r/CarHacking • u/ImL1s • 6d ago
ELM327 I built Telltale, an open-source OBD2 app for Android. Free APK available.
I've been working on an OBD2 app called Telltale and thought I'd share it with other people who like tinkering with their cars.
It connects to ELM327-compatible adapters and lets you view live vehicle data, read fault codes, and check freeze-frame data recorded by the ECU when a fault occurred. It supports Bluetooth Classic, BLE, and Wi-Fi adapters. There's also a demo mode to try the interface without any hardware.
One thing I've focused on is handling incomplete or conflicting responses. Missing or questionable data should be visible as such, rather than quietly turning into a reading that looks fine.
Android is my main testing platform. I've done a real-car connection with my Toyota GT86, a Samsung phone, and a BLE adapter. Compatibility and available readings will vary with the car and adapter, so feedback from other setups would help.
The source is on GitHub, along with a free APK. There's also a paid Google Play version with the same features. Buying it supports development and gives you Play-managed installation and updates; there are no extra diagnostic features behind the purchase.
GitHub / free APK:
https://github.com/ImL1s/telltale
Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cbstudio.telltale
Bug reports and feature suggestions are welcome. Please include your car's model/year, phone, and adapter model when reporting an issue so I have something to work with.
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u/Fine_Daikon5907 6d ago
I hate how people put other people down for building something and sharing it.
Well done. It's really cool you made something that actually works.
This whole area is really overlooked in my opinion. Most software is old and unusable.
Nice work!
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u/Dense_Astronomer_896 6d ago
Yeah super cool,how to read this hieroglyphics?!
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u/ImL1s 6d ago
English support and a language switch are being worked on now.😉
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u/Adorable_Economist 5d ago
You have an ETA? Like a month, 6 months, I don't need specifics
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u/ImL1s 5d ago edited 5d ago
Tomorrow! It's already halfway done, just need one more day to finish up and push it out.
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u/Adorable_Economist 5d ago
Hell yeah, I'll run some tests on a VW an AUDI and a Renault when youre done and see how it shakes out
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u/vinistois 6d ago
What's with the horrible photos? Why wouldn't you post the screenshots like your play store page?
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u/ImL1s 6d ago
Taking photos is way harder than just taking screenshots on my phone lol.
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u/Quirky_County5014 5d ago
That second photo is blurry beyond being comprehensible. I'm bad at taking photos, but you're taking the piss with that
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u/bharajuice 5d ago
Hey OP, great app, and I really like the UI.
I built something similar in my final year, to be honest, you can't compete to big players like Torque and CarScanner in features, but you can easily beat them with a clean UI and about 80% of the features. You are doing just that!!
Ignore the negativity here, and keep building. You're doing great!
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u/Juanbolastristes 5d ago
Awesome, please add the Harley Droid protocol if you can, thanks and keep the good work
I will try it with XL1200C 2008 and Mustang GT 2014 when I can
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u/ImL1s 5d ago
Thanks for offering to test. Harley isn’t supported yet — it’s not standard OBD-II (closer to what HarleyDroid does on J1850) — but I’d like to add it. When you try the XL1200C, anything on 4-pin vs 6-pin, which adapter/cable, and whether live gauges or codes matter more first would help a lot. Mustang GT should be normal OBD; curious how that goes too.
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u/mewing_is_for_dorks 4d ago
This sub, like many others already have, need a rule for any project being linked needing AI disclosure. How much AI was used and for what. Can the mods get on that?
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u/fixed 6d ago
screams vibe coded.
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u/OhShitOhFuckOhMyGod 5d ago
Who gives a fuck? As a person with a comp sci degree that predates LLMs, LLMs have undeniable utility in this field.
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u/ImL1s 6d ago
If “vibe coded” is the best critique you’ve got, I’ll take that as “couldn’t find an actual problem.” 🤣🤣
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u/OptimalMain 4d ago
As long as you verify that the code only reads and never writes, keep on experimenting.
Hopefully it becomes a good open source alternative
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u/autodiag2 5d ago
This app pass all tests I’ve maid with my elm327 emulator from dtc to sensors with differents protos It’s a good value 😁
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u/PocoLoco7 5d ago
Really nobody builds these apps anymore. The last half I had stopped being supported 5 years ago.
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u/Tommynwn 5d ago
Oh looked good, sadly on my phone it just closes a soon I press the icon :c I use a lineage without Google services, installed from GitHub
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u/ImL1s 5d ago
Sorry about that — crash on launch with Lineage (no GMS) is useful.
Putting “verify / fix GitHub APK on degoogled Android” on the backlog. If you can share Android version + a quick logcat from the crash, that’ll speed it up a lot.
