DrivePulse: Car Companion

OBD2 diagnostics, a trip log that writes itself, real fuel consumption and your car's health at a glance. DrivePulse works with any car, motorbike or scooter that has an OBD2 port and a common ELM327 adapter, and keeps everything on the phone: no account, no server, no ads.

Automatic trip log

No Start button to press. The app notices you are driving and saves the route on the map, duration, distance, estimated cost and the odometer reading at departure and arrival. Your trip history keeps spending and fuel consumption month by month, and you can name the places you go to often.

One thing to know: after you restart your phone, open the app once. From then on it records by itself again. We don't ask for background location permission: while you drive, recording runs with a notification you can always see, and when you're not driving the app doesn't follow you.

Where you parked

The car's position is saved when you get out and the app walks you back to it. You can also find the parking spot in the home screen widget, with the map tile and the street name.

Two home screen widgets

One for parking. The other for range, fuel level and health status, without opening the app.

Car health

One score instead of twenty numbers to interpret. Battery with history, so you know whether it will get through winter before you get stranded. Engine temperatures, thermal system and, on a diesel, the particulate filter (DPF) with a warning while a regeneration is running and the full cycle history.

OBD2 diagnostics

Fault codes explained in plain words, not just the code. Every parameter your ECU exposes, with graphs over time. On VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, Peugeot, Citroen, Renault, Alfa Romeo and Ford the diagnostics also read values the OBD2 standard does not cover: true oil temperature, grams in the particulate filter, exact litres in the tank.

The app only reads. It never writes anything to the ECU: no clearing codes, no service resets, no diagnostic sessions.

Fuel and running costs

Real consumption read from the ECU and range worked out from the actual litres, not from an average. The app spots when you fill up and lets you log it with one tap. Every trip gets an efficiency score and the money saved, with levels, weekly missions and trophies. Efficiency only: speed is never rewarded. On an electric car, consumption comes in kWh.

Reminders and maintenance

Reminders for insurance, road tax, inspection and service. A service logbook with the mileage and cost of each job, and the total spent on the car.

Live dashboard

Revs, power and torque in real time.

Android Auto

Start and end trips and check range and health from the car's screen, without touching the phone.

More than one vehicle

Car, motorbike and scooter: one profile each, with trips, fuel and diagnostics kept separate. With an OBD2 adapter in each vehicle the app works out on its own which one you got into.

Privacy

No account, no servers, no ads, no tracking. Your trips never reach us, and the app is excluded from system backup: the GPS points never land on Drive. The other side is that they do not survive a change of phone, so export them to JSON or GPX first.

Price

Free for about fifteen trips or a week, whichever comes first. After that a single purchase unlocks everything for good. No subscriptions.

Compatible adapters

You need a standard ELM327 type OBD2 adapter, the kind that costs fifteen to twenty euros. Classic Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy and WiFi adapters all work. A classic Bluetooth adapter has to be paired in your phone's Bluetooth settings first, usually with PIN 1234 or 0000, and then it shows up in the app's list. Proprietary dongles like OBDeleven, Carly or the Volkswagen DataPlug only talk to their own maker's app and will not work with third party apps, this one included.