RGB OBD
Frequently asked questions
Which cars and adapters work, what one payment licenses, how to install an app that isn't on the Play Store — and why a gauge might sit still.
Before you buy
What is RGB OBD?
An Android app that turns a head unit, tablet or phone into your car's dashboard. It reads live data from the OBD-II port through a Bluetooth adapter and shows it on animated gauges — seventeen dial designs plus a full-screen trip computer — alongside a drive computer, a diagnostic scanner and configurable alerts. Everything is drawn by the app itself: no ads, no accounts, no tracking, and the whole install is under one megabyte.
What do I need to run it?
Two things: an Android device running 8.0 or newer — a head unit, tablet or phone — and a Bluetooth OBD-II adapter that plugs into the diagnostic port under your dash. No cables, no laptop, nothing wired into the car permanently.
Which OBD-II adapter should I buy?
The app is built and tested with the Vgate vLinker MC+, a dual-mode adapter that speaks both Bluetooth Classic and BLE, so it pairs with head units and modern phones alike. Three more are verified against the app: the OBDLink LX, the OBDLink MX+ and the Vgate vLinker FS. Other ELM327-compatible Bluetooth adapters generally work, though cheap clones are the usual cause of erratic readings. Adapters are sold separately by third parties — we don't sell them and aren't affiliated with their makers.
Will it work with my car?
Almost certainly, if your car has an OBD-II port — standard on cars sold since the early 2000s. OBD-II standardises how a car answers, not what it has to answer, so the exact list of readings varies by make, model, year and engine. The core ones (revs, speed, coolant temperature, throttle, engine load, battery voltage) are near-universal; things like fuel level and boost depend on the vehicle. Try the free demo mode first, and if you want certainty about your car, ask us before you buy.
Can I try it before paying?
Yes. The installer is free to download and the app's demo mode runs every screen on simulated data — gauges, trip computer, scanner and settings — before the app ever touches your car. Demo mode has no time limit; the licence is what unlocks live data from your vehicle.
How much does it cost, and is there a subscription?
One payment of $129.00 AUD licenses one vehicle, for good. There is no subscription, no recurring charge and no expiry — and no ads or in-app purchases inside the app either.
Why isn't it on the Google Play Store?
RGB OBD is sold and distributed from this website instead. You buy here and download the installer directly — an Android APK under 1 MB. That also means Android asks your permission before installing it, which is normal for any app that doesn't come from the Play Store.
Does it need an internet connection?
Only once, when you register the app to your vehicle — and again briefly if you ever transfer the licence to another car. Driving works entirely offline: the app checks locally, in under a second, that it's still your licensed car on the other end of the adapter.
Will it run on an old or budget head unit?
Android 8.0 is the minimum it will install on, but that isn't the whole story. The live gauges redraw continuously, so on units with little RAM or a weak GPU the needles can stutter rather than sweep. Every reading stays accurate — it's the animation that suffers. If your unit is sluggish with other apps, expect the same here and choose one of the simpler gauge designs.
Buying, VINs & licences
What does one purchase actually license?
One vehicle, identified by its VIN. You enter the VIN at checkout, and the app reads the VIN straight from the engine computer when you register in the car. The licence counts vehicles, not devices or installs — put the app on your head unit, your tablet and your phone if you like.
I own several cars — do I need to buy the app twice?
You need a licence for each vehicle, but only one copy of the app. Register each licensed car from inside it and the same app carries them all: it reads the VIN on every connection and switches automatically, bringing that car's gauge ranges, redline, tank size and badge with it. Nothing to pick, nothing to reconfigure.
Where do I find my VIN?
It is a 17-character number stamped on the car — commonly on a plate at the base of the windscreen on the driver's side, on the door frame, or in your registration papers. Check it carefully at checkout: the licence is issued to exactly the characters you enter, and the app compares them against the VIN it reads from the vehicle.
What if I entered the wrong VIN at checkout?
