Torque Pro App 2026: Which Phones and Adapters Work, What It Reads, and What It Cannot Do

Torque's developer answers most questions about it in a Google Play listing, a wiki and a changelog, and adapter makers answer the rest; we read them all. For the whole shelf of apps rather than one, the diagnostic app comparison maps the category; for a ranked list of hardware, see which OBD2 scanner to buy.

The answer in 60 seconds: who Torque Pro suits, and who should skip it

Each row below is a reader. Prices and dates were read on 30 September 2026.

The short version: Torque Pro is a cheap, long-lived Android tool for watching what an engine computer reports — not an iPhone app, not a dealer scan tool, and last updated on the store in February 2025. If that suits you, $4.95 is a small bet, and Google Play's refund policy says you may be able to get a refund within 48 hours.

How we checked, and what we could not read

Everything below was read on 30 September 2026 and saved as text before a sentence was written:

• the Google Play listings of Torque Pro and Torque Lite, including each "About this app" panel (version, Android requirement, release date), opened in a browser on the US store;
• the Google Play listings of the plugins we mention — Advanced EX for Toyota, Hyundai, Kia and Nissan, TorqueScan, Track Recorder and Widgets for Torque;
• the developer's home page, wiki (the thirteen pages we read, from vehicle requirements to scripting) and the developer's changelog thread;
• adapter makers' own pages: OBDLink's compatible apps and MX+ apps pages and its MX+, LX and CX product pages; Veepeak's OBDCheck BLE page, its Torque setup instructions and the OBDCheck BLE+ manual; Vgate's vLinker FD and vLinker MC pages;
• Apple's own App Store search, through Apple's public search interface, for "torque pro", "torque obd", the developer's name and the company's name;
• Google's refund policy for apps;
• the rules: the California Air Resources Board's OBD II fact sheet and 40 CFR 85.2222 on inspection readiness.

What we could not read. A changelog address we tried first, torque-bhp.com/community/main-forum/torque-changelog/, returned "404 - Page not found"; the working thread is the one linked above. The developer's online web viewer shows only a login screen. Google Play's "Compatibility for your active devices" panel needs a signed-in account, and we did not sign in. We ran no bench test and bought nothing for this page; this is a reading of published documents, not a test drive.

How the marks work

Two levels, no third. 🟢 Published means the fact is printed on a page we opened ourselves — a price, a version, a sentence from a listing, a line from a compatibility table — and its address is in the Sources block. ⚪ Reported means a store rating, a download count or a user review: the store's or a reviewer's figure, shown as they show it. A ⚪ is a label about where a number comes from, not a verdict on whether it is true. There is no level for "we think."

What Torque Pro is, in its developer's own words

Torque Pro is listed on Google Play as "Torque Pro (OBD 2 & Car)", offered by Ian Hawkins; the developer panel on the listing names the company IAN J HAWKINS LTD, in the United Kingdom. The "About this app" panel says it was released on Mar 7, 2010, and the current version is 1.12.108, updated on Feb 3, 2025. The price on the US store on 30 September 2026 was $4.95, a one-time purchase with a "Buy" button.

The listing opens with its own summary: "See what your car is doing in realtime, get OBD fault codes, car performance, sensor data and more!" It then describes the app as "a vehicle / car performance / diagnostics tool and scanner that uses an OBD II Bluetooth adapter to connect to your OBD2 engine management / ECU". On fault codes it says: "It can also show and reset a DTC / CEL / fault code like a scantool."

The developer's home page puts the same product in five lines: live OBD data on an Android phone, fully customisable dashboards, "Retrieve Fault Codes (DTCs) and clear Check Engine lights - View fault descriptions using the built-in databases", live upload of OBD2 data to a web server, and performance widgets for "BHP / Torque / 0-60 & Quarter Mile".

One line from the listing sets expectations for everything after it: "Vehicle ECUs vary in the amount of sensors supported". Torque shows what the car's computer reports. A car that reports few sensors gives you few; one that reports many gives you many. The app cannot add a sensor the car does not have, and the listing is honest about that.

Will it run on my phone? Android only, and what the App Store shows instead

On the developer's side, three pages agree. The wiki's main page says "Torque is an OBD2 performance and diagnostic tool for any device that runs the Android operating system." The wiki's plugins page adds: "Torque is only distributed on Google Play and updates are always free!" The home page speaks of live OBD engine data "on your Android phone". Nothing on any page we read from the developer mentions an iPhone, an iPad or the App Store.

An adapter maker says it outright. Veepeak's OBDCheck BLE+ manual lists recommended apps, and its line for Torque reads: "Torque Lite/ Pro (OBD 2 & Car): Android only, NO iOS version; Pro version is paid." Veepeak's product page marks Torque as Android in a list where most other apps are marked "iOS | Android", and OBDLink's MX+ apps page does the same, showing Torque with Android alone.

Then we checked Apple's side, because a missing app needs its own evidence. Apple's App Store search for "torque pro" on the US store returned 46 results; none was published by Ian Hawkins or by IAN J HAWKINS LTD. A search by the developer's name returned one app, a game, and a search by the company name returned no app from that company. What the search did return is several apps from other developers with "Torque" in their names. We did not test any of them; they are different products from different companies, and each should be judged on its own listing. Veepeak's product page is blunter, telling its buyers to "Avoid those Apps that have a confusing name imitating Torque or Car Scanner, and may ask for subscription"; that is Veepeak's statement, as read on 30 September 2026, not ours. The point is narrower: an iPhone owner who searches for the Android app a friend recommended will not find it, and may find something with a very similar name.

