These are not three versions of one thing. With an adapter you already own and an Android phone, Torque Pro at $4.95 is the gauge-builder. With an iPhone, or if you want a wide feature list that its developer says is free to start with, Car Scanner is free to install on both platforms. We make PulsCar, which works only with the OBDLink MX+ and whose scanners ship to US addresses only. It is for a driver who wants to build nothing: with the scanner plugged in and connected, the phone in the car and the app running, each drive is recorded, a new stored fault code found during the drive triggers a notification, and during a recorded drive a pull-over alert fires if coolant reaches 118 C or if battery voltage falls below 11.8 V while the car is moving. On iPhone the app must be open when the drive starts. It costs $199.99 for the first year for the app alone if you own an MX+, or $299.99 for the first year with the scanner included, then $179 a year for either. For a code read now and then on another adapter, the two cheaper apps are the better buy.
We make PulsCar, which sells a membership with an OBDLink MX+; this is a comparison by us, with sources and dates. PulsCar is held to the rules we applied to the other two, and where a cheaper app does the same job we say so.
The question this page answers is narrow: which app should you put on your phone for an OBD2 adapter? Torque Pro, Car Scanner and PulsCar turn up together in that search, but only two of them are general apps. This page compares what each one costs, which phone it runs on, how the stores rate it, what it reads and who records a drive without a session you start yourself. It does not compare adapters (for that, read our best OBD2 scanner for Android), and it does not go deep into Torque's settings, plugins or Lite-versus-Pro question, which our Torque Pro page covers. The full cost comparison of eight setups is on our subscription-versus-one-time-cost page.
The answer in sixty seconds: who should pick which
Seven readers, seven answers. The right-hand cell is the price or the short answer; the product name is in the text. All prices are as printed on 22 October 2026.
Before any app: the dashboard comes first. A flashing check engine light means pull over safely, switch the engine off and have the car towed; the one exception is a shop within two or three miles, reached gently, under 40 mph and with light throttle, which is our advice, not a manufacturer's. A red warning light, or a temperature gauge in the red, means pull over safely and stop, whatever any app says. No alert from an app does not mean the car is fine. Clearing a code fixes nothing: read it, write it down and fix the cause first.
Which of the three apps should you pick for an OBD2 adapter on your phone? It depends on the adapter you own and on whether you want to build your own screens or have your drives recorded. With an Android phone, Torque Pro at $4.95 on Google Play is the gauge builder. With an iPhone, or if you want a wide feature list its developer says is free to start with, Car Scanner is free to install on both platforms, and its Pro items start at $3.99 on the App Store. PulsCar is a different kind of tool: its app works with one scanner, the OBDLink MX+, so it is not an option for another adapter. Choose it for drives recorded with the scanner connected and nothing to build: $299.99 for the first year with the scanner included, or $199.99 for the first year of Membership only if you own an MX+; renewal is $179 a year for either.
The first line of that verdict matters most. If you own a different adapter, such as a Veepeak, PulsCar is not a competitor for you: its Google Play listing says the app "is not a generic OBD reader" and the honest choice is between the other two.
How we checked, what we could not read, and where PulsCar stands
Sources. Every product fact comes from a maker's or a store's own page, read on 22 October 2026 and saved as dated text, except a few statements about how the PulsCar app behaves, which come from how the app is built and are marked as such: the Google Play listings, Torque's site and Torque wiki, Car Scanner's site and its help pages, Apple's public lookup for the App Store, OBDLink's and Veepeak's pages, Google's refund page, and PulsCar's checkout at get.pulscar.io, its Terms of Sale, its scanner page and its two store listings. We tested none of the three apps on a phone. Where a page does not print something we write "not printed on the pages we saved" and do not fill the gap from memory.
Prices and ratings. Competitor prices are the ones printed in the store or on the maker's page; Google Play was read for the US storefront. PulsCar's prices are those on its live checkout the same day. A star rating appears here only with its review count, the store and the date, because an average without its count is not information. We did not read or count individual reviews.
What we could not read. The Torque changelog thread did not load (HTTP 503). Google Play showed no dollar prices for Car Scanner's in-app items, so those prices come from the App Store. The full list of gaps is near the end.
Where PulsCar stands. The PulsCar app works with the OBDLink MX+, and every PulsCar plan except Membership only includes one. We have a commercial interest in that. Our claims about PulsCar are limited to what its own checkout, Terms of Sale, scanner page, home page and store listings say, and to how the app is built; its weaknesses, among them no store rating yet and the price, are stated in the open further down.
Three apps, two kinds of tool
Torque Pro is an Android app by Ian Hawkins. Its Google Play text describes a tool that "uses an OBD II Bluetooth adapter to connect to your OBD2 engine management / ECU", and the first feature line is laying out your own dashboard with the gauges you want. It costs $4.95 on Google Play. There is also Torque Lite, a basic version with ads.
