend. They make inexpensive standalone units for just this, like $75-150 if I remember right. The show was a UK based show and it seems this is where a lot of people are using them.
 
wannabepcuser said:
How about something like this:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/car-camera-dvr.-dashboard/id557827515?mt=8
Click to expand...

Thanks but unfortunately no map. That's why I have my phone in the car - for the maps function, which is more important than the dashboard camera function. You try driving around London without a GPS map, see how long it takes you to find where you're going.

Merkyworks said:
I was watching a car show the other day and apparently this is become a growing trend. They make inexpensive standalone units for just this, like $75-150 if I remember right. The show was a UK based show and it seems this is where a lot of people are using them.
Click to expand...

Top Gear? I'm in the UK, and no, dashcams are not common here. You must be thinking of Russia where most people have them because of insurance fraud and corrupt police. Youtube has many amazing videos of crashes recorded by Russian dashcams - I watched hours of them when I was taking driving lessons last year.

Brief cuts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlxHPJAONpE

I prefer the ones that show the build up to the crash - more educational from a drivers ed viewpoint. One picked at random from a great many: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mglZ2CuswNQ

You've probably seen this one - the famous space metor fireball caught on dashcams: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90Omh7_I8vI
 
RedTomato said:
Thanks but unfortunately no map. That's why I have my phone in the car - for the maps function, which is more important than the dashboard camera function. You try driving around London without a GPS map, see how long it takes you to find where you're going.



Top Gear? I'm in the UK, and no, dashcams are not common here. You must be thinking of Russia where most people have them because of insurance fraud and corrupt police. Youtube has many amazing videos of crashes recorded by Russian dashcams - I watched hours of them when I was taking driving lessons last year.

Brief cuts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlxHPJAONpE

I prefer the ones that show the build up to the crash - more educational from a drivers ed viewpoint. One picked at random from a great many: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mglZ2CuswNQ

You've probably seen this one - the famous space metor fireball caught on dashcams: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90Omh7_I8vI
Click to expand...

Why don't you buy an actual dedicated dashboard camera, and then just use your phone for GPS?
 
Tyler23 said:
Why don't you buy an actual dedicated dashboard camera, and then just use your phone for GPS?
Click to expand...

Wondered when that would come up.

"Why don't you buy an actual dedicated XYZ"

Why when I can buy a £2 app that does the job to a standard good enough for me?

There's already lots of dashboard cam apps, just need someone to start showing a map with proper directions on the front too.

Somewhere there's a large drawer full of equipment that the iphone has replaced for non-professionals: cameras, video cams, compass, calendars, diary, notepads, GPS trackers, light meters, audio meters, mixing deck, editing console, decibel meters, seismographs, calculators, dashboard cams ....
 
RedTomato said:
Thanks but unfortunately no map. That's why I have my phone in the car - for the maps function, which is more important than the dashboard camera function. You try driving around London without a GPS map, see how long it takes you to find where you're going.
Click to expand...

I would need more than a GPS map to drive around London - I would definitely need a good dose of tranquilizers. Or better yet hire a driver.

I suspect a stand alone dashcam would be the best choice - I don't think there's a way to have the camera running and a map at the same time.
 
RedTomato said:
Wondered when that would come up.

"Why don't you buy an actual dedicated XYZ"

Why when I can buy a £2 app that does the job to a standard good enough for me?

There's already lots of dashboard cam apps, just need someone to start showing a map with proper directions on the front too.

Somewhere there's a large drawer full of equipment that the iphone has replaced for non-professionals: cameras, video cams, compass, calendars, diary, notepads, GPS trackers, light meters, audio meters, mixing deck, editing console, decibel meters, seismographs, calculators, dashboard cams ....
Click to expand...

Sounds like the perfect time to become an iOS developer and start learning to code.
 
Tyler23 said:
Sounds like the perfect time to become an iOS developer and start learning to code.
Click to expand...

Except that I've already taken a programming course and I know I'm utterly **** at coding. Startups have a coding geek and a selling / meeting people / networking guy. I'm definitely the latter type not the former.
 
Ya I have a few bookmarked on amazon. I wanna buy one in a few months and. Hardware it to my car. One in the back one in the front. The bad thing about using a phone is you use it for so many things using it as a in-cam recorder makes you lose other functionality. Like you'd have to switch out using waze or google app navigation or the music app. I like mounting my phone low not high up where a camera would normally be placed.
 
I read some reviews on dash cams and apparently the quality isn't all that great. Plus some states have issues with you recording.

I'd love to have one, but from the reviews they can be a real pain to install and use. First you have to find a safe place to put it, then find power, then save the recordings, etc.

The reviews mention that it's amazing that there are not more popular ones, or that the car makers don't integrate one in the car. Great idea for an option in your next car.
 
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