OBD2 ELM327 Bluetooth vs. WiFi and Android vs. IOS - The Cage Match

[jonathan909]

I'm trying to get up to speed on this stuff so I can get live data from an '01 H6 (per previous post).

Numbchux suggested Piston, and I cadged an old Android tracking device from a friend and downloaded it - looks alright and should work with even the cheapest ELM327 adapter via Bluetooth.  But even that's a story, as the legitimacy of these adapters apparently varies ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELM327  ).

However... I have a friend who uses an iphone, and from what I can see it doesn't support the Bluetooth ELM327 interfaces because of the way Apple implemented Bluetooth in IOS (Thanks, Apple, you have my undying admiration for maintaining your ecosystem's virginity.).  So for that he's going to need a (much more expensive) WiFi ELM327 dongle instead.

Question is:  Are the WiFi dongles supported under the Android apps, or did the developers simply not bother because Bluetooth just works on that platform?  And are there any dongles out there that support both Bluetooth and Wifi, or is that simply not done?

Wide-ranging discussion welcome, including which dongles (of either communications stripe) should be preferred or avoided. 

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by jonathan909

[GeneralDisorder]

The cheap bluetooth one's, if they work at all, have too much lag for decent real time data analysis. Last I checked you had to spend about $100 to get a decent dongle. 

The wifi one's may be better - I haven't tried because well..... f*ck Steve Jobs and the horse he rode in on. Never liked Apple products and I can trace the roots back to the 80's on that account. I'll never own any Apple product nor condone them in my household. 

GD

[jonathan909]

Limitation noted.  At the moment I'm not looking for high-performance, low-latency data, just a step beyond what I can get from a pocket error code reader e.g. temperature sensor readings.  So I expect to get what I pay for when I get a $3 dongle (with free shipping!).

As for Apple and Jobs, I 100% concur.  He had two heads - one the visionary everyone takes him to have been, the other planted squarely up his a$$.  "Control freak" barely begins to describe him and his legacy in their closed, fascistic "ecosystem".  And they have a long history of doing unimaginably stupid things under the delusion that they were actually infinitely smarter because they were a product of Apple's obvious genius.  My favourite simple but glaring example is that for a while they put the keyboard bumps on the D and K keys (instead of the F and J, which have only been the standard for typists since Jesus first picked his nose).  "Sure, it's nonstandard, but it'll become the new standard because we're Apple and we're smarter than everyone who has ever typed or will ever do so in the future."  And don't get me started on the abandonment of any notion of ergonomics they established with the iPod Touch and carried into their tracking devices.  They're so far behind a 60s-vintage Western Electric Model 500 Touch Tone that it's just pathetic.  Bollocks to them.  Rant off.

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by jonathan909

[GeneralDisorder]

I have two or three of the earlier ELM327 units kicking around in drawers from about 10 years ago (back then they were $15 free shipping). Maybe things have improved but for the price.... I doubt it. They were so incredibly frustrating - very occasionally you would get one to work for a minute or two before it disconnected and then mysteriously wouldn't work again with that device but might work with other devices. They were garbage in my estimation. Maybe things have changed but I have no use for them anymore having spent the equivalent of a downpayment on a pretty nice house on my current diagnostic selection. 

The thing I hated about Apple - they constantly assume all their customers are idiots (it may be true). Why build a mouse with only ONE button?!? I have 5 fingers..... i swear their products are made for Barney the dinosaur. 

GD

Edited December 9, 2019 by GeneralDisorder