You are already halfway down the block when you wonder: did recording actually start? Your iPhone is mounted, MotoLens is installed, but you are not sure what just happened.
This is the question trip detection exists to answer. Here is what it does — and, just as importantly, what it does not do.
What trip detection actually is
Trip detection is a background feature that monitors your iPhone's motion and GPS data while MotoLens is installed. When the pattern matches what the app recognizes as a motorcycle ride, it sends you a push notification.
That's it. A notification. Not a recording that has started silently in the background. Not a clip you didn't know was being made. Just an alert that says: a ride seems to be starting — do you want to record it?
This distinction matters a lot. People expect dashcam apps to record everything automatically, so they sometimes assume MotoLens has been capturing their rides when it hasn't. The notification is the handoff between the app doing the detection and you making the decision.
The notification: this is your cue
The trip detection notification arrives on your lock screen, just like any other push alert. It appears quickly — usually within the first minute or two of riding, once the app has seen enough motion and GPS data to be confident.
When you see it, you have two options.
One tap, or hands-free with Siri
Tap the notification and MotoLens opens directly to the record button. One tap there starts the session. Your GPS track, video, and timestamps begin at that moment.
The alternative: "Hey Siri, start MotoLens." If your hands are on the bars and conditions make it awkward to reach the phone, Siri handles it. The recording starts exactly the same way — you just did not have to touch the screen to do it.
What you cannot do is have it start automatically. This is a deliberate design choice. You stay in control of what gets captured, when it starts, and when it stops. Honestly, once you ride with it a few times, it becomes natural — you feel the bike moving, you glance at the notification, one tap, done.
When trip detection does not fire
Three situations where the notification may not arrive on time or at all:
The most common is missing permissions. Trip detection needs Location set to "Always" and Motion & Fitness enabled in iPhone Settings. If either is set to "While Using" or off, the background monitoring doesn't run. Check these settings once and they stay in place.
Less common is a very short ride. If you are making a five-minute stop-start trip in heavy traffic, the app may not see enough data to confidently call it a motorcycle ride before you have already parked. For those situations, just open the app manually and start recording before you leave.
Occasionally the notification arrives later than expected, after you have already been riding for a few minutes. That is fine — tap it, start recording, and the rest of the ride is captured. You just miss the first stretch.
What gets recorded alongside the video
Once recording starts, MotoLens is doing more than saving video. It is logging your GPS track continuously — which means your route, speed at each point, and timestamps are all embedded in the session data. When you open the clip library afterward, you can replay the footage with the GPS overlay running in sync.
This is the part that matters for insurance or a traffic dispute. A clip with accurate location data and timestamp is a much stronger piece of evidence than video alone. It also makes it easier to review specific moments: if something happened at a particular intersection, you can find it in the GPS track rather than scrubbing through the whole clip.
For a deeper look at what background recording does once you have started a session, the background recording guide covers how MotoLens keeps capturing after you lock your screen. And for Siri setup specifics, the Siri recording guide has the exact commands and a few edge cases worth knowing.
MotoLens is free to download on the App Store for iPhone. Trip detection is on by default — no setup required beyond the permission check above.