Car Scanner ELM OBD2 is an app for iPhone and Android whose developer also publishes the help pages quoted in this article. It is free to install, with ads and in-app purchases, and calls itself a trip computer and diagnostics tool. It needs an ELM327-compatible adapter, and its developer's help pages cover how to choose one.
PulsCar is an app that comes with one scanner. The Google Play listing says "This app works with the PulsCar OBD-II scanner. It is not a generic OBD reader: without the scanner there is no live data, no trips and no health score." The scanner is the OBDLink MX+, a third-party adapter by OBD Solutions, which is included in every plan except Membership only.
That gives two kinds of tool. Torque Pro and Car Scanner are apps for an adapter you bring: you choose the adapter, the screens and what to log, and on the pages we saved you start and watch the session yourself; Torque's wiki mentions an automatic-logging option and Car Scanner has a background setting on Android, but nothing we saved describes a recording that starts with each drive. PulsCar is an app for an adapter it ships: the choice of adapter is made for you, the app records the drives you take with the scanner plugged in, your phone in the car and the app running, and it reads the car for you instead of asking you to build a screen. Neither kind is better in general. One gives you freedom and a very low price; the other gives you less to set up and a much higher one.
Which phone each one runs on
Phone support is the first filter, and it removes one of the three for half of readers. The table gives each app's platform as the maker's or the store's own pages print it on 22 October 2026.
Torque Pro is an Android app, according to every Torque page we saved that names a platform. The wiki's main page describes Torque as a tool "for any device that runs the Android operating system", its plugins page says "Torque is only distributed on Google Play and updates are always free!", and the home page promises live OBD data "on your Android phone". Veepeak's product page marks it "Torque Pro (Android only)" in its list of apps that work with its adapter, and OBDLink's compatible-apps page shows an Android download for Torque and no iPhone one. The Google Play page does not print a minimum Android version in the text we saved. If you use an iPhone, Torque Pro is not the app those pages describe.
One more app carries the Torque Pro name on the iPhone. The US App Store lists Torque Pro : OBD2 Car Scanner, sold under a different seller name, Collabrains Technologies LTD, from the Android Torque's developer, Ian Hawkins. The listing is free to install and its description names weekly, monthly and yearly premium subscriptions, with no dollar amounts in the text we saved. It requires iOS 18 or later, is at version 3.3.42 with a current version dated 18 April 2026, and shows 4.2 from 567 ratings. Torque's own pages describe an Android app and none of them mentions an iPhone app, and we found nothing on Torque's site that links to this one. That is all the pages print, and it is all this page says: we did not test the app and this is not a verdict on it. The practical point is the narrow one: a friend's recommendation of Torque Pro on Android does not carry over to an iPhone by searching the App Store for the same name.
Car Scanner runs on both phones. Its developer's site describes a tool running "iOS (Apple iPhone and iPad) or Android", the App Store listing requires iOS 13.0 or later, and the site also links a Huawei AppGallery version. The Android pages we saved print no minimum version. The platforms differ in one respect that decides which adapter you can buy. On an iPhone, Car Scanner supports Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth MFi adapters, and its FAQ says "There is no way to use adapters with βclassicβ Bluetooth on iOS devices." The same help pages say the OBDLink MX+ is one of the two adapters they know that use Bluetooth MFi, a classic Bluetooth that works with an iPhone. On Android the same pages list classic Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi, and the developer advises classic Bluetooth for speed. OBDLink's compatible-apps page marks Car Scanner as compatible with the MX+ and CX on iPhone and with the MX+, LX and CX on Android.
PulsCar runs on both phones, with one adapter. The App Store lists the app as free, for iOS 16.4 or later, and Google Play lists it with an Install button, 5+ downloads and an update dated Sep 29, 2026; the Play text we saved prints no minimum Android version. The checkout says "iPhone and Android Β· United States". The scanner is the OBDLink MX+, one of the two OBDLink adapters that OBDLink says currently support iOS, and scanners ship to US addresses only. If you are outside the United States you cannot order the plans that include one.
What it costs: the app, then app plus adapter over 1, 3 and 5 years
An app is only half the bill. Torque Pro and Car Scanner need an adapter you buy separately, while PulsCar's plans include one. The table puts both on one footing, using printed prices only: the Veepeak OBDCheck BLE at $31.99 (reduced from $34.99 on the page that day) as the cheap adapter and the OBDLink MX+ at $139.95 as the one PulsCar uses. Totals leave out tax and coupons, count one car, and assume PulsCar's renewal stays at $179 per car per year, which its Terms allow to change with 30 days' notice by email. Where there is no recurring cost the figure is the same at one, three and five years.