What does work on an iPhone, then? The honest answer is whatever your adapter maker lists for iOS — and the adapter has to support iOS too. OBDLink's compatible-apps page says "only OBDLink MX+ and CX currently support iOS" among its adapters, and lists iOS versions of apps such as Car Scanner ELM OBD2, OBD Fusion, OBD Auto Doctor and DashCommand for the MX+. Veepeak lists Car Scanner ELM OBD2 and OBD Fusion for both platforms. We name them only because the adapter makers name them; we did not compare them here. For that comparison, the diagnostic app guide covers the shelf.

On the Android side, the floor is low: the "About this app" panel reads "Requires Android" and then "4.1 and up". The changelog explains the range. The changelog says device support was raised to "include Android 4.1 to Android 12+", and another release removed "legacy device workarounds for OS bugs(devices before Android 4.2)". The changelog also records repeated Bluetooth workarounds for particular phone brands. If your phone is unusual — a car head unit running Android, an old tablet — the changelog shows that the developer has met those devices before; Veepeak's page adds that "Android car radios/head units may not be compatible" with its adapter. The free Lite is the cheap way to test yours.

Will it work with my adapter? What the developer and three adapter makers say

Torque needs an adapter between the car and the phone. The Play listing says it "uses an OBD II Bluetooth adapter", and the Lite listing calls it a tool that "uses a cheap bluetooth ELM / OBD adapter". In practice that mostly means an adapter speaking the ELM327 command set — the common language most consumer OBD2 dongles speak — over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or (in Pro) USB.

The developer's wiki lists adapters Torque "has been tested with" on its page "Bluetooth Adapters", last modified on 11 February 2022. Its opening note is the most useful sentence on the subject: "All the adapters offer the same access to all the available OBD2 sensors in the vehicle. The adapters do not determine what sensors are or are not available, they are all the same in this respect". For Torque's standard sensors, in other words, a cheap adapter and an expensive one see the same data; what differs is speed, build quality and reliability.

On speed, the same page is direct. "The fastest Bluetooth adapter(Non-BLE) is the OBDLink series of adapters and for the fastest update rate any USB adapter is best (with the OBDLink USB again being the fastest)." And on the newer low-energy adapters: "'BLE' bluetooth adapters are not fast - these are different than the normal bluetooth OBD2 adapter. Do not expect fast updates from any BLE adapter on things like CANBUS vehicles as they are not suited for OBD and you will be disappointed." The changelog repeats the advice in a release note: "BLE is not well suited for OBD2 - try to avoid these types of adapter".

Adapter makers publish their side of the same question:

Two details in those pages matter more than the logos. First, OBDLink's list includes the CX, and OBDLink's own CX page describes it as "Bluetooth 5.1 BLE"; the LX and MX+ pages say "Class 2 Bluetooth v3.0". So OBDLink says the CX works with Torque, and Torque's developer says BLE adapters are slow on CAN cars. Both statements can be true at once: it connects, and gauges may refresh more slowly than on a classic-Bluetooth adapter; we measured no adapter, and the wiki page dates from February 2022. If fast refresh matters, weigh that before choosing.

Second, some adapters speak networks beyond standard OBD-II. OBDLink says the MX+ "supports all legislated OBD-II protocols, plus advanced Ford & GM vehicle networks (MS-CAN and SW-CAN)", and Vgate's vLinker MC page says it "can access these proprietary GM & Ford networks in addition to the 5 standard OBD-II protocols". Those networks matter to apps built to use them — Vgate's page, for instance, says the vLinker FD is "Recommended by FORScan for Android". We found nothing from Torque's developer saying Torque uses those extra networks, so do not pay for them on Torque's account. PulsCar's app works with the OBDLink MX+, so we have a commercial interest in it. For Torque, OBDLink lists its cheaper LX on the same line as the MX+, and the developer says all adapters see the same sensors; our MX+ review covers the adapter itself.

The wiki gives a reason for each "not supported" row. The Garmin EcoRoute is "Non ELM327 compatible" and "proved to be too slow to be of any use"; the GoPoint BT1 "Uses their own closed protocol"; the Actron U-Scan is "Not interoperable with other industry standard ELM327 OBD software". The pattern we draw from two of those rows: an adapter with its own closed protocol is the kind the wiki marks unsupported. If your adapter came bundled with an app and its maker's pages do not mention Torque, do not assume it will work — ask the maker, or test with the free Lite.

On cheap clones, the Play listing gives advice in the developer's own voice: "If you buy one of the cheap china OBD2 ELM327 bluetooth adapters from ebay / amazon, then make sure you have a good returns policy with the seller". The wiki adds that some such units "seem to suffer poor build quality and reliability issues. Other units are perfectly fine." and warns about units sharing the Bluetooth address 11:22:33:DD:EE:FF, which "will not work with other adapters nearby with the same address". The changelog shows repeated workarounds for them — "Workaround another protocol negotiation issue in older clone adapters", "Workarounds for vehicles using ISO9141 and bad clone adapters". None of this means a cheap adapter will fail. It means that when Torque misbehaves with one, the adapter is the first suspect, and the wiki says so: if displays randomly pause, "then it is most likely an adapter issue."

