Car Scanner frequently asked question
FAQ is categorized in 3 sections: common questions, iOS related questions and Android related questions. Please, check common and OS-related sections.
Purchase questions
Q: If I purchase Car Scanner Pro, can I install it on other device?
A: Yes, purchase is valid in one store (Apple AppStore or Google Play) for unlimited number of devices (or a limit, that is controlled by the store), if you are using the same store account. But purchase is NOT valid in another store (e.g. if you have purchased in Google Play, this purchase is valid only in Google Play and it’s not valid in Apple AppStore). To restore purchase, you need to open purchase screen in Car Scanner and tap on “Restore purchases” button.
Q: What is the difference between prices (low price, medium price, high price)?
A: There are no difference. It’s just a way for you to choose price, that you want to pay 🙂
Q: Can I buy it in some other way, other than Apple AppStore or Google Play?
A: No. Purchase can be done only in Apple AppStore or Google Play.
Q: My bank card is not accepted.
A: All purchase operations are done through outside Car Scanner – in Apple AppStore or Google Play. This stores manage all purchases operations, including accepting payments. You need to check, may be your bank card has some limitations (make a phonecall to your bank) or your Apple AppStore/Google Play account has some limitations. For iOS check Settings – General – Restrictions.
Compatibility questions
Q: Can I use it with my car?
A: Car Scanner is compatible with OBDII (EOBD) compliant cars. Most of modern cars are OBDII (EOBD) compliant.
Car Scanner also supports some cars, that are not OBDII (EOBD) compliant – Nissan cars with Nissan Consult II protocol, some old JDM Toyota cars with JOBD, Suzuki, some Chineese and Russian cars, but I can’t guarantee correct connection with this cars.
Q: I can’t find my car in connection profiles list. What should I do?
A: If you can’t find your car model, you should select connection profile with your car brand + “OBD-II”, e.g. “Renault OBD-II”
Q: I have a car with bluetooth system, but Car Scanner fails to connect.
A: You can’t use your car multimedia system bluetooth for diagnostics! You need OBDII ELM327 adapter for that!
Q: Car Scanner displays “Bad adapter”. WTF?!
A: This warning is shown when adapter doesn’t recognize commands during ECU initialization. This is just a warning! Car Scanner doesn’t limit any functions, but you should understand, that bad adapter could cause some troubles.
Other question
Q: I’m missing some kind of data, that I want to see.
A: List of supported sensors varies from car to car. It’s requested on each connection from your car ECU. So, if can’t see some kind of data, it means that your car doesn’t provide this data.
Q: I have connected to my car, but Car Scanner displays only ELM volts.
A: Some old cars (usually old Nissan, Renault, Subaru) have a very limited OBDII standard support – they doesn’t provide any live data and OBDII standard on this cars is used only for reading/clearing DTC codes. For Nissan cars you can try using Nissan Consult II to get more data.
Q: Speed displayed in Car Scanner is not correct!
A: First of all: Car Scanner doesn’t measure speed. It just displays speed, that is measured by your car ECU from speed sensor. Second, the reading displayed on your vehicle’s speedometer will usually be calculated from a wheel speed, or axle sensor. There must always legally be a margin for error here, in order for the manufacturer to ensure that the vehicle is never reading under the vehicles true speed.
This is necessary, as any slight changes to the diameter of the wheel or tyre will cause the calculation to be incorrect. For example, factors like worn tyres, less/more air in the tyres, a different brand of tyre with slightly different dimensions or more load in the car could all have an impact.
The differences in wheel/tyre diameter could be tiny (maybe a few millimetres), but at 30mph your car wheels are rotating 6-7 times every second, so it can quickly make a difference of a few miles per hour. This margin for error is taken into account in how the law is applied, and how manufacturers calibrate their car speedos.
To ensure that they comply with the law and make sure that their speedometers are never showing less than true speed under any foreseeable circumstances, car manufacturers will normally deliberately calibrate their speedos to read ‘high’ by a certain amount.
Q: Voltage displayed is incorrect!
A: Car Scanner doesn’t measure voltage, it just displays digital information, that comes from adapter. Voltage is measured by ELM327 adapter or your car ECU. Usually this question is realted to ELM voltage and most of Chineese clones do that in a wrong way. There’s nothing that I can do with it.
iOS related questions.
Q: Can’t connect to Bluetooth adapter in iPhone/iPad settings, says “Not supported”.
A: There’s no need to pair adapter in your iPhone/iPad settings. Please check iOS bluetooth connection guide.
Q: Does it support Bluetooth ELM327 adapters?
A: Car Scanner support Bluetooth 4.0 (LE) adapters. There is no way to use adapters with “classic” Bluetooth on iOS devices.
Q: No connection with Wi-Fi adapter.
A: You need to connect to Wi-Fi network, created by OBDII adapter, before using Car Scanner. Connection to Wi-Fi network is made outside the app in iOS Settings. Please, make sure that your adapter support Wi-Fi connection type and that you are connected to correct network. Usually Wi-Fi adapter network is called “OBDII”, “obd2”, “OBDII_WIFI” or something like that. Please check Wi-Fi connection guide.
Q: When I minimize the app or incomming call accepted, connection breaks.
A: Apple doesn’t allow app to run in background and contact with Wi-Fi adapter. But Car Scanner can work in background with Bluetooth 4.0 (LE) adapter, until iOS decides to kill it 🙂
Android related question
Q: Can this app work in background?
A: Yes, but you need to enable this feature in Settings – Connection – Work in background. Some Android builds requires to add Car Scanner in “white list” of apps, that are not killed by Android OS.