About Phone Dashcam
Built by Cyberlab Automation — an independent software studio focused on automotive safety tools that actually work.
Independent Android developer specializing in real-time computer vision, background services, and sensor fusion on mobile hardware. Built Phone Dashcam after a $200 hardware dashcam overheated and lost footage from a rear-end collision. Has been running the app as a daily driver since early 2025 — including two deer strikes that the AI detection caught on camera. Deep experience with Android Camera2 API, CameraX, YOLOv8 on-device inference via NCNN, accelerometer-based event detection, and foreground service lifecycle management on Android 8–14.
Why We Built This
Every year, millions of insurance claims come down to one driver's word against another. Dedicated dashcams cost $150–$400, require hardwiring, and still miss half the story. Meanwhile, the phone sitting in your cupholder has a better camera, more processing power, and a GPS chip already built in.
Phone Dashcam started as a side project to solve a simple problem: turn a spare Android phone into a full dashcam without buying new hardware. It grew into a complete driving safety platform with features most hardware dashcams still don't offer.
What Phone Dashcam Does
The app runs on any Android phone (8.0+) and records continuously in a loop. When something happens, it saves the clip automatically. But recording is just the baseline. Here's what sets it apart:
- Parking mode — motion-activated recording that guards your car when you're not in it. Screen dims to near-zero on AMOLED to save battery.
- Crash detection — accelerometer-based impact sensing that auto-saves footage the moment a collision is detected.
- 336,000+ camera alerts — a built-in offline database of speed cameras, red light cameras, Flock ALPR readers, and reported police speed traps across the US.
- AI object detection — on-device YOLOv8 model that identifies vehicles, pedestrians, and objects in real time. No cloud processing, no data leaves your phone.
- Google Drive backup — automatic cloud sync over WiFi. Your footage is always recoverable even if the phone is damaged.
- Dual camera — record front and rear simultaneously on supported devices.
By the Numbers
Development Timeline
Early 2025 — The Idea
Started building a basic loop-recording dashcam app after getting frustrated with a $200 hardware dashcam that kept overheating and losing footage.
Mid 2025 — Parking Mode & Crash Detection
Added motion-activated parking mode and accelerometer-based crash detection. These two features alone replaced the most expensive hardware dashcam features.
Late 2025 — Camera Alert Database
Integrated a 336,000+ location database of speed cameras, red light cameras, and Flock Safety ALPR readers. The database works fully offline — no internet required while driving.
Early 2026 — AI Detection & Pro Launch
Shipped on-device AI object detection using YOLOv8, Google Drive cloud backup, and the Pro subscription ($6.99/month or $29.99/year). Published on Google Play.
Our Approach
Privacy-first. Everything runs on your phone. Video never touches our servers. AI processing happens locally. Cloud backup goes to your Google Drive, not ours. We collect anonymous crash reports to improve the app and nothing else.
The core app is free. Pro is $6.99/month or $29.99/year — cancel anytime from the Play Store. No hidden fees, no upsells.
No bloat. The app does one thing well: protect you on the road. No social features, no gamification, no unnecessary permissions.
Get in Touch
Questions, feature requests, or partnership inquiries: [email protected]
You can also visit our contact page for more ways to reach us.