The honest capture promise

How DrivePerf records.

Auto-detects most drives. The first few hundred metres may be estimated. Force-quittingForce-stopping the appForce-quitting pauses auto-detect. Here's what that means, and how to get the most reliable recording on your phone.

Two ways to record.

Automatic trips

Off until you turn them on. DrivePerf notices you're driving, records the route and ends the drive a few minutes after you park. Your Story is waiting when you stop.

Needs Always location and Motion & Fitness“Allow all the time” location and Physical activityAlways location and Motion & Fitness. Used only to record your drives.

Manual trips

Tap Start before you pull away, from the app, the Control Center control or a widgetthe Quick Settings tile or a widgetthe Control Center control or a widget. Stop it when you park, or it ends on its own after 15 minutes parked.

Needs location only while in use. Every feature, Pro included, works in manual mode.

What happens on a drive.

Nothing for you to do while moving. While a drive is in progress the app shows a calm, black recording screen: no score, no speed, no alerts.

You parkDrivePerf remembers roughly where, so it can notice when you leave. GPS goes off.
You pull awayYour phone wakes DrivePerf when it senses you're moving. It confirms you're driving, not walking or cycling, before recording.
It recordsRoute, speed and motion sensors, about once a second. A notification tells you a drive is being recorded; for manual drives a Live Activity shows it on the Lock Screen.An ongoing notification shows that a drive is being recorded, as Android requires.A notification tells you a drive is being recorded; for manual drives a Live Activity shows it on the Lock Screen.
You park againAfter a few minutes stationary the drive ends. Traffic lights and jams don't end it.
Drive decodedScoring, events and your Story are worked out on your phone in seconds. One notification, held until you're parked.

Dashed means estimated, everywhere in DrivePerf: on maps, in charts and in your export. No event pins are shown on an estimated stretch.

The estimated start.

Phones take a moment to wake an app when you start moving, so the first few hundred metres of an automatic drive may be missed. We don't pretend otherwise.

DrivePerf starts the drive where you parked and fills the gap from your phone's motion history. That stretch is drawn dashed, labelled "estimated", and its distance is counted but marked. Start a manual drive before you pull away and there's no estimated start at all.

Honest limits, by platform.

What iPhone and Android allow, and how DrivePerf works with it.

Situation	What happens
Start of an automatic drive	The first ~300–1,000 m may be estimated while iOS wakes DrivePerf.
You force-quit the app	Auto-detect pauses until you open DrivePerf again.
Phone restarts	Auto-detect resumes after you unlock. The first drive starts at the first GPS fix, without an estimated start.
Low Power Mode	iOS may delay detection. The Health Check warns you.
Location set to "While Using"	Automatic trips stop; manual trips still work. DrivePerf tells you, with a two-tap fix.
Lock Screen Live Activity	Shown for manual drives. For automatic drives iOS doesn't allow it to start on its own, so you get a quiet notification instead.

Reliability checklist

Location: Always, Precise onSettings → DrivePerf → Location.
Motion & Fitness onSettings → Privacy & Security → Motion & Fitness.
Background App Refresh onSettings → General → Background App Refresh.
Leave it in the backgroundNo need to open it before a drive. Just don't swipe it away.

Situation	What happens
Start of an automatic drive	The first stretch, usually a couple of hundred metres, may be estimated from GPS while Android starts recording.
You force-stop the app	Auto-detect pauses until you open DrivePerf again.
Phone maker's battery saver	Some brands put apps to sleep. The Health Check shows how to exempt DrivePerf on your phone.
Battery Saver on	Detection may be slower. The Health Check warns you.
Location set to "Only while using"	Automatic trips stop; manual trips still work. DrivePerf tells you how to fix it.
During a drive	An ongoing notification shows recording is on, as Android requires.

Reliability checklist

Location: Allow all the time, Precise onSettings → Apps → DrivePerf → Permissions → Location.
Physical activity allowedSettings → Apps → DrivePerf → Permissions.
Battery: UnrestrictedSettings → Apps → DrivePerf → Battery. On some phones also remove it from "sleeping apps".
Leave it in the backgroundNo need to open it before a drive. Just don't force-stop it.

Battery

About 2–4% an hour of driving, with the screen off.

An estimate, for nowOur target until the beta measures it on real phones. We'll publish the numbers.

Nothing between drivesNo GPS while you're parked: just low-power motion signals.

Backs off when it's hotIf your phone gets hot or low on battery, DrivePerf records less often to protect it.

Something not right? The Health Check in Settings tests everything above with a one-tap fix, and Support has more answers.