Wi-Fi and USB are covered too. The wiki lists a Vgate Wi-Fi adapter as working in "infrastructure mode, not ad-hoc". USB needs the paid version: the Lite listing says "The pro version supports USB ELM adapters which are use 'Prolific' or 'FTDI' chips", and the wiki adds that USB requires a device that "supports USB host mode".

Will it work with my car? OBD-II, model years, and two developer pages that disagree

Torque reads a car through its OBD-II system, so the first question is whether the car has one. The California Air Resources Board's fact sheet gives the rule: "All 1996 and newer model year gasoline and alternate fuel passenger cars and trucks are required to have OBD II systems. All 1997 and newer model year diesel fueled passenger cars and trucks are also required to meet the OBD II requirements." It adds that the federal EPA requires all 1996 and newer passenger cars and trucks sold in any state to meet its OBD requirements, and that "virtually all vehicles sold in the U.S. are designed and certified to meet California's OBD II requirements".

The developer's own pages give two different rules of thumb. The Play listing says Torque "Works on any vehicle that uses the OBD 2 standard (most vehicles built after 2000, but can work for vehicles as far back as 1996)". The wiki's Vehicle Requirements page says "most Petrol vehicles built after 1996 support OBD2 and most Diesels after 2004", and its Getting Started page repeats "Diesels from 2004 onwards". For a car sold in the United States, use the regulators' dates instead: 1996, and 1997 for diesels in California.

The simplest check is printed on the car. CARB says to "look for the words "OBD II" on the emission control information label attached to the underside of the vehicle hood", and the Play listing gives the same advice in its own words. The wiki adds a warning worth taking seriously: "just having the correct shaped connector does not automatically mean your vehicle is OBD2 compliant".

The listing names makes Torque works on — Ford, VW, GM, Chrysler, Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Subaru and more — and then adds the necessary qualifier: "Some vehicle ECUs may support more/less features than others". The Lite listing is more specific about its own weak spots: it "may contain some small bugs including not working on some nissan/chrysler/subaru ECUs", and "The paid version has support for more vehicles and ECU types".

Hybrids and electric cars are a thinner area. The wiki's dials page, last modified in 2011, lists "EHV sensors" that "Supports most prius extended PIDs", and the plugins page lists a Nissan "EcoDrive" plugin. The changelog records electric-car additions in version 1.10.190 (24-Dec-2021): "Add EV Battery remaining charge PID (most of these will only be supported by recent vehicles)", EV battery voltage, current and power, and "Add EV/Hybrid battery State of Health PID". We found no page saying which electric models report them, so if yours is electric, check with your adapter maker before buying anything for Torque.

Setting it up: pairing and the first connection, step by step

The wiki's Getting Started page and Veepeak's Torque instructions describe the same sequence. The wiki says setup "can be done without the engine running on your vehicle, just the ignition turned to 'on'/'accessory'", and adds a line worth keeping: "Always make sure you are not putting yourself at risk when working on a vehicle." Veepeak's manual simply says "Turn on car ignition." If you do run the engine, do it outdoors, not in a closed garage.

1. Find the socket. The wiki lists the common places — under the driver's side dashboard, behind a flap near the steering wheel, and on some cars in the centre tunnel or glovebox. Veepeak says it is "typically located under the dashboard near the driver's seat".
2. Plug in the adapter. The wiki says some lights on it should come on; Veepeak says its unit shows "a blue power indicator".
3. Pair it. Classic Bluetooth adapters pair in the phone's Bluetooth settings: the wiki gives "Some common pairing codes here are '0000' or '1234'", and OBDLink's LX and MX+ pages say their 'Connect' button "requires physical access to enable Bluetooth pairing", so press it first. For BLE adapters, Veepeak's product page says Torque users "can skip the pairing", and its manual says if the adapter is missing from Torque's list, "click BLE Scan and select it."
4. Point Torque at it. In the app's settings, open "OBD2 Bluetooth Settings", set "Connection Type" to Bluetooth, and use "Choose Bluetooth Device" to select the adapter. Veepeak's page names the same three settings.
5. Confirm the connection. The wiki says that when Torque is properly connected, "all the flashing icons at the top right of the main screen should turn blue and stay solid." Both sources suggest quitting and reopening the app to speed up the first connection.

If the icons never go solid, the wiki's "Further Help" paragraph lists the usual causes in order: the car is not OBD2 compliant, or a clone adapter has a bug.

What it shows: live data, dashboards, logging and performance

This is the part the listing leads with. The listing says "Layout your own dashboard with the widgets / gauges you want!", and the feature list that follows is long. We group it by what an owner would use it for, quoting the listing's own words.

The wiki's plugin documentation shows where those numbers come from. Its sensor table starts with the standard OBD-II parameters — fuel system status, engine load, coolant temperature, short and long term fuel trims for both banks, fuel pressure, intake manifold pressure, RPM, vehicle speed, timing advance, intake air temperature, mass air flow and throttle position — and notes that these "are as per MODE $01 SAE spec". Then come "Torque internal PIDs": values Torque provides itself rather than from the standard list, such as GPS position, MPG, turbo boost, the accelerometer axes, horsepower, torque, 0-60 mph and quarter-mile times, CO2 in grams per kilometre, and fuel cost for a trip.

