Tekmetric Mobile vs Barebones Automotive
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tekmetric Mobile
Streamline automotive repair workflows with digital inspections and mobile check-in. Capture photos, videos, and notes directly from your device to document vehicle issues and track technician time. Real-time syncing ensures seamless collaboration between mobile and desktop platforms.
- Mobile Check-In with VIN/plate scanning
- Digital Vehicle Inspections (DVIs)
- Photo and video documentation
- Image markup for issue clarification
- Technician time tracking
- Real-time sync with desktop platform
- Repair Order access and job board
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Greet customers. Start repair orders. Perform inspections. All from your phone. Tekmetric Mobile is the fastest way to get work started and keep it moving — from the parking lot to the repair bay. With Mobile Check-In, service advisors can greet customers at their vehicle, scan a VIN or license plate, and instantly start or pull up a Repair Order. No running back and forth. No delays. Just faster, more personal service from the second a customer pulls in. Technicians can perform detailed Digital Vehicle Inspections (DVIs) right from their phone — complete with photos, videos, notes, and markups — without repeating steps or leaving the bay. Everything syncs in real time with the desktop platform, keeping the whole team aligned. That means fewer bottlenecks, less manual entry, and faster decisions — leading to shorter wait times, clearer communication, and more revenue across the shop. Whether you’re tracking time, documenting issues, or getting the next RO started, Tekmetric Mobile is built to match the way modern shops actually work: fast, flexible, and fully mobile. Key Features: - Mobile Check-In — scan VINs or plates to start or pull up ROs instantly - Digital Inspections — take photos, record videos, add notes and canned findings - Image Markup — show exactly what’s wrong with clear annotations - Time Tracking — clock in/out and track time from your phone - Repair Order Access — view vehicle and customer info, tech notes, and more - Job Board — find ROs by status: estimates, work in progress, or done - Real-Time Sync — mobile and desktop stay in sync automatically Say goodbye to messy clipboards, repeated measurements, and lost time. Tekmetric Mobile helps you work faster, stay consistent, and deliver a customer experience that keeps people coming back. Subscription required.
Barebones Automotive
Manage your vehicle ownership experience with this free app. Track service history, receive important alerts, and get reminders for maintenance. Earn rewards and exclusive savings for shop visits.
- Connect to service history
- Receive recalls and alerts
- View maintenance schedules
- Push message appointment reminders
- Earn rewards for shop visits
- Get coupons and savings
- Live support with chat & text
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Vehicle ownership should be more rewarding. We provide this free application so you can manage your vehicles online and fully enjoy your vehicle ownership experience. Application Highlights! - Connect to service history - Get recalls, alerts, and notices - View maintenance schedules - Get push message appointment reminders - Get birthday and signup offers - Earn rewards for visits to our shop - Get coupons and exclusive extra savings - Live support with 2-way chat & text
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Barebones Automotive at 5.0 against Tekmetric Mobile's 2.7. Barebones Automotive also leads on monetization model (ad-supported vs subscription) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.4). Tekmetric Mobile's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 5 months). On price, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Barebones Automotive holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tekmetric Mobile has 60 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Tekmetric Mobile ships an update every 5 days, Barebones Automotive every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Tekmetric Mobile | Barebones Automotive |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.7 (60 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 29.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 60 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Subscription | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 155 MB | 58 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sparkplug Studios LLC | Barebones Auto Repair, LLC. |
Customer experience
Tekmetric Mobile
Barebones Automotive
Bugs and requests
Tekmetric Mobile
Reported bugs
21 issues- Videos always fail to upload
- Videos erase if not caught in time
- Significant lag when capturing photos
- App breaks after updates
- Camera function offline after update
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- Search feature broke after update
- Always wants you to go out
- Frustrating time tracking, RO never paused
- No way to know which jobs time is running on
- Pictures or videos disappear when uploading or fail to upload
- Text input in inspection deletes itself after saving
- Won't let me log in
- Unusable on iPhone
- Slow at loading
- Terrible for efficiency bonuses
- Doesn't always update RO
- Problem logging in (password/email incorrect)
- DVI skips around
- Unable to add media after initial media
- Keyboard not opening (fixed by update)
- Login issues
Requested features
39 requests- Ability to pull up history
- Ability to look at reports (billed hours)
- More options for office staff app
- Customer phone number on work order
- Customer lookup utility
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- Edit ROs
- See prices
- See the schedule
- Look at invoices
- See service history
- See specs (oil capacity, wheel torque)
- Edit a repair order marked complete
- Admin controls (appointments, tech settings)
- Make customer concerns visible to techs
- Add new customers via app
- Start repair orders via app
- Add new cars and jobs on the go
- More features for owners/admins
- Add scheduling option
- Add customer list
- Show dollar amounts for jobs/estimates
- Face login or Apple Face Login
- See schedules
- See inventory
- See vendors
- Inventory counts, audits
- Access employee hours
- See daily numbers (closing, performance)
- See fluid types and quantities
- See technical information (torque specs)
- See vehicle specs (fluids, filters, specs, TSBs)
- Canned findings auto-populate
- Ability to interact with repair order 'Jobs'
- Ability to view repair order 'Jobs'
- Ability to change RO job status
- Work-in-progress screen
- See times on ticket
- See previous job history and inspections
- App structured similar to desktop version
Barebones Automotive
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Tekmetric Mobile
No in-app purchases
Barebones Automotive
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Tekmetric Mobile free?
Is Barebones Automotive free?
Which has better reviews, Tekmetric Mobile or Barebones Automotive?
Do Tekmetric Mobile or Barebones Automotive have ads?
Which is updated more often, Tekmetric Mobile or Barebones Automotive?
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