Torque for Android

For the petrolheads out there, also known as car guys – an app that can monitor the car’s engine and other performance status certainly deserves a standing ovation. The app can track your car’s location and do manually fed data calculations using the GPS chip, but that’s not so cool. The best feature of Torque is, it can read data from a OBD2 compliant adapter and debug the error codes, as well as show real time engine sensor data as provided by the ECU. The status of your car engine now goes beyond knowing just the speed, RPM and mileage; it gets even more data.

Background Check

Ever since electronics were introduced to cars, they had been required to have an OBD port installed which must be easily accessible. OBD stands for On Board Diagnostics. The Engine Control Unit (ECU) reads the engine status in real time using many sensors placed inside the engine and stores them in the car computer. The OBD port offers access to the computer and gets these real time data. There are some preset fault codes as well, which could indicate any malfunction inside the engine.

Torque App Features

In case you just want to measure how fast you are going while you ride your car, the GPS chip, antennas and sensors can pull those data for you. However, this won’t get you the real picture. And OBD2 compliant Bluetooth chip can read all the data being generated by the ECU and make them readable through the OBD port. The home screen shows different dials or half dials to show engine rev, speed in kmh or mph, coolant temperature, vacuum, speed differential and throttle response etc.

Also, if a fault code is generated, it could be fetched and analyzed to check which part of the engine is making the trouble. Such computerized diagnostic can easily save your sweat, time and money.

Versions

Torque comes in pro and lite versions. Pro version houses the most basic features and it comes for free. The Pro version however requires some money and it offers advanced features like tracking the car’s location, getting the mileage, car’s altitude etc.

Conclusion

The app is offered in Android only and it’s available in Google Play Store. A Bluetooth dongle is required to bridge between the phone and the ECU.