That split is the key to reading Torque's numbers honestly. Coolant temperature and RPM are the car's own figures. The wiki calls the horsepower display "Calculated Horsepower" and the 0-60 display a "Performance counter"; it does not say how either is derived. We did not test their accuracy, so treat them as figures for comparing runs on your own car until you have checked them against a known result. The throttle reading carries its own caution in the wiki: "this is not the accelerator pedal, and this is a relative reading." The dials page says the same about the display: "ECU commanded throttle position (not user commanded)".

The wiki's speedometer page says factory speedometers "in practically all vehicles are set to over-read by a small amount", and suggests a passenger compare the OBD speed widget with the cluster "whilst the vehicle is being safely driven at a constant speed". That is the right rule for everything on this page: set up dashboards while parked, and let a passenger read the phone on a test drive.

Fault codes: reading and clearing, and what clearing costs before an inspection

Fault codes come second in the listing's own summary, after live data. The listing says it can "show and reset a DTC / CEL / fault code like a scantool", and mentions a "Massive fault code database for lookup of fault codes from different manufacturers". The home page describes "View fault descriptions using the built-in databases". The listing does not say how many codes that database holds or which makes it covers, so we do not quote a number. The changelog also mentions "Freeze Frame viewing" and a "Test results screen", which the listings do not describe.

Reading a code is harmless, but the light itself can be urgent: California's fact sheet says a blinking check engine light means a malfunction "that could be damaging your catalytic converter", and that many makers recommend service "as soon as possible if the warning light is blinking". Clearing a code has consequences that neither Torque listing mentions, and the regulator explains them best. The federal OBD rule, in its evaporative leak-check record, gives "a scan tool command or battery disconnect" as examples of how the computer's memory is cleared; California explains what follows for the self-tests, called readiness monitors. Its fact sheet says "If too many readiness indicators are "incomplete," the vehicle will fail the inspection because it means that the vehicle has not been operated enough since the on-board memory was last cleared", and advises owners who fail for that reason to "drive their vehicle as they normally do for about a week or so".

The federal inspection test procedure sets a tolerance that programs may use. Under 40 CFR 85.2222, a program may pass "MY 1996 to MY 2000 vehicles, inclusive, with two or fewer unset readiness monitors, and for MY 2001 and newer vehicles with no more than one unset readiness monitor" — and a car with an unset monitor and a stored code that lights the check engine light must fail. Your state's own program sets the limit it applies. The details of that trap, and how long the monitors take, are covered in what the check engine light means and what to do and what an inspection costs and how the readiness check works; for a buyer checking a used car for freshly cleared codes, the used-car checklist is built around it.

The practical rule for Torque users is three steps long. Read the code and write it down, with any freeze-frame data Torque shows. Fix the cause, or at least decide what it is. Clear it only when you are ready to drive the car for a week before any inspection. And if the light comes back after clearing, the car is telling you the fault is still there; clearing is a reset, not a repair. One reviewer on the Pro listing, dated June 26, 2026, wrote that they find it "mostly only useful for fuel trims and clearing codes" and that they "can see when the computer finishes checks after battery reset". That is one person's experience, marked ⚪, and we could not find a page from the developer describing a readiness screen, so treat readiness support as something to confirm in the free Lite on your own car.

If your check engine light is on right now, the free alternative to an adapter is a parts-store code read; what a free AutoZone scan gives you, and what it does not covers that route.

Torque Lite vs Torque Pro: what the $4.95 buys

Torque Lite is the same developer's free edition, listed as "Torque Lite (OBD2 & Car)". Its Google Play page, read on 30 September 2026, shows "Contains ads", 10M+ downloads, a rating of 3.7 from 50.6K reviews, a release date of Mar 25, 2010, and a last update on Jan 13, 2018. Its own description says what it is for: "This is the free/basic version - it lets you get a feel for the application and lets you find out if it works with your vehicle / obd2 adapter combination".

That sentence is the best buying advice on either listing. The Lite version shows and resets fault codes, exports logs, and gives you customisable dashboards, so an owner who only wants to read a check engine light may never need Pro. And an owner who does want Pro can use Lite first to confirm that their phone, adapter and car talk to each other, before paying anything. Lite is an older build that its own listing says may not work on some Nissan, Chrysler or Subaru ECUs, and one Lite review dated January 18, 2023 ⚪ reports it no longer connecting at all, so if Lite will not connect, Pro may still work: buy it, test it the same day, and ask Google for a refund within 48 hours if it fails too.

The Lite listing spells out what the paid version adds in several places; we gathered them into rows (the last row also draws on the wiki and the plugin listings):

Two cautions keep that table honest. First, it is the Lite listing's description of Pro, not a feature matrix published for the current Pro version, and the Lite listing itself has not been updated since 2018. Second, "better ABS / Knock sensor support" is the only sentence on either listing that mentions the anti-lock brakes, and it does not say which makes, which data, or whether it means reading ABS fault codes. We do not read more into it than it says. The scripting row comes from the wiki, which says "Scripts were introduced in version 1.12.32(30-Jan-2022)" — four years after Lite's last update.

