BMW diagnostics, live data, service and coding

AutoLingo for BMW works on iPhone, iPad and Android. Plug in the adapter, and your phone or tablet tells you what's wrong with your BMW in plain English: the engine, brakes, airbags, instrument cluster and more. Most BMW apps struggle with cars from before 2008, like the E36, E39, E46 and E83. AutoLingo for BMW covers them too, from the E30 through the F-chassis cars, and before you buy, its compatibility check 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.

See what it does on your BMW Look up a BMW fault code

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AutoLingo for BMW on an iPhone: the Overview of a 2008 X3 3.0si with 171,461 miles after a scan, with buttons to read again and share, tiles for 23 faults in 8 of 22 modules, the next service (engine oil in 9,321 miles), the battery (no sensor) and emissions (ready, 7 of 7 monitors), then the modules with faults and one module that isn't answering (the Central Information Display), and the Overview, Faults, Service, Live data and Coding tabs at the bottom

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:

Overview

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.

Faults

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.

Service Checks now

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. Service jobs that change the car, like resetting the service reminders or registering a new battery, come in free updates as we confirm each one on real cars of that model.

Live data

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.

Coding In development

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.

For now the app only shows your car's coding; it doesn't change it. Changing coding, and coding on F-chassis BMWs, are in development and will come in free updates.

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. Service functions that change the car, and changing coding, build on the same protocols and come in free updates.

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 (the E30 through the E36), which don't keep that record.

One adapter. No subscription.

Buy the adapter once, and that's it.

Launch price The AutoLingo for BMW adapter is $119.00 at launch. After launch it will be $189.00.

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 or yearly fee. The adapter ships free within the US via USPS Priority Mail; orders shipping to California add sales tax at checkout. If it doesn't work on your car, send it back within 30 days of delivery for a full refund.