Get in touch with your order details and the VIN you meant to use, and we will correct the licence for you. This is worth sorting before you register in the car, because registration is what matches the app to the VIN on your licence.
I'm changing cars — can I move my licence?
Yes, and you do it yourself. Open the app's settings, deregister the old vehicle, and the app asks for your new car's VIN and moves the licence on the spot — ready to register in the new vehicle. Transfers are protected by a device link created when a car is first registered, so only your own device can move a licence.
Can I sell or give my licence to someone else?
No — a licence stays with you and moves between your own vehicles, not between people. If you sell the car, deregister it and take the licence to your next one; the new owner buys their own. The app itself can be passed on freely as a link, since it is locked until it is registered against a licensed VIN.
How are payments handled — is my card safe?
Checkout runs through Stripe. Your card details are entered on Stripe's own secure page and never touch our servers. We keep the VIN, the email Stripe passes back for your receipt and download link, and the order details.
Can I get a refund?
Because a licence activates a specific vehicle, refunds are handled case by case: if the app genuinely won't work with your car and we can't fix it together, we'll make it right. Contact us with your order details. Nothing in our terms limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.
I fit head units or run a fleet — can I install it for customers?
Installing the app on someone else's behalf, or bundling it with hardware you sell, needs a distribution arrangement — talk to us and we'll set one up, including multi-vehicle licensing. Setting a customer up with their own licence, bought in their name and registered to their VIN, never needs permission.
Installing & updating
How do I install the app?
Four steps: get the APK onto the device, allow the install when Android asks, plug the adapter into the OBD-II port and pair it from the app's Adapter screen, then tap Register this app with the ignition on and an internet connection. Registration reads the VIN from the engine computer and unlocks everything.
Android warns me about installing from unknown sources — is something wrong?
No. "Unknown sources" only means the app didn't come from the Play Store; Android shows it for every sideloaded app and it is not a virus alert. On Android 8.0 and newer the permission is granted per app: the prompt sends you to Install unknown apps, where you enable it for whichever app you opened the file with — your browser or file manager — then you tap the file again.
My head unit has no usable browser. How do I get the file onto it?
Download the APK on a computer and copy it across with a USB stick, then open it with the unit's own file manager. On a phone or tablet it is simpler — just open the download link on the device itself.
How do updates work?
Download the newer APK and install it over the top: your registration, car profiles and settings stay intact. You won't have to watch this site for releases either — when a new version is out, the app's own menu says so and offers the download.
I lost my download link — can I get the app again?
Yes, and at no extra cost. The personal download page linked in your purchase email stays valid, so you can re-download any time. The public download link works too — the installer is deliberately free, because it stays locked until it is registered to a licensed VIN.
Is it safe to share the app with a friend?
Share the link, not the file. Pointing anyone at the official download page is welcome and guarantees they get the current, untampered build. Re-hosting, mirroring or uploading the APK anywhere else is not allowed, and a copy from elsewhere may have been modified and isn't supported.
Using the app
One of my gauges never moves. Is the app broken?
Usually the car simply doesn't report that value — no app can display a reading the engine computer never sends, and that limit is the same for a $2,000 workshop tool. To know for certain, run a Vehicle Scan: the report lists exactly which readings your car supports. If a reading is on that list and its gauge still won't move, tell us your car's year, make, model and engine and we'll look into it.
Can I change what the smaller gauges show?
Yes — long-press most readout cells and pick from eleven readings: coolant, battery, fuel, engine load, throttle, intake temperature, boost, air flow, ignition timing, ambient temperature and learned gear. The seventeen dial designs and the trip computer switch on the fly with the arrow buttons.
How does the gear reading work?
Two ways. Some cars publish the gear the transmission is actually in, and the app simply shows it. Most publish nothing of the sort, so the app works it out from the ratio between engine revs and road speed, learning your car's ratios as you drive and saving them for next time. Gears you spend real time in are picked up within seconds; a gear you rarely hold can take a few drives to settle. When the ratio can't be trusted — below roughly 15 km/h, at very low revs, mid-shift or with the clutch in — the app shows a dash rather than a wrong number.
