Gen2 OBD2 app review

It is not just possible, it’s also highly relevant I would say. This applies to all software. Updated apps are cared for by devs and improved.

Many apps mentioned previously here are now abandonware, but still charge IAP. That’s not good for anyone.

I also very much like that Carscanner has model profiles that anyone can update and contribute to. So if you know the adress of a sensor that’s lacking, it’s easily programmable to fetch that data. Highly recommended.

 

(The CarScanner profile for Prius gen2 is actually very impressive, much more information than any other app I have evaluated. Some people (including reviewer?) does not select the correct profile and then end up with just basic OBD data…)

 

@mr_guy_mann, still have Car Scanner, able to comment?

The review post from 3 years ago seemed to indicate not just a matter of individual sensor PIDs missing, so much as entire ECUs.

 

Interested for the reply. And with the latest version and the correct profile…

 

My opinion is that this is the best for gen2 on iOS after testing many, many apps.

What app do you recommend, ChapmanF..?

 

I haven't tested enough alternatives on gen 2 to be anyone you'd ask for a recommendation. mr_guy_mann has.

The laptop I had Techstream on has let out the magic smoke, so lately I've been using the Autel AP200 based on the recommendation here, and I can confirm on my gen 3 it sees all ~ two dozen gen 3 ECUs and their data PIDs, and is able to do the most important things I used to do with Techstream.

 

Ok. A lot of opinions about apps are confirmation bias and subjective. My focus has been to not lock up your app towards any special hw supplier or IAP with apps that then are left abandoned.

(Clone the old ssd and apply image to a vm is my suggestion for your issue).

I also have techstream on an old MacBook Air (intel..) and it works great.

However, apart from programming smart keys, I would say with knowledge you can get any PID displayed in carscanner app if you know how-to.

All other apps are locking these features behind pay walls. That is why I love and chimed in for Carscanner and recommend it to anyone with gen2 and a dongle (I use vlink) with iOS BT support.

 

That's my suggestion too. It's the shortage of round tuits that gets in the way.

It is good to have an app with that flexibility—though with a dozen or two dozen ECUs in the car and each one having tens (some many tens) of PIDs, it can be an awful lot of work to configure such an app to be comparable to one that has them all out of the box.

How practical that is kind of depends on what you want to use it for. If you want, for example, to display some preferred gauges while driving, it's not very hard to program in a dozen PIDs you want to see. That's what I've done with my ScanGauge II.

If your car is malfunctioning right now and you want to start doing diagnosis right now, and you're not sure which PIDs are going to help before you see which ones are showing weird values, it never really feels like the time to be searching up programming details for a hundred PIDs.

And even that assumes that the app will be able to establish comms with the specific ECUs in the car that have the PIDs you want to see. In gen 2 especially, where only some of the ECUs are on the CAN bus and others are on the BEAN or AVC-LAN and only can be reached by asking some other ECU with more than one network interface to relay messages back and forth, or by voltage-level signaling on Tc or Ts, that's where a lot of the apps fall short.

It's easy to supply an app with a general way of entering PID info by ECU address, PID address, bit field, and arithmetic conversion, when all the ECUs are on a nice addressable bus where that works. Where that isn't the case, it's a lot harder to supply a general way to enter essentially new programming logic for whatever comm gyrations are needed to exchange messages with the harder-to-reach ECUs.

 

True. That’s why the app is based on open modifiable profiles and not using IAP for every feature/monitor/ECU - as is much more common. Also it’s easy to get in contact with the developer which is a big plus in my book.

 

I'm interested in learning more about these open modifiable profiles. Is it possible to look at one?

The website I found is carscanner.info. I assume that's the right one? I was able to find a "profile database changelog".

I haven't (yet) found any individual profile to look at and see just how the communication with non-CAN-present ECUs would be coded.

When you say the profiles are 'open', what precisely do you mean by 'open'? Are they available somewhere for inspection and reuse under an OSI-approved license?

When you say the profiles are 'modifiable', what precisely do you mean by 'modifiable'? Who may modify them, and by what means? Editing a text file? Is there a document somewhere describing the syntax and semantics and capabilities?

As @mr_guy_mann has not commented yet, maybe it would be helpful if you could post some screenshots of the current version showing the list of ECUs it can communicate with on gen 2. The review from 3 years ago said it worked for the ECM and the HV ECU, so I assume the current version still works for those two; it would be most interesting to see which of the other ten or twelve are now covered.

 

I use Car Scanner Pro and find it convenient since the bluetooth adapter and phone are always in the car. The points are easily configured into graphs with multiple points overlayed if desired. Many "dashboard" templates are preconfigured and easily modified. Prius hybrid battery data is all there as well.

However for bidirectional control and assurance that all points are working, I go with a hardwired PC laptop Techstream scanner or a dedicated Launch scanner.

There are no standard bidirectional controls in Car Scanner, although "Custom Codings" apparently can be created and saved in the current 1.121.0 version.

New features include configuring user and "dealer" configurations such as how the light and lock timings work, etc.

Some of the basic ecm data points for the gen3 profile like engine water speed rpms are shown but don't work. Several messages to the development team provided a "it's there and works". Meanwhile the inverter pump rpm does function along with hundreds of other points from ~20 ecus.

It is likely the developer has fine tuned gen2 points more than gen3's.

One complication is the developer's attempt to cover all brands and models in one app. There has to be some that are more comprehensive than others.

With that said, Car Scanner Pro's ability to see most points and dtc's make it worth having in the car.

The newer Terminal and Custom Codes are supplemented with a long list of sensor IDs and an editor of sorts, all of which I have not tried.



Example Sensor id list


Custom Coding Editor


Version


Referenced Command PDF

 

That right there is what I'd like to see more about. The review three years ago confirmed usability with two ECUs. There's nothing in the screenshots above showing any others.

The Custom Coding Editor screenshot shows something like I expected: some blanks to fill in that will be enough whenever the necessary communication can be accomplished by putting the right stuff in that particular selection of blanks.

 

These are some of the ecus

 

Thanks!