What does each app cost, and what does PulsCar cost next to Torque Pro and Car Scanner? Torque Pro is $4.95 on Google Play, paid once. Car Scanner is free to install, and its Pro items on the App Store are $7.99 forever, $4.99 for a year, $3.99 for six months and two tiers at $6.99. Both need a separate adapter; Torque Pro with a $31.99 Veepeak OBDCheck BLE is $36.94, and with the $139.95 OBDLink MX+ it is $144.90. PulsCar's One Year plan is $299.99 with the MX+ included, and over three years with two $179 renewals it comes to $657.99, against $144.90 for Torque Pro on an MX+. PulsCar is the most expensive of the three by a wide margin; whether that is worth paying is worth paying only if you want your drives recorded without building any screens. Prices as read on 22 October 2026.
A bare adapter and a cheap app is the lowest bill on the page. Car Scanner's free tier with a Veepeak is $31.99, and the $39.98 for Car Scanner Pro as a forever purchase is under the price of the adapter that PulsCar uses. Torque Pro on the same Veepeak is $36.94. For someone who reads a code now and then, or who likes to tinker, nothing on this page beats them, and we say so plainly.
PulsCar is the dearest option, and the table shows by how much. At three years the One Year plan totals $657.99 and Torque Pro on an MX+ totals $144.90, a gap of $513.09. At five years the figures are $1,015.99 and $144.90, a gap of $871.09. The plan with the scanner included also costs $160.04 more than the MX+ alone, which would be the app's first year inside the bundle if you value the scanner at the $139.95 OBDLink prints; sold alone, Membership only is $199.99. If you stop paying later, the MX+ stays yours and still works with OBDLink's own app and, per OBDLink, with Torque on Android and Car Scanner on both phones. Two Years is $499.99 for 24 months; against One Year plus one renewal it costs $21 more, so it buys the same app for the same two years with one payment instead of two, not a saving.
If you already own an MX+, the fair comparison is the app alone. Membership only is $199.99 for 12 months, then $179 a year, which is $557.99 over three years and $915.99 over five. Torque Pro on the same MX+ is $4.95. The first-year difference is $195.04, and over three years it is $553.04. Car Scanner, free to install, can use the same MX+: OBDLink lists the pairing for both phones. That extra pays for the recording and the watching described below, and it is a lot for a reader who would not use them.
Car Scanner's one-year and six-month tiers are not priced in the totals above. Their prices are printed, but the renewal price is not in the pages we saved, and the developer's help page says only that these subscriptions should auto-renew and that a period which expires returns the app to free mode. If you pick a timed tier, check what your store says before you tap buy. Our full cost comparison covers eight setups over one, three and five years, including the ones this page leaves out.
Ratings with counts and dates
Store ratings are the evidence most readers reach for first and the evidence that says least. Every figure below was read on 22 October 2026, with the store and the count printed beside it. Google Play was read on the US storefront; Apple's figures come from its public lookup.
Three readings, none of which is a ranking.
First, the stores are different populations. Car Scanner is 4.7 on Google Play and 4.8 on the App Store, from 367K reviews and 32,981 ratings. Torque Pro is 4.0 on Google Play. A number from one store cannot be set against a number from the other. We quote the header figure of each Play listing; the table names the panel figure beside it.
Second, the dates matter more than the stars. Torque Pro's Play page shows an update on Feb 3, 2025 and Torque Lite's on Jan 13, 2018; Car Scanner's Play page shows Sep 26, 2026, and its App Store entry carries a version dated 21 October 2026. An old date is not a defect in a tool that works, and our Torque Pro page covers what the update record means in practice. It is, however, a fact to weigh when your phone or your car is new.
Third, a missing rating is a fact, not a verdict. PulsCar's App Store lookup showed 0 ratings and its Google Play listing prints a downloads figure of 5+ and no star rating, so there is no store history to lean on. That is a real weakness of a young listing.
Which adapter each app needs
An OBD2 app does nothing without an adapter in the car's port, and the three apps ask different things of you here.
Torque Pro says it needs a Bluetooth adapter: "The app needs a Bluetooth OBD2 adapter to work." It points to a list on its wiki and names the Scantool.net adapter, the OBDKey, PLX Devices and OBDLink among the reliable ones. The wiki ranks speed in plain terms: the OBDLink series is the fastest non-BLE Bluetooth choice, and "Do not expect fast updates from any BLE adapter on things like CANBUS vehicles". That wiki page was last modified on 11 February 2022, so treat that sentence as the developer's own statement from 2022, not a test we ran. Wi-Fi adapters are on the wiki's list, and USB adapters need the Pro version. For cheap adapters the listing warns: "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". OBDLink's compatible-apps page marks Torque as compatible with the MX+, LX and CX, and Veepeak publishes a setup guide for its OBDCheck BLE with Torque on Android.