How accurate is the fuel economy?
It uses your car's airflow sensor where there is one, and a manifold-pressure estimate where there isn't — close, but it won't match the dash figure exactly. Setting your engine size and tank capacity in the car profile sharpens both the economy figure and the estimated range.
The app's speed, battery or fuel reading doesn't match my dashboard.
That's expected, and adjustable. OBD voltage is measured at a control module and often reads a few tenths below the battery, fuel senders rarely agree with the dash needle, and speedometers are usually optimistic by design. Settings has calibration for each — speed and RPM as a percentage, battery in volts, fuel as a percentage — so you can line the app up with the car's own instruments.
What does the vehicle scan tell me?
One tap runs the full standard sweep: check-engine status, stored, pending and permanent trouble codes, the freeze frame captured when a fault was confirmed, readiness monitors, fuel trims, the VIN and calibration ID, and exactly which readings your car supports. Every code is named from a catalogue of over five hundred SAE definitions, and tapping one opens a plain-English sheet — what the fault means for you as the driver, its common causes in rough order of likelihood, how urgent it is, and which of the car's computers reported it.
Can I clear a check-engine light with it?
Yes, from the scan screen — behind a confirmation that spells out what clearing really does. Clearing erases the codes and resets your car's emissions readiness monitors, which take a drive cycle or more to complete again; it does not fix the underlying fault, and the light returns if the problem is still there.
My car is a Japanese import and the gauges stay dark.
Some JDM-built vehicles answer only the manufacturer's own diagnostic dialect, not the standard OBD-II live-data service — the adapter connects, a fault-code scan may even work, but the gauges show nothing. For Toyota imports there is an answer: tick Toyota Japanese import (JDM) in settings and the gauges also speak Toyota's own 21-series dialect, proven on a 2010 Vellfire. Imports from other makes can still be dark, so the app probes the car during registration and warns you before your licence is used.
What alerts can it give me?
A full-screen flash and beep for hot coolant or a sagging battery, at thresholds you set; an over-rev warning at your redline, which you can turn off and keep just the red zone on the dials; and a warm-up guard that tints the rev readout blue until the coolant passes 60 °C. A dropped Bluetooth link retries by itself.
Can the gauges start on their own when I turn the car on?
On a head unit that powers up with the ignition, yes — tick "Launch gauges when the device boots" in settings and the dials are on screen before you're out of the driveway.
Does it show my car's make and model?
Pick your exact car — year, make, model and trim, from a catalogue of 17 makes as sold in Australia from 2000 on — and the app names it on screen and draws the make's badge faintly behind every page, as strong or subtle as you like. The profile also sets gauge ranges, redline and tank size.
Privacy & support
Does the app track me or need an account?
No. There are no user accounts, no ads, no analytics and no tracking. Your gauges, trips, fuel figures, timing runs, diagnostic scans and settings are created on your device and stay there — the app never uploads your driving data.
What does the app send, and when?
Only when registering, deregistering or transferring a licence, and only two things: the VIN it read from your car, to check it against your licence, and a device identifier created at first registration, which is what stops anyone else moving your licence. That is the complete list.
Is it safe to leave the adapter plugged in?
The app only reads data; it never writes to the car except when you explicitly clear trouble codes. The adapter itself is a separate product with its own instructions — most draw a small standby current, so if you leave a car parked for weeks it is worth unplugging, exactly as the adapter's maker advises.
How do I get help?
Send us a message through the contact form. If it is about a reading or a car-specific problem, include the year, make, model and engine, and the adapter you are using — that is usually enough for us to tell you what is happening.
Still have a question?
Tell us your car's year, make, model and engine and we'll tell you what to expect — or buy the app for $129.00 AUD and start with the free demo mode while the adapter is in the post.