OBD Diagnostics vs Tachwire
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
OBD Diagnostics
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OBD Diagnostics turns your iPhone into a powerful real-time vehicle data scanner, dashboard, session recorder, and AI analysis tool. Connect to supported Bluetooth OBD-II adapters, including Veepeak and compatible ELM327-style adapters, to read live vehicle data directly from your car. View key engine metrics, track driving sessions, graph sensor data, and send your recorded measurements to AI for personalized analysis based on your vehicle’s make, model, year, and engine. Whether you are troubleshooting a check engine light, monitoring engine performance, reviewing fuel trims, checking battery voltage, or learning how your vehicle behaves over time, OBD Diagnostics helps make your car’s data easier to understand. **Real-Time OBD-II Dashboard** Monitor live data from your vehicle with a clean, easy-to-read dashboard. View supported OBD-II PIDs such as: Engine RPM Vehicle speed Coolant temperature Battery voltage Engine load Short-term fuel trim Long-term fuel trim Oxygen sensor readings Fuel level Additional supported sensor values Large gauges, live value cards, and quick-access charts help you focus on the vehicle data that matters most. CarPlay support with live data. Shortcut actions to automatically connect and start as well as disconnect and stop analysis. **Interactive Graphs** Visualize your vehicle’s live data with real-time graphs. Select up to 10 dashboard PIDs and track changing values over the last 60 seconds. Great for reviewing RPM changes, coolant temperature rise, fuel trim movement, voltage behavior, speed changes, oxygen sensor activity, and engine load patterns. **Session Recording and History** Record OBD-II sessions and review them later. Each session can include duration, sample count, vehicle information, VIN when available, make, model, year, engine, battery voltage, and min/max/average stats for recorded metrics. Use session history to compare drives, spot changing patterns, and better understand intermittent vehicle issues. **AI Vehicle Analysis** Send recorded session logs to AI for a plain-language review of your vehicle data. OBD Diagnostics can analyze readings using your vehicle’s make, model, year, and engine to help explain performance trends and possible areas to watch. AI analysis can help summarize coolant temperature, RPM, speed, battery voltage, oxygen sensor readings, engine load, fuel trims, and other supported metrics. Choose from multiple AI provider options, including Apple on-device AI where available, OpenAI, Gemini, Claude, xAI, or a custom URL. AI Analysis should NOT be considered a replacement to a professional automotive expert. Please use the data as a means to provide a rudimentory analysis of your vehicle. **Demo Mode** Explore the app without an adapter using Demo Mode. Simulate vehicle data, view dashboards, test graphs, record sessions, and preview AI analysis workflows before connecting to a real car. **Built for Drivers and DIY Mechanics** OBD Diagnostics is useful for car owners, DIY mechanics, used car shoppers, fleet users, and anyone who wants better visibility into vehicle health and performance. **Key Features** Real-time OBD-II Bluetooth data Veepeak and ELM327-style adapter support Live RPM and speed gauges Custom dashboard PID selection Interactive vehicle graphs Session recording and history Vehicle info and VIN capture when available Min, max, and average metric summaries AI-powered session analysis On-device AI option where supported Custom AI provider support Demo Mode for offline testing Clean dark-mode iPhone interface OBD Diagnostics combines live OBD-II data, Bluetooth scanner support, real-time charts, session tracking, and AI-powered vehicle analysis into one simple app for understanding your car’s performance and health.
Tachwire
This app displays real-time car data like oil and gearbox temperatures, boost, and gear on your phone's screen. It provides spoken warnings for critical conditions and offers detailed insights for BMWs and other supported vehicles. It also includes road camera alerts and drive recording features.
