Want to get Dr. Prius, but i am having issues

Make sure bluetooth is on for the ipad and off on phone.

 

yes, make sure there is only one connection to that OBD2 adapter at a time.
@SdzDesigns, have you ever connected your iPad mini to other Bluetooth devices?

 

I recently switched from an iPhone to an Android phone and noticed all my bluetooth issues went away. Apple, on my iPhone, iMac, MacBook Pro, and my daughter's iPad, all had Bluetooth connectivity issues. My Bose Sound Link Speaker was almost impossible to get to work. So, first go on your iPad and select any existing bluetooth devices and say "forget this device" or if that isn't an option, remove all the bluetooth devices. Then, try again to scan for your OBDII bluetooth scanner. I too purchased the recommended Dr. Prius OBDII scanner based on what was recommended, and I was told it would work on Android or iOS, but I haven't had a need to run it on iOS. I hope this helps you. Also I think on the iPad, you can go into Bluetooth "Advanced" mode which gives you the ability to delete and forget devices. I know for 100% sure, that is how I do it on my MacBook Pro, but I think the iPad is similar. But yes I ALWAYS have bluetooth connectivity issues on all my Apple products and it Bluetooth just works so much better on my Android phone.

 

I use an IPad and find that all you have to do is disconnect current Bluetooth connections such as to the head unit. I find it is not necessary to delete them. Of course, make sure the ODB2 adapter is not already hooked up to another device.

 

I've also reached out to Apple technique support about 6 months ago regarding this issue, the engineer told me to "Reset Network Settings" to clean up all the Junk connection including WiFi and all previous wireless settings. That fixed my Bluetooth issue, the only downside is losing all the wifi password that I have to re-enter later on.

 

I will FULLY admit that I am a Prius NEWBIE, but I used to be a computer technician for over 25 years. You do not need to "Reset Network Settings", but it is very possible to have issues to the point that you need to delete other bluetooth devices. This is partially an Apple issue, but it mainly is an issue with the actual Bluetooth device. I have certain Bluetooth devices that connect regularly to Apple products with no problems, but some other Bluetooth devices are hard to connect to Apple products. And don't get me wrong, I love Apple products. Typing to you now from a new MacBook Pro. Both iOS and MacOS have their own issues with Bluetooth devices. For example, I have an expensive pair of Sony bluetooth headphones and it doesn't matter if they were the last Bluetooth device used or not, they always connect without a problem. But I have a Bose Soundlink Bluetooth speaker that gives me fits on both iOS and MacOS. If my Bose speaker was the last Bluetooth device used, then I have no problems. But if my Sony headphones or any other Bluetooth device was used more recently than the Bose speaker, then the Bose speaker will not connect. I have to go into Bluetooth devices and remove or "forget this device" depending on if using iOS or MacOS. Sometimes I only need to remove the Bose speaker and I can leave all the other bluetooth devices. Once the Bose speaker is removed or forgotten, it becomes "discoverable" again. But other times I have to remove or "forget this device" on all listed bluetooth devices in order for an Apple product to find my Bose speaker. This is a COMMON complaint with Apple products and they have acknowledged this issue and have blamed it on iOS or MacOS with a promised fix with a software update. Other Apple responses on different Apple threads say this is an issue which will be resolved with the new version of bluetooth, but that didn't help because yes now the new bluetooth devices connect easier to newer Apple products, but the older devices still have the same connection problems. I bought a new MacBook Pro in 2017 in hopes of not having bluetooth issues and I still have issues. Other Apple thread responses simply blame the bluetooth device manufacturers. And yes some bluetooth devices work better with Apple than others do. I am new to Android and that is where I'll admit I'm a NEWBIE as well, but I have had ZERO connection issues on Android and I hate admitting that anything on Android is better than Apple, but Android just seems to work better with all of my bluetooth devices and I have about 15 bluetooth devices.

May I ask what particular bluetooth OBDII Scanner you purchased to work with Dr. Prius? I bought a cheap model that was recommended by Dr. Prius. I bought the Panlong model which cost $12. It works great with Android but I haven't tried it with iOS. What I'm getting at is if you happen to have the same scanner as me, I don't mind trying to troubleshoot my scanner on an iOS device. I think I read that some of the recommended scanners work better with iOS than others, and some scanners don't work with iOS at all. If you have the Panlong ELM327, let me know and I'd be glad to troubleshoot for you.

