Car Dash Cams vs Dash Cam Apps
When looking for a dash cam the main question is, to buy a dash cam or to download a dash cam? Both options offer the same service as recording your journey, but we are going to explore what will be best suited to you and you circumstance when making the decision of installing a dash cam.
Overall Benefits & drawbacks of both:
DASH CAMS | DASH CAM APPS |
|---|---|
A dash cam is more expensive than a dash cam app, the cheapest starting from £19.99 (Amazon.co.uk) | Cheaper than a dash cam as the app is free to download to your smartphone. But you will have to buy a dash cam mount for your smartphone, these start from £3.99 (Amazon.co.uk) |
Driving footage is saved to the SD card, making it harder to access if needed. | Footage can be saved straight to your smartphone, making it easier to share to insurance companies if ever needed. |
A new SD card will have to be bought regularly when the storage gets full. | Saving footage to your smartphone could affect your storage data. |
Having a dash cam in your can promote can promote car theft as they on plain sight of passers-by. | Some dash cam apps do not allow you to use other functions of your phone while its recording your journey, e.g. maps and bluetooth. |
Price: Dash cam apps are cost efficient
CAR DASH CAMS | DASH CAM APPS |
|---|---|
Range in price from £19.99 - £500 | Free or come with a free version for you to trial |
Most dash cam apps can be downloaded for free, in comparison to a dash cam that starts from £19.99. As dash cam apps are free, this makes it more accessible to more users who are on a budget as it is downloaded to their smartphone. Although a dash cam mount will have to be purchased for your smartphone, this still makes the dash cam app a cheaper alternative to buying a physical dash cam.
Summary = Dash cam apps are cheaper and do the same job.
Storage: Dash cam app taking up your phone storage?
Both options do the same job of recording your journey, but how the dash cams store the data is an important factor and contribution to which one to choose. A SD card is required for all dash cams to store the data on, for most dash cams this is an extra expense as they are not included with the initial price of the dash cam, and some dash cam brands are only compatible with their own branded SD cards.
As your driving footage from the dash cam app is stored on your smartphone instantly, this could affect your phone storage data for other apps, photos, music etc. Dash cam apps such as PolyCam includes a feature that does not affect your phone storage for other data/apps. This app stores all videos recorded to the ‘cloud’ which is a free storage device that stores your recordings for up to 28 days.
Summary = Using dash cam app PolyCam gives you free storage and free to use making it a win win!
Accessibility: Accessing your recordings
Recording your journey is one of the main reasons to use a dash cam/dash cam app, it is your own personal eye witness every time you drive your vehicle. To access and replay your footage you want it to be an easy process, when recording on a dash cam app the footage is automatically saved on your smartphone. One of the main benefits of a dash cam app is that it allows you to export and share your driving recording straight from your device, if needed to send to your insurance about a recorded accident this is a simple and easy process to complete to settle your claim.
Dash cam footage is saved to a SD card, if you needed to access your recorded footage it would require a computer/laptop to export it to. This is a lengthy process if you needed to access your recorded driving footage to share. Dash cams operate on a looped recording basis, this means the camera continuously records. If your SD card has not been exported and has run out of storage new footage will loop over the old footage and once this has been done there is no retrieving them. This is not ideal for road trips and long car journeys, unless you have a spare SD card on hand or a high storage SD card but the bigger the GB, the higher the price!
Summary = Dash cam app is an easier process to access all your driving footage, and to save and share
Functionality: Setting up before setting off
Dash cams are easy to set up and start using before a car journey, they are already mounted onto your dash board and they automatically start recording once you turn your engine on. This is reliable and useful tool that every journey is going to be recorded. With a dash cam app, it is not automatically set up, you are responsible to start the recording which can be easily forgotten. Some dash cam apps also do not have the functionality to let other apps run while your dash cam app is recording, this is not ideal if you need to use your phone for other uses such as maps and Bluetooth.
Summary = A dash cam is more convenient for all journeys, as it can be stressful to install your phone for a short journey and leaving your phone in the car while unattended could encourage for your vehicle to be broken into.
In conclusion: Dash cam apps are the way forward
Dash cam apps offers all the same qualities as a dash cam for a much cheaper price and are accessible to a wider audience, making roads a safer place to drive. The factor of having to remember to begin the dash cam app before the journey outweighs the cost of having to buy the dash cam and SD card with the risk of your footage being overwritten and not retrievable. The convenience of being able to share your footage straight from your phone is the main contributor of a dash cam app being the preferred option when deciding what dash cam.
Read next