On price, $4.95 is the price of the app itself, shown as a single "Buy". Plugins are separate apps with their own prices, covered in the next section. If you buy Pro and it does not work with your car, Google's refund policy for apps says "Within 48 hours: You may be able to get a refund depending on the details of the purchase." After that, it says to "Contact the developer", and adds a limit worth knowing before you test: "You can only return an app or game for a refund once. If you buy it again, you can't get a refund." The support address on the Pro listing is the developer's own.

Which to choose? If Lite connects and you only want codes, stay with Lite. If you want graphs and maps, performance timing, diesel economy, a USB adapter or plugins, Pro is the version whose store page was updated most recently — February 2025, against January 2018 for Lite.

Plugins, extended PIDs and scripts: how far past generic OBD-II it goes

Generic OBD-II data follows the standard's mode 01 list — the wiki's PID table marks those rows "as per MODE $01 SAE spec" — and each car reports its own subset. Makers also define many more parameters in their own formats, often called extended or manufacturer PIDs (a PID is one numbered data item the car can report). Torque reaches some of those in the ways below.

Extended PIDs you add yourself. The wiki's dials page, last edited in 2011, lists an "Other extended PIDs" display that "Supports all extended PIDs, provided you have the information to enter into the app". The plugin documentation says extended PIDs appear in the app's PID editor, and the changelog records a workaround for problematic adapters and "mode 21/22 PIDs". Veepeak's product page adds that Torque Pro's "add predefined set" option shows "a list of supported vehicle manufacturers"; outside those sets, you need the formula yourself. The changelog also records a "CAN monitor" mode with DBC file imports.

Plugins from the developer and others. The wiki's plugins page lists 21 plugins, plus two other apps that use Torque data. We looked at the make-specific "Advanced EX" plugins, which the wiki lists for Toyota, Mitsubishi, Renault, Infiniti, Nissan, Kia, Fiat and Hyundai. The four we opened on 30 September 2026 are published on Google Play by a different developer, Dare Apps:

What they add is stated precisely. The Hyundai listing says the plugin extends "the PID/Sensor list with more than 10 specific parameters from HYUNDAI vehicles", including automatic transmission oil temperature, current gear, torque converter lockup, knock retard and turbo boost pressure, and adds that sensors marked with an asterisk "are not available on all cars". It then says "the plugin was tested only on the following models/engines" and lists them — Accent, Elantra, Genesis Coupe, Santa Fe, Sonata and others. The Toyota listing lists tested Avensis, Corolla, Camry, Highlander, RAV4, Verso and Yaris engines, and says the plugin "is NOT a standalone application and will NOT work without Torque Pro."

Read those listings as a sensor pack, not a scan tool: they add live readings, and none of the four says it reads additional fault codes. If your model and engine are on the tested list and you want transmission temperature on a dashboard, $5.99 may be a good buy; if they are not, the listing says other models "may be supported" but were not tested.

The developer's own plugins are cheaper. On Google Play on 30 September 2026, TorqueScan is free, rated 4.0 from 8.02K reviews, and described by the wiki as useful "to find where extended PIDs are located in an ECU"; Track Recorder is free, 3.3 from 2.91K reviews, and records video with OBD data; Widgets for Torque costs $2.39, 3.0 from 446 reviews, and puts Torque dials on the phone's home screen.

Scripts and your own hardware. The scripting page says "Scripts were introduced in version 1.12.32(30-Jan-2022)", that "All scripts are sandboxed", and that CoreScripts can "provide sensors, interact with the user and even talk over OBD". The Arduino page describes "a special protocol in Torque that lets you connect to devices such as the Arduino, Raspberry pi" to feed the app your own sensors. Most owners will not need this side of Torque.

What Torque Pro cannot do

This list is built from what the developer's pages say and do not say. On the Pro and Lite listings, the home page, thirteen wiki pages and the changelog thread, all read on 30 September 2026, we searched for each of these and found nothing beyond what each row notes:

"Not described" is not the same as "cannot", and we keep the difference on purpose. A remote plugin for Nissan on the wiki's list says it can "turn on the head lights, sound the horn and lock/unlock doors", so Torque's plugin system has carried commands at least once, for one make. But an owner deciding whether to spend money should go by what a maker promises. For airbag codes, ABS work, actuator tests or programming, buy a tool whose maker publishes those functions for your car; the tool-type guide sorts faults by the kind of tool they need, and the BlueDriver, Autel and FIXD comparison covers three tools' ABS and airbag claims by their own terms.

The last row deserves its own paragraph, because it is the limit every OBD2 app shares. A scanner reads what the car's computers have stored or are reporting; a humming wheel bearing or a loose heat shield usually leaves no code. In our keyword count of 39,355 NHTSA complaints for ten high-volume nameplates, model years 2015 through 2022 (a word-list count), 79% of the complaints in which an owner described a sound mentioned no light, no code and no scan. The finding is PulsCar's own, pulled on 6 September 2026, with its method on the page linked. For that kind of problem, Torque — like every app on this page — is the wrong kind of instrument, not a weak one.