Car Scanner needs an ELM327-compatible adapter on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Bluetooth LE, and the developer's help pages give a full page to choosing one. Car Scanner's own Google Play text recommends OBDLink, Kiwi 3, V-Gate, Carista, LELink and Veepeak, and warns about cheap adapters that some of them can make the car's engine work unstable or lose the connection, so "we recommend you to use genuine ELM327 or recommended adapter brands." The developer's adapter page makes the phone decide the type: Bluetooth LE for an iPhone, and classic Bluetooth for Android if you want speed. It also says that if you want the coding section you need a high-quality adapter. The App Store list of recommended brands leaves out OBDLink, while the Google Play list includes it; OBDLink's own page marks Car Scanner as compatible with the MX+ on both phones. The trade is plain: a wide choice of adapters, from $31.99 to $139.95 on the prices we read, and you carry the choosing.
PulsCar removes the choice. The app works with the OBDLink MX+ and no other adapter, and the plans include one. The checkout says the scanner is an MX+ by OBD Solutions "we chose for its reliable connection and low sleep draw". OBDLink prints the MX+ as "Class 2 Bluetooth v3.0" and says its Connect button "requires physical access to enable Bluetooth pairing". Membership only is for owners of an MX+ and, in the Terms' words, works with the MX+ "not the MX, LX, EX or CX", so check the label on your adapter first. The advantage is one supported adapter instead of a choice to research; the cost is that if your adapter is anything else, the app is closed to you.
The MX+ is the adapter all three apps can use: OBDLink lists it for Torque on Android and Car Scanner on both phones, and PulsCar is built around it. A reader who buys an MX+ for $139.95 can start with Car Scanner free of charge and decide later whether the recorded-drive route is worth paying for.
What each app reads and does
The table lists only what each app's own pages print. A blank is not a "no": where a page is silent we write "not printed on the pages we saved", because a silent page and a negative statement are different facts.
Torque Pro is a live-data and performance tool with a long feature list: customisable dashboards with themes, fault codes read and reset with built-in databases, GPS tracker logs with OBD logging, CSV and KML export, 0-60 timing, dyno and horsepower readouts, a heads-up display mode, alarms, a developer interface and plugins for brand-specific data. The Torque pages we saved do not print freeze frame, Mode 06, emissions readiness, coding, a trip computer, VIN reading or background operation. That is a statement about the pages, not about what the app can do.
Car Scanner has the longest diagnostic list of the three apps compared here. Its Google Play text names freeze frame ("sensors state when DTC is saved"), Mode 06 ("ECU self-monitoring test results"), an emissions readiness check, all sensors on one screen, custom extended PIDs, connection profiles for a long list of makes, a trip computer with fuel statistics, acceleration timing and a HUD mode. It also prints coding, the changing of hidden car settings, for a limited list of cars: the Play text names VAG-group cars (Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat), Toyota and Lexus cars with CAN bus and some Renault and Dacia, while the App Store text names only the VAG group. Its pages we saved print no alarms or alert thresholds and no GPS logging feature.
PulsCar does fewer things, and explains the ones it does in plain English. Its Google Play listing names a Car Health Score built from your car's own measurements, trouble codes in plain English ("what the code means, how urgent it is, and what usually causes it"), a sound check that compares a recording of a noise with known failure sounds, a trip journal, critical alerts and SOS guides. When a reading cannot be measured on your car it says "not measured" rather than filling the gap with an average. The app also has a Clear code button on its fault-code screen, in the build we checked; the checkout calls the scanner read-only because it cannot control brakes, steering or throttle. Before clearing, it warns that this removes codes and the readiness monitors, which mechanics and emissions tests may need, and it will not clear while the car is moving. The pages we saved print no build-your-own dashboard, no freeze frame, no Mode 06 and no coding, so a reader who wants any of those should pick Car Scanner. The checkout and the scanner page both say the readings are information, not a diagnosis, and the checkout says the sound check is "a probability, not a verdict".
Every drive: who records a trip, who warns you
This is the real difference between the apps, and the one the price buys. All three can show you the car live when you open them. The question is what happens when you do not build a screen or start a log yourself, and how much you set up to get it.
Torque Pro makes the logging yours to arrange. Its listing says it "can use the GPS to provide tracker logs with OBD engine logging so you can see what you were doing at any point in time", and exports logs by email or to the web. It also has alarms: "Alarms and warnings (for example if your coolant temperature goes over 120C whilst driving) with voice/speech overlay". Logging and alarms are features the developer lists, and the wiki's adapter notes mention an automatic-logging option. Veepeak's guide says that after configuration Torque should connect to its adapter automatically. The pages we saved print nothing about background operation.
Car Scanner records by default, within limits. The developer's recording page says the "Data recording" switch is enabled by default, that it records the data displayed on screen plus the readings that come with it, that the file is saved when you tap Disconnect or turn off recording, and that leaving the program before disconnecting loses the file for that recording. Its FAQ says background operation on Android is a setting, "Settings β Connection β Work in background", and that some Android builds need the app added to a list of apps the system does not kill. On an iPhone it says the app can work in the background with a Bluetooth LE adapter "until iOS decides to kill it". The Android setup page says to tap the Connect button each time, and the iPhone page ends its setup at the same button. Alarms and auto-start with the car are not printed on the pages we saved.
