iOS Wi-Fi connection troubleshooting

First of all, you should understand 3 simple things:
1) Car Scanner supports all iOS versions, even the latest one. It doesn’t matter, iOS13/14/15/9000 you have. Car Scanner is always updated to support latest iOS versions. Besides, ELM327 uses simple TCP/IP connection, that is usually not affected by iOS version update.

2) ELM327 device with Wi-Fi connetion type pretends to be a Wi-Fi access point and creates Wi-Fi network, that you should connect using iOS settings. You should do this before you try to connect in Car Scanner. This network usually have name “OBDII WiFi” or “WiFi OBD2” or something like that. It’s never called like your home network (e.g. “Keenetic-1234”, “MyHOME”, etc.) or your car brand (e.g. “Ford”, “Skoda”, “Audi”, etc.).
Please, don’t be the one, who have connected to his home Wi-Fi network and asking why he can’t connect to the ELM327 device.

3) While iOS is expecting normal Wi-Fi network with Internet access, it may connect to ELM327/OBDII Wi-Fi network, check that it doesn’t provide Internet access and use “iOS magic”: show to the user that iPhone/iPad is connected to the Wi-Fi network, but doesn’t actually use this network.
This is very important! You would see Wi-Fi network checked in iOS settings, but you wouldn’t see Wi-Fi icon in the top bar. This often happens with iOS 14 and higher (yes, iOS 15 is higher than iOS 14).
In this case you should set Wi-Fi network settings manually (read point #4).

List of most common reasons of connection issues and their solutions:

1) iPhone/iPad not connected to ELM327 OBDII WiFi network.

Solution: Go to iOS Settings -> WiFi and connect to network that is called “OBDII WiFi” or something similar.

2) ELM327 part of the device is not responding.

Possible reason #1: Software bug in the device (it happens very often with cheap ELM327 clones)
Solution: Pull ELM327 out of the socket and put it back again. Go to iOS Wi-Fi settings to reconnect to the OBDII Wi-Fi network and try connection in Car Scanner.

Possible reason #2: ELM327 device is dead. Many users asks questions like “I have successfuly connected yesterday, but can’t do that today! What’s wrong with the app?!”
Unfortuantely it’s not the app issue. May cheap ELM327 clones die unexpectedly. Sometimes they work 1 year, sometime they work just 1 time. You never know. It’s just a cheap device, made with extremely low quality.
Solution: Replace ELM327. Please read my guide how to buy a good ELM327 device.

3) ELM327 device is occupied by another app or device.

ELM327 device can’t be used by several apps or devices at the same time. Even if 2 devices connected to the same OBDII Wi-Fi network could cause this issue, so one of them or even both devices would be unable to connect.
Solution: make sure that any other devices nearby are not connected to the same OBDII WiFi netowrk and force close all other OBDII apps.

4) iOS shows connected to WiFi network, but it actually doesn’t use it.

In this case you would see that network is checked in the iOS Wi-Fi settings, but you wouldn’t see Wi-Fi icon in the top of the screen.
Solution: Go to iOS Settings -> Wi-Fi -> Tap on the “i” symbol near Wi-Fi network name.

Under IPV4 section change tap on Cofigure IP:

from “Automatic” to “Manual” and put this settings:
IP Address: 192.168.0.2
Subnet mask: 192.0.0.0
Router: 192.168.0.10
After that tap “Save” and go back.

5) Wrong connection settings in Car Scanner.

Some users thinks that they should put in Car Scanner connection settings iPhone/iPad IP address, that they find under iOS Wi-Fi settings, but that’s a mistake. You should put your ELM327 device IP address. In most cases it’s 192.168.0.10 (set by default) with port 35000.
Don’t change it unless you know that your device has different IP address and port.

6) Missing Local network permission in iOS Settings.

When you’re trying to connect to the Wi-Fi ELM327 device for the very first time, iOS would ask you if want to grant Car Scanner access to Local network (discover devices, etc). You should accept this. If you disable local network access, iOS would prevent Car Scanner from connecting to ELM327.
To check if you have granted Local network permission go to iOS Settings -> Privacy -> Local network and make sure that you can see there Car Scanner and it’s enabled.
Please note that Car Scanner wouldn’t appear in iOS Settings until you have tryied to establish connection for the first time, being connected to Wi-Fi network. If you’re not connected to Wi-Fi network, message promt wouldn’t appear and Car Scanner would appear under “Local network” section.
This permission is required only for iOS 14 and higher (iOS 15, iOS 16, and don’t be and idiot, for iOS 9000 when it would be released).

