OBDchi — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-10-22

OBDchi ("the app") reads diagnostic data from your car through an OBD-II adapter. This policy explains what leaves your phone and why.

Data that stays on your phone

Vehicle data — VIN, trouble codes, sensor values, saved checks in the garage, trip statistics — and your settings are stored only on your device. Uninstalling the app deletes them.

Data that leaves your phone

• Reports you share. When you export a report, it goes only where you send it (another app, e-mail, an AI chat of your choice).
• AI mechanic. When you start an AI diagnosis, the app sends the trouble codes, sensor values, self-test results, the VIN with its serial number removed, and the messages you type to our server. The server forwards them to Anthropic's Claude AI, which processes them as our service provider to produce the answer. Conversations are deleted from our server after 24 hours and are never used for advertising.
• Token balance. AI diagnostic tokens are linked to a random app identifier created on your phone, not to your name, e-mail or phone number. When you buy tokens, Pro or Plus, the store receipt is sent to our server to verify the purchase; a Plus or Pro receipt also lets a reinstalled app find its token balance again.
• Free welcome diagnosis (once per phone). To give it only once per phone, also after a reinstall, the app proves the phone is genuine when you first open the AI mechanic. On iPhone it sends an Apple DeviceCheck token: Apple keeps one mark for the phone and nothing that identifies it reaches us. On Android it sends a one-way hash of the phone's Android ID and a Google Play Integrity token (genuine app on a genuine device); our server keeps only a second keyed hash of it, used solely to prevent repeated gifts, never for tracking or advertising.
• Reports for improving the diagnostics (only if you agree). The app asks once. If you agree, each check you run on a real car is sent anonymously: make, model, year and fuel you entered, trouble codes, readiness, freeze frame, sensor readings, self-test results, the app's findings and, for AI chats, the AI mechanic's messages (not yours). The VIN is shortened to its first 11 characters (model, year and plant; the serial number that identifies your car is never sent) and the date is kept without the time. These reports are stored in a separate database without the app identifier, IP address or purchases, so they cannot be linked to you or deleted individually. We use them to improve the diagnostics and to train the AI that powers them. You can stop at any time in Settings; reports waiting on the phone are then deleted.
• Technical data (sent automatically, anonymous). To support more adapters and cars and to fix bugs, the app sends without asking: how each connection to a real car went — adapter type and the name it broadcasts (such as "OBDII" or "vLinker"), its chip and firmware version, the OBD protocol, which control modules answered and how, and for a failed connection the error with the last technical adapter lines (VIN replies removed); which modules a module scan found and how many codes each had (not the codes); the make, model, year and fuel you entered and the manufacturer code of the VIN (its first 3 characters); app errors (the error type and where in the program it happened); the app and phone OS versions. It is sent without the app identifier, the IP address is not stored, and it is deleted after one year. Nothing is sent from demo mode. You can switch it off in Settings ("Send anonymous technical data"); data waiting on the phone is then deleted.
• Purchases are processed by Google Play or the App Store under their privacy policies.
• Ads (free plan, when shown). Google AdMob (and partner networks through AdMob mediation, such as Yandex Advertising Network) may use your device's advertising identifier according to the consent you give in the app. Diagnostic data is never sent to ad networks. Paid plans show no ads.

Permissions

• Bluetooth — to connect to the OBD-II adapter.
• Location (Android 11 and older only) — Android requires it for Bluetooth scanning. The app does not read or store your location.
• Local network (iOS) — to connect to Wi-Fi adapters.
• Network (Android) — a Wi-Fi adapter's network has no internet, so while one is connected the app uses mobile data for the AI mechanic and the uploads above.

Children

The app is not directed at children under 13.

Contact and deletion

To ask about your data or to delete your AI token balance and any stored conversation, contact the developer at the e-mail address shown in the store listing and include the app identifier shown at the bottom of the AI mechanic screen.

Changes

We will update this page and its date when the policy changes.