Comparison

Car Scanner ELM OBD2 vs Mini OBDII

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Car Scanner ELM OBD2

Monitor your car's performance, diagnose engine issues, and view sensor data in real-time. Customize your dashboard with gauges and charts, and reset fault codes. Supports a wide range of vehicles and offers advanced features for specific car brands.

Highlights
  • Real-time sensor data
  • OBD fault code reading and resetting
  • Customizable dashboard with gauges
  • Extended PID support
  • Mode 06 test results
  • Emission test readiness check
  • Acceleration measurement tool
Features
Read full description

Check what your car is doing in realtime, get OBD fault codes, car performance, sensor data and more! Car Scanner is a vehicle / car performance / trip computer / diagnostics tool and scanner that uses an OBD II Wi-Fi or Bluetooth 4.0 (Bluetooth LE) adapter to connect to your OBD2 engine management / ECU. Car Scanner gives you a bunch of unique features: 1) Layout your own dashboard with the gauges and charts you want! 2) Add custom (extended PIDs) and get information, that was hidden from you by car manufacturer! 3) It can also show and reset a DTC fault code like a scantool. Car Scanner includes a huge database of DTC codes descriptions. 4) Car Scanner allows you to read free-frames (sensors state when DTC is saved). 5) Now with Mode 06 - you can get ECU self-monitoring test results. Helps you fix your car and helps keep repair costs down! 6) Check if your car is ready for emission tests. 7) Check all of the sensors at one screen 8) Car Scanner works with any vehicle that uses the OBD 2 standard (most vehicles built after 2000, but can work for vehicles as far back as 1996, check carscanner.info for more details). 9) Car Scanner includes a lot of connection profiles, that gives you some extra features for Toyota, Mitsubishi, GM, Opel, Vauxhal, Chevrolet, Nissan, Infinity, Renault, Dacia, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat, BMW and many others. 10) Car Scanner dashboard includes a HUD mode, that you can use to project data to your windshield. 11) Car Scanner provides a tool for very accurate acceleration measurments (0-60, 0-100, etc.) 12) Car Scanner can be used as a trip computer and can show you fuel consumption statistics! 13) For cars of the VAG group (Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat), built on the MQB and PQ26 platforms, encoding functions are available - setting hidden parameters of the car. 14) And one more thing - Car Scanner provides the widest variety of features for FREE across the App Store. The app requires a Wi-Fi or or Bluetooth 4.0 (Bluetooth LE) OBD2 ELM327 compatible adapter (device) to work. ELM327 devices plugs into the diagnostics socket in the car ang gives your phone access to car diagnostics. Recommended adapters brands: Kiwi 3, Viecar, V-Gate, Carista, LELink, Veepeak. If you buy one of the cheap china OBD2 ELM327 adapters from ebay / amazon, then make sure it’s not marked as v.2.1. This adapters are supported, but they have lot’s of bugs. PLEASE NOTE: Vehicle ECUs vary in the amount of sensors supported. This app can’t show you something, that is not provided by your car. Attention "bad" adapters! We faced the problem, that some adapters (often cheep Chinese clones), can’t connect to the smartphone or the car. Some of them can even make your car engine work unstable, often lost connection, increase time lag when reading data. So, we recommend you to use genuine ELM327 or recommended adapter brands. Car Scanner ELM OBD2 is free but to unlock all the features, a one-time purchase or a subscription is required. Under no circumstances will the developer of this application be held responsible for incidents resulting from the use and/or interpretation of the data in the application. If you have any issues, you can always contact developer using Settings - Contact developer in the app or just send email to wp_soft@outlook.com Car Scanner ELM OBD2 for iOS Terms of use can be found at https://www.carscanner.info/ios-tos/

About

Mini OBDII

This app connects to your vehicle via Bluetooth or WiFi to perform diagnostics and monitor driving. It reads and clears fault codes, analyzes performance, and tracks your travel data. Supports multiple languages and high-speed data transmission.

Highlights
  • Fault code reading and clearing
  • Instrument panel monitoring
  • Performance testing
  • Travel analysis
  • High-speed data transmission
  • Multi-language support
Features
Read full description

Mini OBDII is a car diagnostic and monitoring application,support English,Español,Русский,Deutsch,Français,日本語,中文. Through iPhone and iPad, use Bluetooth/WiFi to communicate with the vehicle terminal to complete fault diagnosis and driving assistance functions. It has automobile detection and analysis functions such as fault code reading and clearing, instrument panel, performance test, and travel analysis. It also supports high-speed data transmission and has the advantages of low power consumption and ultra-power saving. caution: 1. Support the adapter that runs through WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. 2. The parameters supported by each vehicle are different, which has nothing to do with Mini OBDII, but is related to the vehicle control unit.

Screenshots

Car Scanner ELM OBD24 screens
Mini OBDII4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Car Scanner ELM OBD2 at 82% against Mini OBDII's 38%. Car Scanner ELM OBD2 also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.4) and ratings volume (32K vs 5). Mini OBDII's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Car Scanner ELM OBD2 sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 6 months. Mini OBDII asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Car Scanner ELM OBD2 holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Car Scanner ELM OBD2 has 32K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Car Scanner ELM OBD2's written reviews are positive against 38% of Mini OBDII's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and August 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Car Scanner ELM OBD2 versus Mini OBDII: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCar Scanner ELM OBD2Mini OBDII
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (32K ratings) — better3.4 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews81.5% of reviews — better37.5% of reviews
Number of ratings32K — better5
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.011 — better
Further details — not scored
Size168 MB33 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStanislav SvistunovShenzhen Chaoyue Technology Development Co.,Ltd

Customer experience

Car Scanner ELM OBD2

All ratings31,859 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral2.0%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews941 reviews
Positive81.5%
Neutral4.1%
Negative14.3%

Mini OBDII

All ratings5 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive37.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

Car Scanner ELM OBD2

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Unable to connect to certain vehicle models
  • Incorrect fuel economy calculations
  • Sensor data not updating properly in some cases

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for more vehicle profiles
  • Improve CarPlay integration
  • Allow custom dashboard templates
  • Add option to automatically save data logs
  • Expand sensor coverage, especially for transmissions and ABS

Mini OBDII

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Car Scanner ELM OBD2

Subscriptions2
  • Car Scanner Pro (6 months)$3.996 Months
  • Car Scanner Pro (1 year)$4.991 Year
One-time3
  • Car Scanner Pro (low price)$6.99
  • Car Scanner Pro (mid price)$6.99
  • Car Scanner Pro (forever)$7.99
None

Mini OBDII

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Car Scanner ELM OBD2 free?
Car Scanner ELM OBD2 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mini OBDII free?
Mini OBDII is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Car Scanner ELM OBD2 or Mini OBDII?
Car Scanner ELM OBD2 is rated higher. Car Scanner ELM OBD2 averages 4.8 out of 5 from 32K ratings, while Mini OBDII averages 3.4 from 5 ratings.
Do Car Scanner ELM OBD2 or Mini OBDII have ads?
Car Scanner ELM OBD2 shows ads; Mini OBDII does not.
Which is updated more often, Car Scanner ELM OBD2 or Mini OBDII?
Car Scanner ELM OBD2 ships an update every 3 weeks, and Mini OBDII every 3 weeks. Most recently, Car Scanner ELM OBD2 was updated on September 24, 2026 and Mini OBDII on August 26, 2026.

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