Optimizing connection speed

Tips for increasing the speed of reading parameters

1. First of all, you need to understand that the number of parameters polled at the same time affects the reading speed most of all.
The more sensors are read in turn, so the more parameters the Car Scanner needs to read, the more time it takes to read each one.
For example, if reading one parameter takes 100 ms, then reading 4 parameters takes 400 ms.
Enabling “Always read and calculate fuel consumption” feature also negatively affects the speed of reading the parameters.
Therefore, if the reading speed is important for you, try to reduce the number of parameters, that are requested at the same time.

2. For cars operating under the CAN 11bit and CAN 29bit protocols, you can enable Request optimization (Settings – Adapter – Advanced settings – Optimize requests for faster data reading). Enabling this function can accelerate simultaneous reading of several parameters up to 6 times.

3. Configuring the timeout for the adapter to receive data (Settings – Adapter – Advanced settings – ELM327 send ATST command). This command determines the time interval after which the adapter considers that there will be no new data from the ECU and passes them to the program. The lower the value (for example Send 8), the faster the data exchange, but the connection to the ECU will be less stable. Too low values ​​will not allow the ECU to be connected at all. High values ​​(96 and FF) are used to improve the stability of the connection by reducing the speed.
Thus, you need to gradually reduce the value of the Send ATST command and check the stability of the connection. After changing the Send ATST command, you must reconnect to the computer! Changing a setting does not affect an already established connection.
For example, on my car – Kia Sportage SL 2014 with Viecar Bluetooth 4 adapter I get highest speed with ATST=16, but sometimes packets are lost. 100% stable connection with ATST=32. But with a crap cheap adapter I can’t get stable connection even with ATST=64.

Some cars like old Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda requires high ATST values like 96.

4. If you want to get readings, received from different control units (for example, from the engine block and from the automatic transmission unit), then this increases the polling time even more, because. before each request, Car Scanner have to spend some time reconfiguring the ELM327 adapter to work with the new control unit (engine, automatic transmission, etc.).
Therefore, in order to achieve maximum speed, it is recommended to interrogate parameters located in one control unit.

Configuring Bluetooth 4.0 (LE) connection on iPhone/iPad

First of all, make sure that you have an OBD2 ELM327 adapter that works via Bluetooth 4.0 (LE). Pay attention to the Bluetooth version! Apple iOS devices support only Bluetooth 4.0 adapters. Older Bluetooth adapters are not supported. This limitation of the operating system Apple iOS. For more information, read article about choosing propper ELM327 adapter.

You need to insert the adapter into the diagnostic socket (also known as the OBD2 connector) and turn on the ignition or start the engine. If your adapter has a power button on the case, press it.

Make sure that Bluetooth is enabled on your iPhone / iPad.

Attention! Unlike Android devices, you don’t need to setup pairing with adapter in the iPhone / iPad system settings!

Step 1: Launch the Car Scanner and go to Settings (click on the gear icon in the upper right corner).

Step 2: Select “Adapter” (in old versions – “Connection”)

Step 3: Select “Connection Type”: Bluetooth 4.0 (LE)

Step 4: Click the “Select Device” button. You will be taken to the Bluetooth LE (4.0) nearby device search window.

Step 5: Wait until your adapter is detected and click on it. If the adapter is not found within 5-10 seconds, click on the “Update” button to retry the search.

Usually the adapter is called “OBDII”, “obd2” or something like that. If this is a branded adapter, then its name can be similar to its brand (for example “Viecar”, “VLink”, etc.). Please note: adapters are never called as a car brand, “MY CAR” or something similar. And, the adapter always has a name. Devices without a name, only with the address of the form {…} are not adapters.

Attention! If after several attempts your adapter is not discovered, it means that it has an outdated (<4.0) version of Bluetooth that is not compatible with Apple iOS.

Step 6. Select your adapter in the list of detected devices and wait for the compatibility check with Car Scanner.

That’s all, connection setup is complete. Now you need to click on the big green “Connect” button on Car Scanner main screen.