Car Scanner ELM OBD2 vs Live Spec
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
Read full descriptionHide 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/
Live Spec
Transform your phone into a real-time car performance tracker and diagnostic tool. Monitor vital sensors, troubleshoot engine codes, and track fuel economy to save money. Features include customizable gauges, graphing, and race track data analysis.
- Real-time sensor tracking
- Read and clear trouble codes
- Fuel economy tracking
- Customizable gauges and graphs
- Race track data analysis
- Speed limit warnings
- HUD mode for night driving
Read full descriptionHide full description
Track performance of your car in real time by virtual gauges and graphs. Troubleshoot malfunctions by accessing the on board ECU. Know what is wrong with your car before taking it to the mechanic. Track fuel economy and save money on gas. These are just some of the features Live spec by Black Market Performance has to offer. Live spec transforms your phone/tablet into an all in one performance tracking and troubleshooting tool for your car. Live spec features: • Customizable gauges track up to 100 sensors in real time including fuel economy, G-force, gear display and battery voltage. • Read and Clear trouble codes and reset MIL (service engine light). • Metric and Imperial measures. • Real-time user-defined sensor plotting. Graph up to 4 sensors at the same time on interactive graph that can be scrolled, paused and selected. • Gauge list feature can track every sensor at the same time. • Freeze frame support (mode 02). • Instant horsepower, mpg/kpl fuel economy, boost pressure and G force tracking. • Read Vehicle VIN number, calibration ID and more (mode 09). • Speed limit warning: Get notified when driving over speed limit. • High oil/coolant temperature warning gives you instant notification when your car is running too hot. • HUD mode for dashboard view : Heads up display for driving at night. • Emissions test readiness. • Multiple ECU support. • Two themes to choose from. • Console mode for entering OBD commands. • landscape mode for all views. • Additional Cummins PIDs. • Extended PID support: Enhanced PID support for specific manufacturers (mode 22). • Fuel Economy: - Instant and average fuel economy tracking for 0-5 min, 0-30 min and 0-2 hr intervals and a detailed summary. - Long term tracking with six different intervals. (1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 13 weeks, 26 and 52 weeks). - 4 different units of measure: MPG,KPL (Km/L), L/100 Km, Miles per imperial gallon. - Interactive graph of long term data that can be cropped and scrolled through. - Export fuel history to CSV file (spreadsheets). - Other statistics: Distance travelled, average speed, money spent, CO2 produced and fuel consumed. - 3 methods of calculation available. For non MAF vehicles. • Race track package: - Real time lap data, gap delay time and position in race track using high frequency GPS tracking. - Comprehensive summary of race with lap times, speed fluctuations on track and more. - Get drag racing times (0-60 mph, 0-100 mph, 1/4 mile 1/8 mile etc.) - Load and save unlimited number of tracks onto device. - Crucial racing data including real time horsepower, g-force and a detailed driving summary. Share your results with friends. - Transmission gear information and optional shifting assistant which notifies optimal moment of shifting gears. - Customizable view that toggles between speed/rpm gauge, real time track positioning and G-sensor feedback. - Record your race in HD with gauge and track overlays. (dash cam add-on required) • Dashcam: Record smooth HD video with overlaying gauges (speed,rpm, etc), time, location (GPS coordinates) and G-force sensor in four different resolutions. You can record from 90 sensors and up to 5 gauges. • Sensor logger: You can record up to four sensors at the same time with 5 different refresh rates. Save graph sensor data to CSV file and export to PC/MAC for further analysis. Send real time data to TCP socket (IP Address) over network. - For fuel economy feature your vehicle must be equipped with MAF sensor. *** NOTE: A BMP Live spec OBD adapter or OBD2 Bluetooth LE adapter is required for this app to work. Support: livespectech@gmail.com Black Market Performance
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Car Scanner ELM OBD2 at 81% against Live Spec's 0%. Car Scanner ELM OBD2 also leads on price (Free vs $9.99) and rating (4.8 vs 3.9). Live Spec's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ads (none vs shown). On 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
Car Scanner ELM OBD2 is free to download; Live Spec costs $9.99 up front. Car Scanner ELM OBD2 sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 6 months. Live Spec asks for nothing beyond the download.
Car Scanner ELM OBD2 holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Car Scanner ELM OBD2 has 32K ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Car Scanner ELM OBD2's written reviews are positive against 0% of Live Spec's.
Car Scanner ELM OBD2 ships an update every 3 weeks, Live Spec monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and August 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Car Scanner ELM OBD2 | Live Spec |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $9.99 |
| Rating | 4.8 (32K ratings) — better | 3.9 (8 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 81.4% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 32K — better | 8 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 168 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Stanislav Svistunov | Alphabit Software Inc. |
Customer experience
Car Scanner ELM OBD2
Live Spec
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
Live Spec
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Car Scanner ELM OBD2
- Car Scanner Pro (6 months)$3.996 Months
- Car Scanner Pro (1 year)$4.991 Year
- Car Scanner Pro (low price)$6.99
- Car Scanner Pro (mid price)$6.99
- Car Scanner Pro (forever)$7.99
Live Spec
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Car Scanner ELM OBD2 free?
Is Live Spec free?
Which has better reviews, Car Scanner ELM OBD2 or Live Spec?
Do Car Scanner ELM OBD2 or Live Spec have ads?
Which is updated more often, Car Scanner ELM OBD2 or Live Spec?
Other comparisons















