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Thread: Most current list of OBD-II Interface devices

  1. #1
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    Most current list of OBD-II Interface devices

    It appears that the last update on the OBD-II devices section of the TrackAddict reference page is about 2 years old. Some models even discontinued, or a newer model in it's place, but not verified with the TrackAddict app. Is there a fresh list, or anyone feel like chiming in about a recent purchase (and success) with the OBD-II devices? Looking for iOS compatible. Thanks in advance,

    G

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    HPT Employee Weston@HPTuners's Avatar
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    The list is up to date, however not much has changed...

    The most reliable OBD option for iOS I've seen is the PLX Kiwi 3, which is noted as our recommendation for iOS. The Kiwi 4 doesn't seem to work, according to user reports, but the 3 is still available and less expensive. The Carista and Veepeak devices cost less and have worked quite well in my experience, but I have had a small number of user reports of issues in the past. All three of these devices use Bluetooth 4 Low Energy and don't require any pairing... Just set TrackAddict's OBD mode to "BLE" and it should find it and connect.

    On Android, apps are far less restricted in what devices they're allowed to communicate with, so most any proper 100% ELM327 compatible Bluetooth device will work. The super inexpensive Chinese "ELM327" clones are a frequent problem source for us and other apps, so those can be a gamble. For a brand name device, I steer people towards the OBDLink LX or MX. Please note that the MX+ is compatible with the Android version of TrackAddict, but we do not have support for it on iOS. If you're looking to do tuning with HP Tuners, our MPVI2 is of course very well supported too, and we're presently working on adding some industry-leading data acquisition features there.

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    Kiwi 4 does not interface with Track Addict software

    I purchased a Kiwi 4 and it does not interface with Track Addict
    Does HPTuners plan on allowing it to interface in the future?

    Quote Originally Posted by Weston@HPTuners View Post
    The list is up to date, however not much has changed...

    The most reliable OBD option for iOS I've seen is the PLX Kiwi 3, which is noted as our recommendation for iOS. The Kiwi 4 doesn't seem to work, according to user reports, but the 3 is still available and less expensive. The Carista and Veepeak devices cost less and have worked quite well in my experience, but I have had a small number of user reports of issues in the past. All three of these devices use Bluetooth 4 Low Energy and don't require any pairing... Just set TrackAddict's OBD mode to "BLE" and it should find it and connect.

    On Android, apps are far less restricted in what devices they're allowed to communicate with, so most any proper 100% ELM327 compatible Bluetooth device will work. The super inexpensive Chinese "ELM327" clones are a frequent problem source for us and other apps, so those can be a gamble. For a brand name device, I steer people towards the OBDLink LX or MX. Please note that the MX+ is compatible with the Android version of TrackAddict, but we do not have support for it on iOS. If you're looking to do tuning with HP Tuners, our MPVI2 is of course very well supported too, and we're presently working on adding some industry-leading data acquisition features there.

  4. #4
    HPT Employee Weston@HPTuners's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pedidoc22 View Post
    I purchased a Kiwi 4 and it does not interface with Track Addict
    Does HPTuners plan on allowing it to interface in the future?
    There is no plan at this time. It's unfortunately not a simple matter of us choosing which devices we allow the app to connect with, but rather us having to develop custom support for each specific device. As you might imagine, it quickly becomes impractical to try to support everything that's on the market when nearly everything requires one-off development work, and typically we'd need to obtain and test each device as well.

    Classic Bluetooth on Android has enabled us to simply support certain widely used standards, and then everything that properly conforms to it works easily, but that was never possible on iOS due to Apple's Bluetooth restrictions. Bluetooth 4/5 (aka BLE) is not restricted, but it also has some drawbacks, the biggest of which is that it does not have simple serial communications... there is a way to do it, but we need to know the specific UUID's and/or device names for everything ahead of time, and not all of them function in quite the same way either.

    So, if the necessary technical info on the Kiwi 4 is published, and it only requires a minor change to our existing Kiwi 3 or other BLE device support, then I'd be happy to add it. I think it's mutually beneficial for all involved. But so far I've not seen PLX openly publish any developer technical info on the Kiwi 4, and I can't justify signing any NDAs for the sake of supporting someone else's product. The Kiwi 3 was much the same situation, except that it was the first viable BLE option for iOS users, so it was worth the time investment to figure it out on my own... Turns out the BT chip manufacturer openly published the info I needed there.

    When hardware manufacturers openly publish the technical information that's needed to support their products, they're far more likely to get support from us, just like with most any app developer. But even still, it takes our time and resources, so we do have to prioritize.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Weston@HPTuners View Post
    There is no plan at this time. It's unfortunately not a simple matter of us choosing which devices we allow the app to connect with, but rather us having to develop custom support for each specific device. As you might imagine, it quickly becomes impractical to try to support everything that's on the market when nearly everything requires one-off development work, and typically we'd need to obtain and test each device as well.

    Classic Bluetooth on Android has enabled us to simply support certain widely used standards, and then everything that properly conforms to it works easily, but that was never possible on iOS due to Apple's Bluetooth restrictions. Bluetooth 4/5 (aka BLE) is not restricted, but it also has some drawbacks, the biggest of which is that it does not have simple serial communications... there is a way to do it, but we need to know the specific UUID's and/or device names for everything ahead of time, and not all of them function in quite the same way either.

    So, if the necessary technical info on the Kiwi 4 is published, and it only requires a minor change to our existing Kiwi 3 or other BLE device support, then I'd be happy to add it. I think it's mutually beneficial for all involved. But so far I've not seen PLX openly publish any developer technical info on the Kiwi 4, and I can't justify signing any NDAs for the sake of supporting someone else's product. The Kiwi 3 was much the same situation, except that it was the first viable BLE option for iOS users, so it was worth the time investment to figure it out on my own... Turns out the BT chip manufacturer openly published the info I needed there.

    When hardware manufacturers openly publish the technical information that's needed to support their products, they're far more likely to get support from us, just like with most any app developer. But even still, it takes our time and resources, so we do have to prioritize.
    I was looking into the kiwi 4 since i saw a old document showing the 3 was your bets rated for iphone. Whats the latest go to for iphone connection? car is a 18 MB c63s, it has g force and all that good stuff stock. id like to have that info available.