- Live OBD data display
- Customizable tiles on car screen
- Spoken warnings for critical conditions
- Detailed BMW diagnostics
- Road camera alerts
- Drive recording and analysis
- Track lap timing
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Tachwire reads your car through a Bluetooth LE OBD adapter and shows what the dashboard keeps to itself — oil and gearbox temperatures, boost, gear, on a BMW even oil pressure — as tiles on the car's screen. When something runs critically hot, it says so out loud. Deepest on BMW, which it asks through its own engine, gearbox and hybrid units. First support for MINI, Toyota GR Supra, Audi, Volkswagen, SEAT, CUPRA, Mazda and Honda. Standard readings on any car with an OBD port. ON THE CAR'S SCREEN • Up to four screens of tiles you arrange on the phone, updated twice a second. • Blue while cold, green in range, amber when hot, red when critical; the warm-up counts down to READY. • Spoken warnings, the way navigation speaks: oil pressure dropping, something critically hot, the tank nearly empty — in all 11 of the app's languages. • A Live Activity on the Lock Screen, in the Dynamic Island and, on iOS 26, beside the map in CarPlay. WHICH CARS • BMW, the deepest support: oil temperature and pressure, gearbox temperature and gear, boost, torque and power, a plug-in hybrid's e-motor and battery, a diesel's particulate filter. G-series from 2018 and F-series, recognised from the VIN. Driven with: X5 45e, X5 40i, X6 40i, X7 40i, 530i, 530d, 540d, X5 30d, M235i, 316i; partly X3 20d, X6 40d, 640d, 330d, 220d, X5 25d. • First support: MINI (2014–2024), Toyota GR Supra, Audi, Volkswagen, SEAT, CUPRA, Mazda, Honda. The Supra and MINI are read the way a BMW is; some other models also show the gearbox. A reading counts as confirmed only once we have seen it in a real drive. • Any other car with an OBD port: revs, speed, coolant, intake, throttle, load, often oil temperature and boost. A tile stays empty rather than show a wrong number. Make by make: tachwire.app/cars. ROAD CAMERAS • Spoken alerts, and a banner on the car's screen until you pass, for speed and red-light cameras, section controls and low-emission zones in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Norway, Cyprus, Malaysia and Russia. France: danger zones and low-emission zones only, as French law allows. Silent where such alerts are banned. • An optional tone when you're over the limit at a camera. • Off until you turn it on in More → Road cameras. DRIVES AND RECORDS • Every drive on one page: route, charts of speed, power, temperatures, gearbox and air–fuel ratio, g-forces, fuel used. • Power from the torque the engine reports, minus your own car's friction learned as you drive. No estimates. • 0–60 mph or 0–100 km/h, the ¼ and ½ mile, timed from the car's speed or by a Dragy. Trends and records. TRACKS • 535 tracks in 17 countries, found by name, town or country; 66 have a start/finish line ready, or set your own. • Laps by session, with the gap to your best on the car's screen. Runs and laps only on a closed track. WHAT YOU NEED • A Bluetooth LE OBD adapter: OBDLink CX (the fastest), vLinker, UniCarScan, or an ELM327 BLE clone (slower). Classic Bluetooth and Wi-Fi adapters can't connect to an iPhone. • iOS 18.4 or later and CarPlay, wired or wireless: the app reads the car only while CarPlay is connected. Tile cards need iOS 26; earlier versions show a list. • No car nearby? Tap "No adapter yet — try the demo". READ-ONLY, PRIVATE Tachwire only reads live values: no fault codes, no coding, nothing changed in the car. No account, ads or tracking. Drives stay on the phone unless you turn sending on (encrypted, route removed; only laps on a track keep their positions). Crash reports turn off with one switch; usage data only if you agree. GPS runs only during a drive. Tachwire is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by any carmaker or Dragy. All trademarks belong to their owners.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Tachwire at none against OBD Diagnostics's 1. Tachwire also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 days vs monthly). On price 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. OBD Diagnostics sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Tachwire asks for nothing beyond the download.
OBD Diagnostics ships an update monthly, Tachwire every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | OBD Diagnostics | Tachwire |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 26.2 | 18.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 138 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | EJSmith | Maksim Pogozhii |
In-app purchases
OBD Diagnostics
- Remove Ads$1.99
Tachwire
No in-app purchases