Is it still maintained? The update record

The store page alone cannot tell you whether a $4.95 app from 2010 is still looked after. The developer's changelog thread can.

The top of the thread calls 1.12.108 the "Current release on Google Play" and lists "Upcoming changes in 1.12.109", among them "Fixes for floating displays", "Fixes for background GPS problem", "Fixes for online web viewer" and "Add PID list in dashboard is now filterable/searchable". The first post is dated 28/05/2025, and the thread notes it was modified five times. On 30 September 2026, Google Play still showed version 1.12.108 from Feb 3, 2025. We do not know why 1.12.109 has not shipped, and we do not guess.

What the record shows is a developer maintaining a long-lived app in bursts: a run of releases in winter 2021-22, a policy update in 2025, and an announced update not yet on the store. A note at the top of the thread tells theme authors that "Due to Android 12's new restrictions" their themes need updating. For a buyer, the reading is simple. Torque runs on the phones the current build supports — Android 4.1 and up, by the listing; if a future Android version breaks something, the fix depends on the developer's schedule. At $4.95, that risk is small, but it is real.

The store picture: ratings, downloads and what reviewers say

Store numbers were read on 30 September 2026 on the US Google Play store, and they are the store's figures, marked ⚪.

The two Pro figures come from different places on the same page. The header figure matches the page's own structured data, 3.973 from 81,306 ratings, which rounds to the 4.0 shown; the ratings panel opens on its Phone tab, with separate tabs for tablet and desktop, and shows 3.9 from 75.8K.

Three recent reviews were shown to us on the Pro listing, and each is one person's experience, not a finding. The most recent, dated August 31, 2026, praises the setup options — a dedicated old phone that wakes with the ignition — and then reports that "Recently apps started setting my display to default." One dated April 19, 2026 is the sharpest: "it cannot read most modules only the power train. It has no bi-directional controls." One dated June 26, 2026 calls it "good for basic code reader and info" and says that on hard problems "Better things do exist." The first and third fit what the listing describes: an engine-data and code tool, strong on customisation. The April review's point about modules and bi-directional control is neither confirmed nor contradicted by the listing, which mentions neither. None of the three tells you about your car.

A rating collected since 2010 tells you less than it seems to. The Pro listing has been live since Mar 7, 2010, and the average does not tell you which version a review was about. The recent reviews, the changelog and a Lite test on your own phone are better evidence than the average.

The traps: three ways a careful buyer still gets it wrong

Trap one: the look-alike app on the iPhone. The situation: an iPhone owner hears "get Torque Pro and a cheap adapter", searches the App Store, and installs the first app with "Torque" in its name. What is real: the developer says Torque "is only distributed on Google Play"; Apple's own search returned 46 results for "torque pro" on 30 September 2026, none from Torque's developer, and several apps from other companies use the word in their names. The price: an app you did not mean to choose, and an adapter that may not match it. The defense: on an iPhone, start from the adapter maker's list of iOS apps, not from a name. OBDLink's compatible-apps page names its iOS-ready apps; Veepeak's product page marks each app's platforms.

Trap two: the adapter Torque cannot talk to, or cannot talk to quickly. The situation: an owner buys whatever OBD2 dongle is cheapest or came free with another app, then installs Torque Pro. What is real: Torque's wiki lists adapters that use "their own closed protocol" as not supported, warns that some cheap clones have "poor build quality and reliability issues", and says BLE adapters give slow updates on CAN cars. The price: $4.95 plus an adapter that does not do the job you bought it for. The defense: pick an adapter whose maker lists Torque — OBDLink, Veepeak and Vgate all do — prefer classic Bluetooth over BLE if fast gauges matter, and test the combination in the free Lite before paying.

Trap three: clearing the light the week before an inspection. The situation: the check engine light comes on, the owner reads the code in Torque, taps reset, and the light goes out just before an emissions test. What is real: clearing resets the readiness monitors; California says a car with too many incomplete monitors "will fail the inspection", and the federal test procedure lets a program pass a 2001 or newer car with no more than one unset monitor; your state sets its own limit. The price: a failed or refused inspection, and a fault that is still there. The defense: write the code down, fix or diagnose the cause, and clear it only with a week of normal driving before any test.

Three composite situations, decoded

These are composite scenarios, not individual customers — shapes of question built only from facts already on this page, written in the conditional, with no invented names, amounts or dates.

Scenario 1: the Android owner with a transmission worry. Suppose an owner of a Toyota Camry on the Advanced EX tested list wants a warning if transmission temperature climbs on a long trip. Torque Pro reads the car's standard data; the listing says transmission temperature is "vehicle dependant". The Advanced EX for Toyota plugin lists "AT Oil Temperature" among its sensors, marks it as not available on all cars, and requires Torque Pro. The owner would install Lite first to confirm the connection, then buy Pro and the plugin, check the reading appears while parked, and set a Torque alarm on it so nobody watches the screen while driving. Lesson: for this Toyota, the plugin lists a transmission oil reading that Torque's own listing only calls "vehicle dependant" — on engines the plugin's own listing names.

