There are some brilliant OBD apps out there, and a couple of them beat us at things we're not too proud to admit. Here's where we win, where they win, and who should pick which.
The four best-known rivals, and us. We've kept it to things you can actually check: and we've marked "partial" honestly rather than claiming a full tick we haven't earned.
| Feature | OBD Mechanic | Car Scanner | Torque Pro | OBD Fusion | Carly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI mechanic reading your live data | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ~guides, not live data |
| No subscription | ✓pay per diagnosis | ✓one-off unlock | ✓ | ~per-brand add-ons | ✗yearly sub. Free basic tier |
| Read & clear fault codes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Works with any standard ELM327 | ✓ | ✓ | ~classic BT only | ✓ | ~pushes own adapter |
| Bespoke, swipeable dashboard skins | ✓ | ~themeable | ~themes | ~gauge styles | ✗ |
| Deep gauge authoring & custom PIDs | ~curated | ✓ | ✓deepest | ✓ | ✗ |
| Enhanced manufacturer modules (ABS, etc.) | ~the car's own readings on 70+ models, more each release. Read-only | ✓many brands | ~DIY PIDs | ~paid per brand | ✓deepest on German cars |
| Maps, navigation & speed cameras | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ~route map, no navigation | ✗ |
| Motorway signs on your screen as you come up to them | ✓live, England and Scotland. Warnings and limits, not the nagging ones | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Low on fuel: nearby pumps with today's prices | ✓petrol and diesel, sort by nearest or cheapest | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Heads-up display (HUD) | ✓knows the road's limit | ~mirrored dash | ~mirrored dash | ✗ | ✗ |
| UK number-plate onboarding (MOT/tax) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| EV / hybrid battery diagnostics | ~battery health, cells and power on supported EVs | ✓ | ~DIY PIDs | ~some brands | ~some brands |
| Dashcam with your readings on the clip | ✓ | ✗ | ~separate plugin, last updated 2022 | ✗ | ✗ |
| Second screen (a tablet or head unit shows the dash) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ~CarPlay and Android Auto, no gauges | ✗ |
| Fuel economy learned from your fills, and cost per mile | ✓from your own pump prices | ~trip economy, not learned | ~live MPG, not learned | ~trip economy, not learned | ✗ |
| Buyer mode (checking a used car) | ✓plate, history, self-tests, mileage | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓mileage tamper check, Premium |
| Plain-English answers for common codes, free and offline | ✓what to check, can I drive it | ~code meanings only | ~code meanings only | ~code meanings only | ~repair guides, Premium |
| Find my car (where you parked) | ✓saved when the car switches off | ✗ | ✗ | ✓with walking directions | ✗ |
| Read-only by design (no coding/writes) | ✓ | ✗can code | ✓ | ~ | ✗can code |
A note on "read-only": some people want coding (registering a battery, resetting a service light). Car Scanner and Carly can do that on supported cars and we can't: that's a genuine trade, not a flaw. We chose read-only on purpose: the app can't accidentally change anything on your car.
On fuel: Car Scanner, Torque and Fusion all show live or trip economy worked out from the car's sensors. Ours learns this car's real mpg from the fills you tell it about, then turns your pump prices into a cost per mile.
If we only told you where we win, you'd rightly be suspicious. So here's the straight version: what each rival genuinely does better, and who should pick them over us.
The safe default, and for good reason: it reads enhanced modules on dozens of brands for free, has proper EV/hybrid battery diagnostics, and has years of adapter compatibility behind it. It still updates often, and now takes USB adapters too. It just works on almost anything.
The one we grew up idolising. Back around 2010, when reading your car's live data over a Bluetooth dongle felt like actual wizardry, Torque is the app that taught a whole generation what an ELM327 even was. Its custom-gauge and PID depth is still unmatched: nothing we build touches that ceiling. It had a HUD mode and a video-overlay plugin years before we did. It has also, with the deepest respect, barely changed its trousers since. That's the app we stand on the shoulders of; a little of it is in everything we made.
Reviewers call it the gold standard for dashboard customisation, and its OEM coverage is current and clean. It works with CarPlay and Android Auto, maps your route, and remembers where you parked. On iPhone it's genuinely polished: more so than us there, since we're Android-first.
If you own a BMW, Mercedes, Audi or VW, nobody goes deeper. It's beginner-friendly, nicely presented, and can do real coding and service functions we deliberately don't touch. Its used-car check reads the car itself to spot clocked mileage. Ours compares the odometer with the last MOT record.
The closest thing to us we've found. Its AI assistant, ARIA, reads your live data from a standard ELM327 and talks it through with you, by voice if you like. It's young, with 10K+ installs. But it's real, and it's moving fast.
Not to leave ourselves off our own page. Here's the honest case for OBD Mechanic:
Plug in, read your codes in plain English, and ask the mechanic. No card, no subscription.