PulsCar records a trip when your phone is in the car with the app running. The Google Play listing says "drives you take with your phone and the app are recorded with distance, duration and route" and adds that the scanner does not record on its own. As the app is built, a trip starts when speed rises above about 3 km/h (2 mph) with the scanner connected, and that check runs while the app is on screen or, on Android, while its foreground service is alive. On an iPhone, have the app open when the drive starts; the foreground service is Android-only. On Android the app also asks, after the first connection, whether to record trips automatically (the setting is called Wake with the car, in the You tab); it needs the Physical activity permission and not every phone supports it. During a trip the app re-reads stored and pending codes every five minutes and sends a notification for a new stored code (that notification is on by default).
Which of the three records a drive on its own? Only as far as the pages print. Torque Pro logs OBD data with GPS tracks and has alarms you set; Torque's developer pages that we saved say nothing about background running. Car Scanner has a data-recording switch that is on by default, saving what is shown on screen plus the readings that come with it; on Android, background operation is a setting. PulsCar records a trip with the scanner connected and your phone in the car with the app running: it starts above about 3 km/h (2 mph), and on iPhone the app must be open when the drive starts. On Android, with automatic recording allowed (a permission, not on every phone), you start nothing by hand, and the app raises pull-over alerts while a trip records. The scanner does not record on its own, and the convenience costs far more.
The warnings differ in who sets them. Torque's alarms are yours to define. PulsCar's critical alerts are two fixed rules inside the app: a critical alert when coolant reaches 118 C (244 F) or more, and one when battery voltage falls below 11.8 V while the car is moving faster than about 5 km/h (3 mph). They fire only while a trip is being recorded and appear on screen; the phone notification is sent once per alert type per trip and can be switched off in settings, and the on-screen alert can repeat after the reading returns to normal. On iPhone, open PulsCar before you set off and keep it running for the drive: alerts fire only while a trip is recording, so a drive the app did not record has no alerts either. Recording with the screen locked is not confirmed on iPhone, so do not count on it. The Car Scanner developer's pages we saved print no alarm, a gap in the text, not a verdict.
None of this is unique to one app: Torque warns, Car Scanner records and OBDLink's free app keeps trip meters and logs. What differs is how much you arrange first, and the convenience of building nothing is what PulsCar's price buys. If you enjoy the arranging, do not pay for it.
What stays in the car, and what one payment covers
What stays in the car. PulsCar's checkout says the MX+ goes to sleep ten minutes after the engine stops and draws about 2 mA; that figure and the ten minutes are PulsCar's own wording. OBDLink prints 2 mA for its BatterySaver low-power mode, 62 mA while operating, and lists automatic sleep and wake-up. PulsCar's own FAQ adds that a car left parked for a long time needs a battery tender anyway, scanner or not.
What one payment covers. The scanner is included in every plan except Membership only and, in the Terms' words, "The scanner is yours to keep." Each plan is a single payment, with no monthly plan and no free trial. "Nothing renews automatically and we don't keep your card on file"; when the plan ends you can renew at $179 per car per year, app access only, or let it end. The Terms say the renewal price can change with at least 30 days' email notice, so we do not call it fixed. The membership period starts the day you activate the serial number in the app, not the day you pay, so the clock does not run while the scanner is on its way. A scanner that fails during the membership is replaced at no cost, with a prepaid label, though not for loss, physical or water damage or modified units.
What stays open if you stop paying. Per the Terms of Sale, which are the contract: roadside SOS, critical alerts and live battery voltage stay open after a plan ends (the scanner page adds connection status and current fault codes). Trips, sound checks, reports and most diagnostics pause until you renew. Your trip history stays on your phone.
What PulsCar is not
Everything a buyer should weigh against PulsCar, once, in one place. PulsCar's scanners ship to US addresses only, so a buyer elsewhere cannot order the plans that include the hardware. The price is higher than either of the other two apps by a wide margin, as the cost section shows. The app needs the OBDLink MX+ and no other adapter, and Membership only works with the MX+ and no other OBDLink model. It does not estimate repair prices: the checkout says "PulsCar does not estimate repair prices." Its readings are information, not a diagnosis, and for brakes, steering or overheating it tells you to stop and have the car inspected in person. It is not an emergency or roadside assistance service. It records only while your phone is in the car with the app running; the scanner records nothing on its own, and on iPhone the app must be open when the drive starts, with locked-screen recording not confirmed. Its pages print no build-your-own dashboard, freeze frame, Mode 06 or coding. The app holds one vehicle profile at a time, even on Family, which the Terms describe as 2 scanners and 2 vehicles. Without a membership the Terms say roadside SOS, critical alerts and live battery voltage stay open and most diagnostics pause (the scanner page adds connection status and current fault codes). And it has no store rating yet: no ratings on the App Store and no star rating on Google Play, so there is no store history to lean on.
