OBD adapter and iOS app for new car

The Garage
#1

Hey guys, I’ve ordered a new car and I thought it’d be pretty cool to have one of those OBD bluetooth adapters that can collect a lot of data from the car and report them.

I’m just wondering if anyone has found something that has useful features, a nice UI and is available here. Know what I mean? Not just any old clunky app that works with a cheap Chinese adapter, something with a bit of thought and design in it.

I’ve seen the Automatic car assistant, which I think looks exactly like what I’m after but it’s US only.

If you have any recommendations that’d be great!

Edit: This seems all right: https://www.gofar.co

#2

I’m curious what you find - interested in getting one to compliment my HUD.

I have an OBDII Heads Up display (a cheap jay car one) for my Corolla and I quite like it.

#3

What Jaycar devices have you got and how do you find it? I don’t know that you can run two ODB devices at the same time.
iPhones (and iPads) only work over WiFi, not Bluetooth. I also find WiFi to be a little laggy compared to Bluetooth.

When it comes to apps, I’ve tried a few over the years and nothing has come close to Torque Pro, an Android only app :frowning: I would also be really interested in any recommendations.

I was part of a test flight beta of something called Dash Sketch a couple of years ago which looked promising, I even upgraded my OBD adaptor to a flash one (instead of the 2 different $10 jobs I have which worked perfectly) and while it was very pretty, it was too laggy for me (again noting that it was in beta). I can’t seem to find it anymore so I don’t know if it’s dies or moved to something else.

I’ve even considered going to an android based head unit just to get Torque Pro working, it’s also one of the factors that I consider as a positive if I went from iOS to an android Android phone.

#4

https://www.jaycar.com.au/obdii-speedometer-and-heads-up-display/p/LA9027

Apparently it has been discontinued. My only gripe is that it could be clearer + the reflective plastic that comes with it isn’t fantastic. I also couldn’t get fuel consumption working but I didn’t tinker enough.

I think you can get ODB double adaptors… how well they work or not is another story.

#5

Would strongly recommend GoFar. I was one of their beta testers and have bought a couple.
It has a great app, and just works.

The only thing it doesn’t do is support multiple drivers - so if someone else drives the car the data is stored (minus geolocation) and uploaded when you get back in the car.

#6

I’ve played with the demo on the app and it is what I had in mind so I’m strongly considering it. Without the Ray though, I’m not interested in that.

It’s just a shame when you enter things like the date of the service you just had, you can’t also write notes so you can log what was actually serviced. If it had that feature it’d be pretty much perfect.

I read them advising people to put location access to always to get GPS map data. Do you do that? I’d like to know what impact that has on battery life outside of driving (it’s plugged into USB in the car for CarPlay).

#7

I have an unused GoFar with the OBD Dongle, Ray and Ray cable.

Open to reasonable offers :smiley:

#8

I bought one mate but my bro is interested. What do you have in mind?

#9

$60 plus postage?

#10

Yep is his keen with that offer but he wants to try out mine for a few days to make sure he actually wants one in the first place. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

#12

He doesn’t want it. It has been very unreliable with his Android phone unlike my experience with it using an iPhone. Thanks though!

#13

OK, thanks for the reply.

Anyone else interested?

#14

The OBD Eleven Pro has been great (OBDeleven). Needed to use it with Android for now, but iOS app is due later this year. Built in apps for quick easy changes, full diagnostics, and long coding if you want to go down that route. Mate and I use one for our Golf GTI’s. Been able to make some great changes to car functionality.

1 Like
#15

Mate if it’s still available my bro wants it now. We discovered that his android troubles were because of me being in the car with him. Even though I disconnected the dongle via bluetooth, just having the app installed on my iPhone would make it auto reconnect and take priority over his phone. PM me if it’s available and we can take it from there.

#16

My GoFar has been sold to Frankie

#17

Mate. That is excellent news, I’ve got one (for my GTI too). Just haven’t done too much with because the Lenovo tablet I use with it is a POS.

#18

It is really finicky. Needs a decent WIFI signal, doesn’t like being tethered to a phone either.
But once working, really useful.