--- title: "Keep your road trip convoy together with DriveStream" description: "DriveStream puts every car on one live map with speed, fuel and shared ETAs. Here's what the iOS 26 convoy app actually does." date: "2026-09-14" app: drivestream readingTime: "6 min read" image: "/img/build/drivestream/convoy-map.jpg" imageAlt: "DriveStream's convoy map in its low-poly style, with speed above each car, a running order, and ETA and distance" --- The hardest part of a group road trip is not the miles — it's the gaps that open between cars without warning. One driver stops for fuel without saying anything in the group chat. Another misses the exit and spends the next stretch doubling back. The lead car keeps moving because nobody wants to be the one who holds up traffic. By the time anyone notices, there are three cars in three different locations and a growing thread of "where are you" messages that nobody has time to read while driving. The usual fix is a mix of Find My, group calls and half-attention on the group chat while stuck at a junction. That works, after a fashion. DriveStream is built on the premise that it doesn't have to be this hard. DriveStream is an iPhone app, currently in beta for iOS 26, that puts your entire convoy on one live map and gives every driver the same real-time picture at the same time. ## What the shared map shows When a trip starts, every car in your convoy appears on a shared map. The map updates continuously and shows each car's location, its current speed, its heading, and the gap between it and the car directly ahead. If the front car is pulling away faster than the second can follow, every driver sees the gap growing before it becomes a problem. If the rearmost car is still turning out of the petrol station, the lead driver knows it without waiting for a message. This is different from sharing your location through Messages or Find My. Those show a static pin, and each driver checks them at different moments on different delays. DriveStream gives everyone a single shared view that they are all looking at at the same time. ## Navigation that reaches every phone A shared destination goes to every driver in the convoy at once. DriveStream calculates traffic-aware ETAs for each car separately — the car at the back of a convoy has farther to go than the car at the front when stops are factored in. When traffic changes or a driver takes a longer route, their ETA updates in real time for the whole group to see. Trips support multiple stops. The organiser adds a rest stop or a lunch spot, and it appears on everyone's screen immediately, without a separate message going out to the group chat. DriveStream also runs as a full CarPlay app. If your car has CarPlay, the convoy map and turn-by-turn navigation appear on the head unit — no glancing at a phone in a mount. ![DriveStream in CarPlay: turn-by-turn guidance with the convoy's cars on the map](/img/build/drivestream/carplay-navigation.jpg) *CarPlay turn-by-turn, with the convoy on the map.* ## Fuel across the group Each driver can enter their current fuel level and remaining range. That information is visible to everyone in the convoy at once. On long stretches between stations, this means the group can plan a fuel stop before someone is running on fumes — not because they finally said something, but because the numbers were in front of everyone already. ![DriveStream's fuel tab: tank level, range, km/l and logged fill-ups](/img/build/drivestream/fuel-log.jpg) *The fuel tab: tank level, range and logged fill-ups.* ## Press-to-talk DriveStream has a press-to-talk button for live audio. Hold to talk; the rest of the convoy hears you. Release and listen. The audio is live and goes nowhere after the moment it's spoken — nothing is recorded, stored or sent to a server. It's for quick coordination: a speed camera ahead, needing the next exit, flagging a problem. Faster than texting, less risky than a call. ## A record of every drive After each trip, DriveStream saves a replay. The route is recorded at one sample per second, alongside distance, moving time and top speed. You can scrub through the drive on your phone, or review it in a web companion on a larger screen. According to [drivestream.app](https://drivestream.app), the recording survives a crash or a dead battery mid-trip and carries over when you restore to a new device. ![DriveStream's animated drive replay with a scrubber and playback speed](/img/build/drivestream/drive-replay.jpg) *Replaying a recorded drive, with the scrubber at the bottom.* ## The ranking system DriveStream tracks cumulative distance across all your drives. There are seven ranks: Rookie, Commuter (from 100 km), Cruiser (500 km), Tourer (2,000 km), Road Warrior (5,000 km), Trailblazer (15,000 km) and Legend, which sits at 40,075 km — the circumference of the Earth. There is no weekly leaderboard. Ranks reflect total distance driven across months and years, and 40,075 km is a genuinely large number. Reaching Legend means you have driven the distance of the Earth's equator in total. ## What it doesn't do DriveStream requires a data connection and doesn't claim to work without one. It doesn't support Android. Both are worth knowing before you plan a trip around it. On privacy: the app has no advertising and no analytics SDK. Location is shared only with your convoy, only while a trip is active. ## Beta access DriveStream is available in beta for iPhone running iOS 26 or later. Join the beta and read more at [drivestream.app](https://drivestream.app).