Your teen just got their learner’s permit, and now there are 50 hours of practice to keep track of. That’s a lot of drives to write down, over six months or more, and the log has to hold up at the BMV branch on license day.
You can keep it on paper or in an app. Both can work. The way to choose is to start where the BMV starts: with what it actually asks you to hand over.
What the BMV needs at the end
Indiana requires at least 50 hours of supervised driving practice, 10 of them at night, and the BMV’s learner’s permit and license overview says those hours must be kept in a Log of Supervised Driving and presented when your teen applies for a license.
That log is State Form 54706, the Log of Supervised Driving Practice, on the BMV’s driver’s license and permit forms page. Whatever method you use, this is the finish line:
- Each drive’s date, with its time in the DAY or NIGHT column.
- At least 50 hours in total, with at least 10 at night.
- The hours entered on the approved form itself. The form’s instructions say completed hours must go on the approved log, and that you can attach more than one sheet.
- The affirmation signed. For a teen under 18, a parent or legal guardian signs.
Our guide to the Indiana 50-hour driving log walks through filling out the form line by line. Here, the question is simpler: which way of logging gets you to that signed form with the least trouble?
Option 1: the paper form
Print State Form 54706, keep it in the glove box, and write each drive down when you park.
What it costs: nothing. It’s the official form, and the BMV takes it.
What goes wrong:
- Drives get written down later, from memory, and the times get rounded or guessed.
- The day and night minutes have to be added up by hand at the end.
- Sheets get lost. Six months is a long time for a piece of paper to survive in a car.
None of that is a reason to skip paper. It just means paper works best for families who write every drive down the day it happens. The form also reminds you that a false statement on it may count as perjury, so the log should match the drives your teen really took.
Option 2: an app
A driving log app records each drive as it happens. Your teen or the supervising driver taps to start and stop, and the app keeps the time, the route and a running total.
Before you trust an app with 50 hours, ask one question: does it give you State Form 54706, filled in? If an app only shows totals, someone still copies every drive onto the paper form by hand before license day.
Night hours are the other thing to look at. Indiana law requires 10 hours of night driving but doesn’t define night, and the form’s NIGHT column doesn’t either. So every app has to decide when a drive counts as night, and you should know how yours decides.
How Drive Now handles it
Drive Now. Every hour. Every drive. Logged.
Drive Now logs each drive by GPS, with its route, and sorts the time into day and night for you.
When it’s time for the branch, open the 50-hour log in the app. It turns your teen’s drives into State Form 54706, with every drive’s date and its day and night time already entered, and you can download it or email it straight from the app. The parent or guardian signs the affirmation by hand, the same as on paper.
The Indiana BMV accepts the Drive Now app log.
The app is free on the App Store and Google Play.
Paper or app: how to choose
| Paper form | Drive Now | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free |
| How drives are recorded | Written by hand after each drive | Logged by GPS as you drive |
| Day and night time | You decide and add it up | Sorted and totaled for you |
| If it gets lost | The hours go with it | Kept in the app |
| What you bring to the branch | The signed paper form | The app’s filled-in form, printed and signed |
| Who signs | Parent or guardian, for a teen under 18 | Parent or guardian, for a teen under 18 |
If your family is good at writing things down and keeping track of paper, the form will do the job. If the log is more likely to end up in a backpack, an app that fills in the form for you saves the end-of-month scramble.
Switching partway through
Already started on paper? You don’t have to start over. Keep the sheets you’ve filled in, and log the rest of the drives in the app. On license day, bring both: the paper sheets for the early drives and the app’s filled-in form for the rest. The branch accepts both, stapled together. The form’s own instructions already allow more than one sheet attached.
Just don’t log the same drive twice. Once a drive is on paper, it stays on paper.
Start this week
Pick one way today, before the next drive.
- Paper: print State Form 54706 from the BMV’s forms page and put it in the car with a pen.
- App: download Drive Now and log the very next drive.
Then keep going. Your teen has to hold the permit for at least 180 days before applying for a license, as the BMV’s probationary license page explains, and 50 hours spread over those six months is about two hours a week.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an app to log driving hours in Indiana?
Yes. Several apps log practice drives. Drive Now logs each drive by GPS, sorts it into day and night, and fills in Indiana’s State Form 54706 for you to download, sign and bring to the branch.
Does the Indiana BMV accept app driving logs?
The Indiana BMV accepts the Drive Now app log. For any other app, check that it gives you the hours on State Form 54706, because the form’s instructions say completed hours must be entered on the approved log.
Do I still need the paper form if I use an app?
You need State Form 54706 at the branch either way. With Drive Now, the app fills it in from your teen’s drives, so you print it and sign it instead of copying every drive by hand.
Can I switch from a paper log to an app partway through?
Yes. Keep the paper sheets for the drives you already logged, log the rest in the app, and staple the paper sheets and the app’s filled-in form together for the branch.
Who signs the Indiana driving log?
For a teen under 18, a parent or legal guardian signs the affirmation. If the driver is 18 or older, only the driver signs.
How many night hours do you need in Indiana?
At least 10 of the 50 supervised hours must be at night. Our Indiana driving log guide covers how night hours work on the form.