Torque Pro (OBD 2 & Car) Review

Smart vehicles are nowadays giving drivers more power to see and control what their cars are doing, with the ability to optimize performance on such aspects as fuel consumption, traffic routes and error detection in the engine. The Torque Pro Google Android app is one of the best OBDs (On-Board Diagnostics), affording some of the most comprehensive tools to link with your engine’s ECU.

Interface

I’ve used OBDs before, but the design for Torque Pro app is excellent. The UI is fluid and well-thought out, making use of nice displays and colorful dashboards that are almost realistic. Some of the text, especially on the Fault Log Manager, is quite small. If you change your view to landscape mode, you’ll be able to enjoy the experience. The OBD color codes provided are especially useful. You can also customize your dashboards. Movement through the interface is seamless, and though not entirely intuitive for first-time users, you’ll quickly get used to it. My mark is 5 out of 5.

Features

The features get a solid 5. The Android app connects to your vehicle’s ECU through a Bluetooth dongle for OBD2. 

On the Home Screen, you will see the central dashboard with options such as Real-time Info, Graphing, Test Results, Map View, Adapter Status, Fault Codes and Help. On the top-left corner of the same display window, you can access blue icons for GPS, Connection status to the OBD device and Connection Status to the vehicle ECU.

Set up units from the settings tab and tick your preferences. Adjust settings for Torque which subsequently affects calculations for Fuel costs, remaining fuel and Horsepower. From the main display, you can also set up your vehicle profile, making adjustments on the drop-down lists provided. 

You can clear the fault codes and run diagnostics. Through the GPS tracker log, you can see what your car was doing or where you were when a fault occurred. Useful additions include CO2 emissions reader, a GPS speedometer, HUD mode if you drive at night, voice alarms, the Dynamometer and a whole host of other features that I don’t know how to use yet.

This app is the most comprehensive OBD that I’ve ever used. Updates have been added for themes, maps, and a new widget. The app isn’t free, and the pro-version will cost you $3.99 which is quite a bargain.

Performance & User Experience

I experienced zero bugs with this app although some users have complained about disconnection from Bluetooth. Other users have stated that fuel readings are off on occasion, but I personally didn’t experience this. The biggest problem with the app would probably be how much battery power it consumes if you’re running full OBD - 4.5/5.

Device Compatibility

This is an app for all Android devices, requiring a minimum Android 2.0. The latest version offers added J1939 protocol compatibility. Unfortunately, this app is only available for Android mobile and not iOS - 4/5.