Money back, restoring a purchase, and what you keep if you stop paying
The three apps are bought in three different ways, and the way decides what you can undo.
Torque Pro is a store purchase, and the store sets the clock. Torque's Google Play listing prints no refund terms of its own beyond a footer link. Google's refund page says Google does not give refunds for most Google Play purchases, with exceptions: within 48 hours you may be able to get a refund depending on the details, and after 48 hours you contact the developer, who can process refunds under their own policies. It adds that an app can be returned for a refund only once, and that a refunded item loses access. For $4.95 that is a small risk; it is also the whole of the protection the pages we saved describe. Apple's refund rules were not among the pages we saved, so we say nothing about the iPhone side.
Car Scanner is a store purchase with a store-bound licence. Its pages we saved print no refund terms either. What they do print is a restore rule: a purchase is valid in the store where it was made, and the developer says it is impossible to move it between the Google Play, App Store and Huawei AppGallery versions. The developer's FAQ adds that if you lose access to the account that made the purchase, you lose the purchases tied to it, and that restoring is a matter of signing in to the same store account and tapping the Restore purchases button. For a reader who may change from Android to iPhone, that means paying for Pro twice. The forever tier is a one-time purchase. The time-limited tiers are different: the help page says that when the paid period expires, the app switches back to free mode.
PulsCar's refund runs on a clock you can read. The Terms of Sale set the rules out in order. Before the scanner ships, write to [email protected] and the full payment is refunded. After delivery you have 30 days to request a refund, and PulsCar emails a prepaid return label. Once PulsCar receives the scanner in working condition (both scanners on Family), the refund goes back to your original payment method within 10 business days. If the app cannot connect to your car at all, tell PulsCar within the same 30 days and the same refund applies. On Membership only nothing is shipped back and the 30 days count from the email carrying your serial number. And "After those 30 days, membership fees are not refunded, and the scanner remains yours." The refund clock is the main protection a buyer has while the app has no store rating, which is why it is worth reading before paying.
If you buy the MX+ yourself for the Torque or Car Scanner route, OBDLink's store page prints an "unconditional 180-day money-back guarantee" and a 3 year warranty for the adapter it sells. We have not checked how that applies to a unit bought from a reseller, and a PulsCar plan follows PulsCar's Terms, not OBDLink's page.
What you keep if you stop paying. For Torque Pro, one payment of $4.95 buys the app and the wiki says updates are always free; some add-ons from the same developer are sold separately. For Car Scanner Pro as a forever purchase, nothing renews; for its timed tiers, the developer's wording is that the app returns to free mode when "the period you paid for has expired". For PulsCar, nothing renews automatically and there is nothing to cancel: when a plan ends you can renew at $179 per car per year or let it end. What remains is covered above: SOS, critical alerts and live battery voltage stay open (the scanner page adds connection status and current fault codes), trips, sound checks, reports and most diagnostics pause until you renew, your trip history stays on your phone, and the scanner stays yours. An MX+ is a standard adapter, so after PulsCar's period ends it works with OBDLink's own app and, per OBDLink, with Torque on Android and Car Scanner on both phones, as it would for any owner of one.
The rest of the shelf: OBDLink app, OBD Fusion and apps tied to their own hardware
These are not part of the three-way question, but they are what a reader sees next. Each row says what the saved pages print and no more.
The free OBDLink app is the nearest relative of this page's question. It is free to install, works only with OBDLink adapters, and prints trip meters, CSV logging, GPS tracking and Mode 06, with 4.7 from 20.8K reviews on Google Play; our OBDLink app page covers it in depth, and our PulsCar versus OBDLink app page sets it against PulsCar on the same scanner. Our page on apps for the MX+ covers the rest of that choice. OBD Fusion costs $5.99 on Google Play and $9.99 on the App Store, and its App Store listing and the developer's page say the enhanced diagnostics are an in-app purchase. For the wider map of diagnostic apps that are not tied to one adapter, see our best car diagnostic app page.
If you searched for Torque Pro versus the OBDLink app, the short version is this. Torque Pro costs $4.95, runs on Android only, and prints customisable dashboards and alarms you set. The OBDLink app is free to install, with enhanced diagnostics free on the MX+ and an in-app purchase on other OBDLink adapters, runs on iPhone and Android, and works with OBDLink adapters only. OBDLink's own page lists Torque as compatible with the MX+, LX and CX, so an owner of one of those can try both.
The last row is the one to read twice. Veepeak's page lists BlueDriver, FIXD, Carly and others as apps that "usually require their own or other special OBD devices". An app that works with only one specific adapter is a different purchase from an app that works with any ELM327-compatible adapter, and PulsCar is the first kind. Our best OBD2 scanner page and our BlueDriver alternatives page cover that side of the shelf, and our FIXD alternatives page covers the sensor-plus-subscription route.