Scenario 2: the iPhone owner who was told to "get Torque". Suppose an owner with an iPhone and a new adapter follows a forum tip and searches the App Store for Torque Pro. The search shows apps from other developers with similar names, and none from Torque's developer. The adapter maker's page is the right place to look instead — if it lists the adapter for iOS at all. Lesson: the right question on an iPhone is "which apps does my adapter maker list for iOS", not "where is Torque".

Scenario 3: the owner with a knock and a clean scan. Suppose a car develops a knock that rises with engine speed, the check engine light stays off, and Torque shows no stored codes. Torque can show that no code is stored, which is all a clean scan means, and the wiki's 2011 dials page lists a knock retard display "Supported on most GM vehicles", but it cannot name a sound. A knock that rises with engine speed needs a mechanic's check before more hard driving; a recording can go with you. Lesson: a clean scan on a noisy car means "wrong instrument", not "all clear".

Where a free sound check fits, and where it does not

This is our side of the page, so check it against our site. PulsCar's sound check asks you to film the engine running for 30 seconds and emails a report in about ten minutes. The homepage terms are "No payment, no card, no subscription." If a clip cannot support a confident verdict, the homepage says the report will say "inconclusive" rather than guess.

It cannot do most of what Torque does, and the fair way to write that is to list it. It reads no trouble codes and clears no lights, because codes are stored data a microphone cannot reach. It shows no live parameters, no fuel trims, no coolant temperature, no logs, no dashboards. It needs no adapter and no Android phone, which is its advantage and its limit at once: there is nothing plugged into the car, so there is nothing the car's computer can tell it.

When should you open Torque, and when should you record a PulsCar sound check instead? The rule is one line long: a check engine light is a stored code and needs an adapter; a noise with a dark dashboard often has no code and needs a recording first. If the check engine light is on, Torque or its free Lite edition with a working adapter is the right kind of tool: its listings say it shows and resets fault codes. If there is a new sound and no light, Torque will most likely show a clean screen, because usually nothing was stored, and PulsCar's free sound check is the zero-cost first move. If you have both a light and a noise, run both and compare what each says. If the symptom is a vibration, a pull, a smell or a leak, neither tool comes first; a mechanic's physical inspection does, and the sound-versus-scanner guide explains where each method stops.

Is Torque Pro worth $4.95? The answer, by owner

Is Torque Pro worth buying in 2026, and how did PulsCar reach that answer? We read the developer's listing, wiki and changelog, three adapter makers' pages, Apple's search and Google's refund policy on 30 September 2026, and ran no test of our own. On those documents, $4.95 is well spent by an Android owner who wants live engine data, custom gauges, logs or performance timing, and who has an adapter whose maker lists Torque. It is money you do not need to spend if you only want to read and clear a check engine light, because the free Lite does that and exists to test your car and adapter first. It is not available at all on an iPhone, whatever the App Store search suggests. It is the wrong purchase for airbag codes, actuator tests or coding, none of which the developer describes. The store's last update, Feb 3, 2025, is the remaining risk; at this price, most Android owners can afford to find out.

Put plainly: an inexpensive tool with an open developer — a public wiki, changelog and list of unsupported adapters. Its weak points are on its own pages too: Android only, a store build from February 2025 with an announced update not yet shipped, and a free edition last updated in 2018.

What we looked for and did not find

No iPhone version. We looked on the developer's pages and in Apple's own search, and found none; an adapter maker's manual says the same.

No Pro-versus-Lite feature list. The most specific description of what Pro adds over Lite sits on the Lite listing, last updated in 2018. The Pro listing's feature list says nothing about ABS; the only ABS sentence is on the Lite listing and names no makes or data.

No readiness screen described. We found no page from the developer describing emissions readiness monitors, although one reviewer mentions watching checks finish after a battery reset, and the changelog mentions a Test results screen without saying what it tests. Confirm it on your own car in Lite before counting on it.

No count for the fault code database. The listing calls it "Massive" and gives no number, so we give none.

No independent test. We found no test of Torque Pro by anyone other than its developer that we could read at the source, and we ran none ourselves. Store ratings are store figures, marked ⚪.

No release date for 1.12.109. The changelog lists its changes; we found no date.

No list of electric models. The changelog added EV battery PIDs in December 2021, saying most will only be supported by recent vehicles; we found no page saying which electric cars report them. Ask your adapter maker first.

What did PulsCar not do for this page? We did not buy Torque Pro, pair it with an adapter or drive with it; we did not test any App Store app with "Torque" in its name; and we did not read the listings of every plugin on the wiki, only the four Advanced EX pages and the developer's own three. We also did not quote any of the old adapter prices on the wiki's adapter table, because that table says they are costs "at time of writing" and was last modified in February 2022; current prices belong on each maker's own page. We did not sign in to Google Play, so its per-device compatibility panel stayed closed to us, and we did not write to the developer. Everything we did not read is either absent from this page or labelled as not checked.

Your action plan: before you pay, on the day, and in the first week

Before you pay (15 minutes, free):

1. Check the phone. Torque needs Android; the Pro listing says "4.1 and up". On an iPhone, stop here: check your adapter supports iOS at all (OBDLink says only its MX+ and CX do), then use an app its maker lists for iOS.
2. Check the car. Look for "OBD II" on the emissions label under the hood; California's fact sheet says 1996 and newer gasoline cars and 1997 and newer diesels must have OBD II; Torque's wiki uses 2004 for diesels as a rule of thumb.
3. Check the adapter. Find Torque on your adapter maker's own compatibility page. If the adapter came with its own app and the maker does not list Torque, do not assume it will work; check the wiki's tested and unsupported lists.
4. Install the free Torque Lite, pair the adapter, and confirm the icons turn solid blue with the ignition on.

