Why does the display intentionally show zero sometimes?

Below about 0.5 m/s (roughly 1.8 km/h or 1.1 mph), readings are treated as GPS jitter rather than real motion and shown as zero. This prevents phantom distance from accumulating while you're genuinely standing still.

I granted permission once — why is it asking again?

Browsers can reset a site's location permission after you clear site data, change browser privacy settings, or in some cases after enough time has passed. You can always check or change it in your browser's site settings for this page.

Does it work on desktop computers?

Most laptops don't have a GPS chip and instead estimate location from Wi-Fi networks, which is far too imprecise and slow-changing for a live speed reading. This tool is built for GPS-equipped phones and tablets.

Guides

Why Is My GPS Speed Showing Zero?

A step-by-step checklist for when a GPS speedometer reads zero or won't update: permissions, signal, and common device settings.

Checklist

Permission not granted or denied. If you see a permission-denied message, open your browser's site settings for this page and allow location access, then reload and tap Start Tracking again.
Location Services off at the OS level. Even with browser permission granted, your phone's system-wide location setting must also be turned on.
No clear view of the sky. Indoors, underground, or in a parking structure, GPS may be unable to get a fix at all, or report a very large accuracy radius that this tool excludes from the live reading.
You're genuinely moving slowly. Readings below roughly 0.5 m/s (about 1.8 km/h or 1.1 mph) are treated as stationary GPS drift rather than real motion, and shown as zero by design.
Not served over HTTPS. Browsers only allow GPS access on secure (HTTPS) pages in production — localhost is exempt during development, but a deployed site must use HTTPS.
Battery saver or background restrictions. Some phones throttle location updates aggressively in low-power modes. Keep the screen on and battery saver off while tracking.
Unsupported browser. A small number of older or embedded browsers don't implement the Geolocation API at all — try a recent version of Chrome, Safari, Edge, or Firefox.

If you've ruled all of these out and still see a stuck zero while clearly moving, try the GPS speed test page to check your live accuracy reading, or read more about what affects GPS precision in the GPS speed accuracy guide.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the display intentionally show zero sometimes?: Below about 0.5 m/s (roughly 1.8 km/h or 1.1 mph), readings are treated as GPS jitter rather than real motion and shown as zero. This prevents phantom distance from accumulating while you're genuinely standing still.
I granted permission once — why is it asking again?: Browsers can reset a site's location permission after you clear site data, change browser privacy settings, or in some cases after enough time has passed. You can always check or change it in your browser's site settings for this page.
Does it work on desktop computers?: Most laptops don't have a GPS chip and instead estimate location from Wi-Fi networks, which is far too imprecise and slow-changing for a live speed reading. This tool is built for GPS-equipped phones and tablets.