The traps: three ways to pick the wrong app
Trap one: buying "Torque Pro" on an iPhone without checking the seller name. Torque's own pages describe an Android app, and the iPhone listing with the same name comes from a different seller. Check the seller name on the listing against the developer that Torque's own site names, read the subscription terms before you subscribe, and treat a friend's Android recommendation as a recommendation for Android. Car Scanner's own site covers both phones.
Trap two: assuming the app works with the adapter you already have, or that any $20 adapter will do. PulsCar's app works with the MX+ only, so an adapter in a drawer does not help unless it is an MX+. For the general apps, the makers' own pages warn about the cheap end. Torque's listing advises a good returns policy with the seller on cheap ELM327 adapters. OBD Fusion's says "the cheap clone adapters tend to have slow refresh rates and might disconnect randomly." A $31.99 branded adapter with a published maker is a different purchase from an unbranded listing, and the price table prices only the first.
Trap three: reading a star rating as a verdict. Torque Pro's 4.0 from 81.4K reviews and Car Scanner's 4.7 from 367K reviews come from the same store, so they can be set side by side; neither says which app suits your phone and your car. The App Store figures are from another population. PulsCar has no rating at all yet, which says nothing about whether it fits you.
Three composite situations, decoded
These are composite scenarios, not individual customers. Each is built only from facts already on this page.
Scenario one: gauges on an Android phone. An owner with an Android phone buys a Veepeak OBDCheck BLE at $31.99 and Torque Pro at $4.95, $36.94 in all. They lay out a dashboard with the gauges they want and set an alarm on coolant temperature, which Torque's listing gives as an example. They accept that the pages from Torque's developer that we saved say nothing about running in the background, so they start the app when they want to look. The app fits the job, and the price is among the lowest on the page; Car Scanner's free tier on the same adapter is $31.99. What would have gone wrong: buying it for an iPhone.
Scenario two: an iPhone, free first. An owner with an iPhone has a Bluetooth LE adapter. They install Car Scanner, which is free to install, and try it before paying; the pages we saved do not say which features stay free. If they decide to unlock Pro, the App Store prices are $7.99 for forever or $3.99 for six months, and they note that a purchase made on the iPhone does not carry over if they later buy an Android phone. They accept the Connect button and the fact that iOS can end background operation. What would have gone wrong: buying a classic-Bluetooth adapter, which Car Scanner's help pages say does not work on an iPhone, unless it is an MFi model, and they name the OBDLink MX+ and the vLinker FS.
Scenario three: a driver who wants their drives recorded. A driver in the United States already owns an OBDLink MX+ and an Android phone. They want trips recorded, plain-English codes with urgency and a pull-over alert, and no dashboards to build. They choose PulsCar's Membership only at $199.99, which is $195.04 more than Torque Pro on the same adapter for the first year, then $179 a year if they continue. They keep the phone in the car with the app running, and they know the 30 days to ask for a refund count from the email with their serial number. Without an adapter, the same driver would take One Year at $299.99 with the scanner included. What would have gone wrong: expecting a recording when the phone was elsewhere, or paying for it to read one code a year.
Where a free sound check fits, and where it does not
This is our side of the page, and it concerns the one PulsCar product that costs nothing. PulsCar's free sound check asks you to film your engine running for 30 seconds and returns a report by email in about ten minutes. The home page states the terms plainly: "No payment, no card, no subscription." If a clip cannot support a confident result, the report says "inconclusive" and you can record again.
A free sound check is a different tool from any of the three apps above. It works from a recording of the running engine, needs no adapter, no card and no app, only your email, and it reads no trouble codes, clears no lights and shows no live data. Torque Pro and Car Scanner read the codes your car has stored, so if a check engine light is on, an adapter with one of them is the right first step. A new noise with no lamp on the dash may leave no code to read, and that is where a recording fits. Two limits belong with it. A sound that only appears while braking or turning on the road may not be in a clip filmed at the engine. And for a noise from the brakes, the steering or a wheel, or for any red or flashing warning light, have the car inspected before you do anything else; a recording is not an inspection. A flashing check engine light is the one rule on this site: pull over safely, switch the engine off and have the car towed. The only exception is a shop within two or three miles, reached gently, under 40 mph and with light throttle, and that is our advice, not a manufacturer's.
Film 30 seconds of your engine running on your phone. PulsCar returns a free report by email, or says it is inconclusive. It is not a substitute for an inspection: for noises from the brakes, steering or a wheel, or a flashing or red warning light, get the car inspected first. Free, no card, no subscription.
What we looked for and did not find
A page that says nothing is a different fact from a page that says no, so the absences are part of the evidence. These are the gaps on 22 October 2026.
- The Torque changelog thread on torque-bhp.com did not load (no response, then HTTP 503), and Car Scanner's in-app prices on Google Play show no dollar amounts, so the Pro prices on this page are the App Store's.