 

I bought this one and use IOS

 

Ok I looked at so many different Bluetooth OBDII scanners, that I didn't notice the one I got does NOT support iOS. They do make a WiFi iOS OBDII scanner. I wasn't looking for iOS compatibility, what sold me was that Dr. Prius recommended it. The price was an excellent deal. It has a 100% money back guarantee. It has a 1 year warranty and has excellent reviews which is hard to find for a $10 device. The other thing that sold me is that Torque Pro also recommends it and I have the paid version Torque Pro. It is small but it seems solidly built especially for $10. I'm not a huge Amazon fan and didn't need $35 with of crap to get free shipping, so I paid $12 on eBay for it and got free fast shipping. Maybe it's worth taking a look at their WiFi iOS scanners if you plan on doing all your scanning at home. That would eliminate iOS Bluetooth issues. But, I'm hesitant because I would think that certain apps might not work with that. For example, Dr. Prius and other apps actually say "searching for bluetooth" or "connecting to bluetooth".

The TONWON scanner that @rjparker has, I looked at this scanner and passed for a few reasons and maybe rj can help make it more clear. Dr. Prius actually did not recommend the TONWON connector that is the cheaper white/blue model. So being that a TONWON wasn't recommended by Dr. Prius, I didn't look at the more expensive models. But looking at Amazon it is for both Android and iOS but Torque Pro is only an Android program. According to OBD ADVISOR website, OBD Fusion is the best iOS OBDII app and OBD Auto Doctor is the #2 rated iOS app.

Going back and re-reading the Dr.Prius recommendations, there are a TON that are not recommended. The one that is MOST recommended by Dr. Prius that also works with iOS is the Carista OBDII scanner. So I'm happy with my $10 scanner as it was highly recommended by Dr. Prius and Torque Pro, but if you need iOS I suggest the Carista scanner for $19.99 because it is the most recommend scanner by Dr. Prius.

 

The best is the hardwired Techstream that has to run on a laptop. It has the capability to flash ecus and burn keys to say nothing of commanding devices. I do like the bluetooth module I have since I can just leave it plugged in and its ready on the fly. It works reliably on my IOS device and it was recommended by others on the forum. The apps are the real difference and I find Dr Prius to be rather limited. I get more use out of the free “Car Scanner”app.

 

Panlong can only run on Android.
Carista selling at $19 on Amazon support both iOS and Android with great support.
iCar vPro and Veepeak are also good, affordable adapters that support both operating system.

 

Techstream is basically the mother of Dr. Prius! I still have the subscription and it is draining my wallet fast that I am considering to cancel it soon. Techstream got a lot of features, but it doesn't have graphical UI nor easy to use interface that prompt me to create the Dr. Prius, Techstream also doesn't have the "full battery test" nor "life expectancy test" that make Dr. Prius an unique product. on top of all that, using cellphone to monitor and to run test on your vehicles is the future, no clunky laptop require

 

I put Dr. Prius on my iPhone about 6 months back. Now I guess I've gotta get an OBD dongle...

 

This should be easy now with my try-and-error comparison result at: Hybrid battery diagnostic and repair tool for Toyota and Lexus

 

Thanks, yeah I think that was the link I visited before. Have an iPhone, and this sitting on-hold in an Amazon order. One of the good ones?

 

yup, that's one of the good one.

 

I have a Gen 1 Prius. Triangle and engine light came on with loss of power. Purchased the veepeak recommended above, downloaded the Dr Prius app and connected successfully. The app says it cannot do battery test or life expectancy tests for Gen 1--First of all, I feel left out...But, here's the thing: the app says there are no engine codes, and no HV battery codes. Where and how would I find other codes that trigger the check engine light?

 

Technically it can do the test, however the test is not accurate at all due to the super slow OBD2 transfer rate on Gen1, and don't feel left out as I've spent more time on Gen1 then any other hybrid line-up, just asked some of the Gen1 volunteer here that making this possible.

As of now I still need to figure out how to read the freeze frame from Gen1, hopefully I can crack the code soon so that past error code can be read from the App.

 

Jack,

I'm looking at purchasing your app to use the battery test for comparison to the Hybrid Assistant app. I'm far from a guru on these app store purchases, but from the info I see, it runs $12.99? Is that correct? Does it allow unlimited battery testing or ? Is it limited to one vehicle? Or can I use this to demonstrate battery capacity to anyone if I install a battery in their car?

 

Hello:

I also need help connecting to the app. I am using a Carista adapter. It shows up on my phone but when I try to connect it tell me I am timed out and cannot get though. As additional information, I tried it on my wife's Altima and it made the connection, and sometimes I could not get a code reader to link to the OBD2 port on the Prius. Does that seem like a port issue? Or am I not doing something correct? Thanks