BMW diagnostics, live data, service and coding
Works with the AutoLingo for BMW adapter
It plugs into your BMW's diagnostic socket. $119.00 launch price, once: the app is free, with no subscription.
AutoLingo for BMW is on Android phones and tablets now, and coming soon to iPhone and iPad. Plug in the adapter, and your phone or tablet tells you what's wrong with your BMW in plain English: the engine, transmission, brakes, airbags, instrument cluster and more, on BMWs from the early 90s through the F-chassis cars. Most BMW apps struggle with cars from before 2008, like the E36, E39, E46 and E83, and most don't support cars from before 1996 at all. AutoLingo for BMW covers them too, and the compatibility check below shows what it does on yours.
It also shows live data as you drive, checks whether your car is ready for an emissions inspection and how healthy its battery is (on cars that support it), and on E-chassis BMWs shows how each module is set up (changing coding is in development: some settings already, more in free updates).
- The app is free
- No subscription
- Android now, iPhone and iPad soon
See what it does on your BMW Look up a BMW fault code
Check your car before you buy
See what AutoLingo for BMW can do on your car, module by module and function by function. If something isn't supported yet, we say so here, not after you've bought the adapter.
Your BMW, in plain English
What it does
Everything in your BMW, from the engine and brakes to the airbags and instrument cluster, is run by built-in electronics that keep track of how it's doing. AutoLingo for BMW lets your phone or tablet talk to them. It opens on an overview of your car, then has four main functions:
Your car at a glance
As soon as you connect, the Overview shows your BMW (model, engine, VIN) and its mileage, with four tiles: faults, service due, battery health and emissions readiness, the most urgent first. It also tells you if a module your car was built with doesn't answer. Tap any of them for the details.
Battery health and emissions readiness on cars that support them.
Find out what's wrong
Whenever something goes wrong, your car captures diagnostic information about it, often without turning on any warning light. AutoLingo for BMW reads it in plain English, from most of the car's modules, not just the engine. After a repair, it can clear the faults and the warning light they caused; if a fault comes right back, so does the light.
Ready for inspection?
Check whether your car is ready for an emissions inspection (OBD readiness) and how healthy its battery is, on cars that support it. Reset the service reminders, register a new battery, set the clock, or test the fuel pump, fans and injectors.
Service jobs that change the car run once we've confirmed each one on a real car of that model; until then the app shows them as Coming, and they arrive in free updates. How-tos
See what your car sees
Watch what your car's electronics see while it runs: engine RPM, sensor values (temperatures, positions, speeds, voltages), how smoothly each cylinder fires, whether the engine runs rich or lean, the speed of each wheel and much more, updated as you drive. It helps spot a problem as it happens, or check that a repair really worked. Tap any reading to see it as a graph.
Which readings you get depends on your car's modules, so older models generally show fewer.
See how your car is set up
Each module in your BMW is set up (coded) for the car it's in: the options it was built with, the market, how the lights and locks behave. On E-chassis BMWs, AutoLingo for BMW shows those settings in plain English, and which ones differ from the factory's.
Changing coding is in development and not complete: on E-chassis BMWs the app can already change some settings, on module versions we've confirmed on a real car and on versions that use the same write method as one of those (with a backup first, and the backup written back if the change doesn't hold), and more come in free updates. Where a service job needs a coding change, like registering a different battery, the app makes it for you. Coding on F-chassis BMWs will come in a free update.
Every update is free, and each one covers more BMWs.
Speaks BMW, not just OBD2
Most phone apps and store-bought code readers use OBD2, a generic standard every car sold in the US since 1996 has to support. OBD2 only covers emissions: the engine, and the transmission where it affects emissions. That's a fraction of a BMW's modules. On the 2008 X3 we test with, it's 2 of the 17 that AutoLingo for BMW talks to.
AutoLingo for BMW uses BMW's own diagnostic protocols instead, the language BMW's dealer tools speak. That's how it reaches the brakes, airbags, instrument cluster and body electronics, reads far more detail about each fault, and shows each module's coding, none of which a generic OBD2 reader can. Its service jobs that change the car, from resetting the service reminders to registering a new battery, use the same protocols, and so does changing coding, which is in development.
BMWs from before 1996 too. In the US those cars have no OBD2 (they're often called OBD1), so BMW's own protocols are the only way to talk to them, and generic code readers can't. AutoLingo for BMW speaks them: it reads many modules on the early E36, E34, E32 and E31. Most cars from those years have the round 20-pin socket under the hood, so you'll need the 20-pin cable. The compatibility check shows exactly which modules on yours.
It also knows which modules your BMW was built with, from the car's own records. If one of them doesn't answer, AutoLingo for BMW tells you, so a module that has failed or been removed doesn't just quietly go missing. That works on every E- and F-chassis BMW except the oldest, through the E36, which don't keep that record.
One adapter. No subscription.
AutoLingo for BMW adapter
$119.00 Launch price $189.00 later
The app is free; you buy the adapter once. Free shipping within the US.
Order the adapter- 30-day returns, and a lifetime warranty (physical damage excluded)
Buy the adapter once, and that's it.
$119.00 launch price, $189.00 later. The adapter ships free within the US via USPS Ground Advantage; orders shipping to California add sales tax at checkout. The app is free, every update is free (with the new features and support for more BMWs each one brings), and there's no subscription, no yearly fee and no in-app purchases. It isn't locked to one car: use it on every supported BMW you own. If it doesn't work on your car, send it back within 30 days of delivery for a full refund (how returns work).
Why only the AutoLingo for BMW adapter works
AutoLingo for BMW works only with its own adapter. That isn't to sell you a box: generic OBD2 adapters can't speak the languages older BMWs use.
- Generic OBD2 adapters (ELM327 and its many clones) speak the emissions protocols in their standard form: a fixed speed and a standard wake-up addressed to the engine and transmission. That's enough for generic engine codes, not for the rest of the car.
- Older BMWs talk to their modules in BMW's own protocols, which those adapters can't produce: DS2 (most E-chassis modules), the slow wake-up of older engine modules, BMW-FAST, and BMW's own addressing on the diagnostic CAN bus.
- Plug and play: nothing to flash or set up, and no pairing in your phone's Bluetooth settings. Plug it in, open the app, connect.
Works with no signal
Garages, barns and parking structures rarely have good cell service. Once you've signed in, AutoLingo for BMW works at your car without an internet connection, and it doesn't lock you out if it can't reach our servers.
Try it without an adapter
Get the app on Google Play and tap Try the demo: it plays recordings of real BMWs (an X3 E83, a 3 Series E90 and an X5 M F85), faults and all, so you can see every screen before you buy the adapter.
Android now, iPhone and iPad soon
AutoLingo for BMW is out now on Android phones and tablets. The iPhone and iPad version is waiting for Apple's review: the same app, the same adapter, the same features.
Get news by email
Enter your email address to hear what each free update adds and which BMWs it covers.