Piston - OBD2 Car Scanner

In-app purchases
4.2
4.95K reviews
1M+
Downloads
Content rating
Everyone
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About this app

With Piston your car’s diagnostic information is at your fingertips.

Is the Check Engine Light (MIL) on? Use Piston to turn your mobile device into a car scanner and read the Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) related to the problem as well as the Freeze Frame data. This will help you identify and fix the issue.

You will need an ELM 327 based adapter, either Bluetooth or WiFi, which you connect to the OBD2 socket in your vehicle. Piston will guide you through the connection process. You can access the instructions from the Home page after the first installation or from the Settings at any time.

With Piston you can:
• Read and clear Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) defined by the OBD2 standard
• Look into Freeze Frame data (a snapshot of the data from sensors at the time the ECU detected a malfunction)
• Access data from sensors in real-time
• Check status of Readiness Monitors (monitor emission control devices)
• Store the DTCs you read in a local history
• Login and keep the DTCs you read in the cloud
• Access the charts of the sensors readouts
• Export real-time data from sensors to a file
• Check the VIN number of your car
• Examine the ECUs details, like the OBD protocol or PIDs number

Some of the above are Premium Features and require a single in-app purchase that will unlock all of them. No subscriptions!

This application, in order to become a car scanner, requires a separate ELM327 based device, either Bluetooth or WiFi. Piston is compatible with OBD-II (known also as OBDII or OBD2) and EOBD standards.

All the vehicles sold in the USA from 1996 are required to support the OBD2 standard.
In the European Union, the EOBD was mandatory for petrol engined vehicles starting from 2001 and for diesel vehicles from 2004. For Australia and New Zealand OBD2 is required for all petrol cars made from 2006 and diesel cars made from 2007.

Important: This application can only access the data your vehicle supports and provides via the OBD2 standard.

If you have any questions or suggestions you can contact us at support@piston.app.
Updated on
Nov 17, 2023

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region, and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
This app may share these data types with third parties
Personal info, Financial info and 3 others
This app may collect these data types
Personal info, Financial info and 3 others
Data is encrypted in transit
You can request that data be deleted

Ratings and reviews

4.2
4.69K reviews
Cora Taylor
March 21, 2024
Of all OBD2 apps available on the play store, this is the one I've settled on. Take that for whatever it's worth, extra star for including a 7$ One-Time purchase for features that other apps would require a subscription for. Isn't the most feature-filled, but what's here is sold and it's a cleaner UX than most apps I've tried, which feel.. rushed.
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Sam Yahres
April 4, 2023
Connects but won't read any live data from my Elm327 Bluetooth dongle, which works fine with both Car Scanner and Torque Lite. Car is a 2013 Honda CR-V. Very disappointed. ** UPDATE ** My bad. I didn't notice the "Play/Pause" icon on the live data screen. Pressing "Play" resulted in the display of the data. My apologies to the developer. Changed rating to 4 stars for now. Will update after further testing.
1 person found this review helpful
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Stinez Pty Ltd
April 4, 2023
Hi Sam, thank you for updating the review. We hope you find our application useful. If you face any further issues, you can contact us using the form in the Settings section.
Rick Boiter
December 5, 2023
Great app, liked the cleaner interface before the 2023 update but it still works well. I'd give five stars if it displayed on Android Auto so I didn't have to grab my phone to see real-time data while driving.
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What's new

• Delete account option
• Bug fixes and improvements