On the day you buy Pro: 5. Buy on Google Play only; the developer says that is the only place Torque is distributed. 6. Test it the same day with the car and adapter you will use. Google's refund policy says you may be able to get a refund within 48 hours, and only once per app.

In the first week: 7. Build one dashboard while parked: coolant temperature, RPM and fuel trims (how much fuel the engine computer adds or removes to keep the mixture right) are a good first screen. Leave phone-watching on the road to a passenger. 8. If you read a code, write it down before clearing it, and do not clear codes in the week before an emissions test. 9. If you want make-specific sensors, check the plugin's own tested-models list before buying it. 10. If the problem is a noise with no light, do not trust a clean scan; have it heard, by a recording or a mechanic, and read what a diagnostic should cost before authorizing shop work.

Sources and documents

Every number and quotation above comes from one of these, each opened and saved on 30 September 2026 unless marked otherwise.

1. Google Play, Torque Pro (OBD 2 & Car) — price, version, Android requirement, release date, ratings, data safety, reviews: play.google.com
2. Google Play, Torque Lite (OBD2 & Car) — ads, downloads, last update, what Pro adds: play.google.com
3. Torque home page, by the developer: torque-bhp.com
4. Torque Wiki main page — "any device that runs the Android operating system": wiki.torque-bhp.com
5. Torque Wiki, Bluetooth Adapters (last modified 11 February 2022) — tested and unsupported adapters, BLE warning: wiki
6. Torque Wiki, Getting Started and Vehicle Requirements — pairing steps, model years: Getting Started, Vehicle Requirements
7. Torque Wiki, Plugins and Plugin Documentation — "only distributed on Google Play", plugin list, sensor table, intents: Plugins, PluginDocumentation
8. Torque Wiki, Dials, Speedometer, Scripting, Arduino, Themes, Exporting Video and Translation: Dials, Speedometer, Scripting, Arduino, Themes, Exporting Video, Translation
9. Torque ChangeLog thread, by the developer — 1.12.108 and the announced 1.12.109: torque-bhp.com forum
10. Google Play, plugin listings — Advanced EX by Dare Apps and the developer's own add-ons: Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, TorqueScan, Track Recorder, Widgets for Torque
11. Apple App Store search, US storefront, through Apple's public search interface — "torque pro", "torque obd", developer and company names: itunes.apple.com search
12. OBDLink compatible-apps and MX+ apps pages — Torque for MX+, LX and CX; iOS support: compatible apps, MX+ apps
13. OBDLink MX+, LX and CX product pages — prices, Bluetooth type, networks: MX+, LX, CX
14. Veepeak — OBDCheck BLE page, Torque instructions, OBDCheck BLE+ manual: OBDCheck BLE, Torque on Android, BLE+ manual PDF
15. Vgate vLinker FD and MC product pages: vLinker FD, vLinker MC
16. Google Play Help, refund policies for apps — 48 hours, one refund per app: support.google.com
17. California Air Resources Board, OBD II fact sheet — model years, readiness indicators: ww2.arb.ca.gov
18. 40 CFR 85.2222 — unset readiness monitors at inspection: eCFR
19. 40 CFR 86.1806-17 — leak-check record notes memory cleared "from a scan tool command or battery disconnect": eCFR
20. PulsCar homepage — the free sound check terms: pulscar.io
21. The 39,355-complaint count — pulled from NHTSA on 6 September 2026, method and limits on: FIXD vs PulsCar
22. Changelog addresses that did not lead to the changelog: the one on the Pro listing (torque-bhp.com/forums/?wpforumaction=viewtopic&t=3.0) opens the Torque main forum page, and torque-bhp.com/community/main-forum/torque-changelog/ returns "404 - Page not found"; the working thread is item 9
23. Torque web viewer — login screen only, not read

How this page was built: every fact about Torque itself was read on its developer's own properties — the Google Play listings of Torque Pro and Torque Lite, torque-bhp.com, its wiki and its changelog thread — on 30 September 2026, saved as text and quoted as published. The "About this app" panels were opened in a browser on the US store and transcribed. Adapter compatibility was read on OBDLink's, Veepeak's and Vgate's own pages and in Veepeak's manual. Plugin facts were read on each plugin's own listing. The iPhone check used Apple's own App Store search and Veepeak's manual. Store ratings, download counts and review excerpts are the store's figures and are marked ⚪. Federal rules are quoted from the eCFR and California's from the Air Resources Board. The complaint count is PulsCar's own, published earlier and cited rather than recomputed. No bench test was run and nothing was bought for this page. The three scenarios are composite and contain no invented names, amounts or dates.

Prices verified: 30 September 2026 · Technical documents verified: 30 September 2026 · Reviewed quarterly

Use Torque Pro and found something on this page wrong or out of date — a new version on Google Play, an adapter that stopped working, a feature we missed? Email [email protected] with what you saw and where. A documented correction changes this page faster than anything we could write.