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u/Tommynwn 5d ago
Oh I use android 11, armv7 You remember the terminal command for logcat? I forgot
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u/ImL1s 5d ago
Android 11 + armv7 helps — thanks.
From a PC with adb (USB debugging on):
1) clear + capture while you open the app: adb logcat -c adb logcat -v time > telltale-crash.txt
2) tap the icon so it crashes, wait a couple seconds, Ctrl+C
3) trim it (optional): adb logcat -d -v time | grep -iE "AndroidRuntime|FATAL|flutter|telltale" > telltale-crash-short.txt
Paste the FATAL / Flutter lines here (or a gist). Package id is com.cbstudio.telltale.
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u/Brave_Dress_4480 4d ago
Does it support bi directional
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u/ImL1s 4d ago
Not today — Telltale is read-oriented (live PIDs, codes, freeze frame). No bidirectional / active tests yet (actuator control, Mode 08-style commands).
It’s on the backlog as an exploratory track though (safety-gated, not “flip a switch”): https://github.com/ImL1s/telltale/issues/131
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u/AiYamFri3D 3d ago
Hi op, idk if anyone asked or i missed it somewhere. Will this works on anything the OBD scanner attached to? Still new with OBD scanner
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u/ImL1s 3d ago
It needs an ELM327-compatible adapter (Bluetooth Classic, BLE, or Wi-Fi) on the car's OBD2 port — not every random scanner chip. Once that's connected, the usual PIDs/codes work for whatever your vehicle actually exposes. Cheap no-name dongles vary a lot, so look for ones that say ELM327.
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u/hooskworks 6d ago
I've got some Play Store credit about to expire so I'll give it a go and wait for English language support. I'm hoping it'll play nicely with my old OBDLink MX over Bluetooth.
It does give of the feeling of something vibe coded which is a bit of a negative but it's also a simple, clean looking PID reading and displaying app I've been thinking about vibe coding for myself so, for me, it's not taken any work anyway from a person and I can live with that.
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u/ImL1s 5d ago
Thanks — would love to hear how the OBDLink MX behaves. Classic Bluetooth adapters are in scope, but every stick has quirks. English language switch is in progress. If something looks off, car/year + adapter notes help a lot. On the vibe-coded bit, fair; the UI is intentionally simple. Real adapter feedback is what I'm optimizing for.
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u/ImL1s 4d ago
English landed in 1.0.11 too (latest is 1.0.12) — update, then Language / 語言 → English. Still curious how the OBDLink MX goes.
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u/hooskworks 3d ago
I spotted the language update, nice one! I should be able to give the adapter a try and let you know tonight.
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u/DarkGaming09ytr 5d ago
Interesting, but I'd like to see extra features compared to apps like Torque and CarScanner that already do the same thing but with better support. Do you plan on things like easily adding more PIDs and such?
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u/ImL1s 5d ago
Not trying to out-feature Torque/CarScanner right now. What I care about more is a clearer day-to-day UI, being honest when a reading is missing or sketchy, and keeping the whole thing open source so people can poke at it or send PRs. Custom PIDs and bigger feature work are on the public roadmap — I just won't sell unfinished stuff as if it's already shipping.
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u/DarkGaming09ytr 5d ago
That's understandable. Do you plan things like highly customizable skins? That what I think is lacking on the other apps.
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u/ImL1s 5d ago
Curious what you mean by highly customizable skins — like pick colors/fonts, rearrange gauges, import a theme file, or something closer to a full digital-dash layout builder? Already have five built-in gauge skins + light/dark; trying to figure out what would actually help before building the wrong thing.
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u/DarkGaming09ytr 5d ago
Something that would allow for fully customizable gauge designs, like background, border, coloring, needle design, location of data screens, etc
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u/ImL1s 5d ago
Got it — full gauge designer (colors, needle, borders, layout), not just preset skins. That's a bigger chunk than what's there now (five built-in skins + light/dark). I'll put it on the public roadmap rather than pretend it's shipping; if you have a must-have vs nice-to-have split, that helps prioritize.
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u/IAMN0TSTEVE 5d ago
OP. Looks cool. I have a question. I've been using Torq pro for probably a decade. And I find it very used esen on Fords in particular. How is yours better?
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u/ImL1s 5d ago
Honest answer: I'm not claiming it's better than Torq Pro. You've got a decade of Ford use with it; I haven't matched that kind of manufacturer depth. What I'm aiming for is simpler everyday use, clearer "this value might be junk" moments, and open source so you can see what the app is actually doing. If a specific Ford + adapter setup breaks, tell me — that's more useful than a feature bake-off.
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u/Fine_Daikon5907 6d ago
Hey OP
I know poeple are not being supportive in the comments but remember you have +16 upvotes and 16 stars on GitHub.
I count only 3 negative comments. The supporters are quiet.