- What a Car Scanner timed tier costs at renewal. The developer says only that these subscriptions should auto-renew and that an expired period returns the app to free mode. The renewal price is not printed on the pages we saved.
- The prices of the iPhone app named Torque Pro : OBD2 Car Scanner. Its description names weekly, monthly and yearly premium subscriptions and prints no amounts.
- Freeze frame, Mode 06, emissions readiness, coding, a trip computer, VIN reading and background operation on the Torque pages. They are not printed on the pages we saved, which is not the same as saying the app cannot do them.
- Alarms or alerts, and automatic connection with the car, on the Car Scanner pages we saved.
- A refund statement on the Torque Pro and Car Scanner pages beyond a footer link to the store's policy, and Apple's refund rules, which we did not save.
- Whether a PulsCar recording continues on an iPhone with the screen locked. Not confirmed, so we say to open the app before you set off on iPhone and keep it running for the drive.
- A star rating for PulsCar. None on either store yet.
Your action plan: before you buy, on day one, in the first month
Before you buy
- Start with the phone. Every page from Torque's developer that we saved describes an Android app. If you have an iPhone, Car Scanner is the one of the three apps compared here that runs on it.
- Decide the job. Gauges and tinkering, free diagnostics, or your drives recorded with nothing to build? The verdict table near the top has one answer for each.
- Check the adapter. PulsCar needs the OBDLink MX+ and nothing else. For Torque Pro and Car Scanner, buy a branded adapter from a maker you can name, and keep the receipt.
- Check the seller name on any iPhone listing that says Torque Pro, against the developer Torque's own site names.
- Read the refund clock. Google Play may refund an app within 48 hours, depending on the purchase; PulsCar gives 30 days after delivery, or after the serial-number email on Membership only.
On day one
- Follow the maker's pairing steps, not a blend. Torque's wiki says common pairing codes are 0000 or 1234 and that you pair the adapter with the phone first. Car Scanner's iPhone page says you do not pair in the iPhone's system settings, while its Android page says to pair first. The MX+ needs a press on its Connect button.
- On Android, grant the permission the app asks for. Car Scanner's help page names Nearby Devices on Android 12 and above and Location on Android 6.0 to 11.
- Keep one OBD app connected at a time. Car Scanner's help page says that on an iPhone you need to force-close all other OBD apps.
- For PulsCar, install the app, sign in with the email you bought with, activate your serial number and plug the scanner in. On iPhone, open the app before the drive starts.
In the first month
- Use the app on the job you bought it for: build the gauges and take a drive, or drive with the app running and look at what was recorded.
- Read the neighbours: our OBDLink MX+ review for the adapter PulsCar uses, and our OBDLink MX+ versus BlueDriver page if you are still choosing an adapter.
Sources and documents
Every product fact above comes from the pages below, read on 22 October 2026 and saved as text, except the PulsCar app behaviour those pages do not print (trip start, alert thresholds, code re-reads, the Clear code button, vehicle profiles, Live screen tabs), which comes from how the app is built. Prices, ratings and counts are as printed that day.
- Torque, Google Play: Torque Pro, Torque Lite
- Torque, developer: torque-bhp.com, wiki main page, getting started, Bluetooth adapters, plugins, vehicle requirements
- iPhone app named Torque Pro : OBD2 Car Scanner: App Store search result and App Store listing
- Car Scanner stores: Google Play, App Store, Apple's public lookup
- Car Scanner, developer: home, FAQ, choosing an adapter, Bluetooth troubleshooting, iOS Bluetooth 4.0, Android Bluetooth, recording data, purchase and restore, coding, compatibility
- OBDLink: OBDLink MX+, compatible apps, MX+ apps, OBDLink app, OBDLink app on Google Play
- OBD Fusion: Google Play, developer's page, App Store data
- Veepeak: OBDCheck BLE, instructions for Torque on Android
- Google: Google Play refund policies
- PulsCar: checkout at get.pulscar.io, Terms of Sale, scanner page, home page and free sound check, Google Play listing, Apple's public lookup
Methodology. We read each page on 22 October 2026 and saved its text with the date. Every price, rating, review count, version number and quotation on this page was checked against those saved pages, and every quotation in italics is word for word from one of them. We tested none of the three apps on a phone, and we did not read or count individual reviews. PulsCar's claims are limited to its checkout, Terms of Sale, scanner page, home page and store listings, read on 22 October 2026, plus Apple's public lookup for the App Store rating count, and to how the app is built. Where a page could not be read or printed nothing, we say so in the section above. The three situations are composite scenarios, not individual customers, built from facts on this page.
Prices verified: competitor prices as printed in each store or on each maker's page and PulsCar prices on its live checkout, 22 October 2026. Technical documents verified: store listings, makers' help pages and Terms of Sale, 22 October 2026. Written by PulsCar, which makes the membership and the free sound check.
