Information Density: Piston – Signal Evidence & AI Readability

[H1] OBD2 diagnostic app for Android
Is the Check Engine Light on? Use Piston App to turn your mobile device into a car scanner and read the Diagnostic Trouble Codes related to the problem as well as the Freeze Frame data. This will help you identify and fix the issue. All this for free!Download Now For Free
[IMG: Banner image]
[IMG: feature image]
[H2] What’s Included in Free Version
The basic version of the Piston app includes
Reading and clearing fault codes
Reading Freeze Frame data
Access to data from sensors in Real-Time
Easy setup and intuitive setup
Clean and simple user interfaceDownload Now
[IMG: feature image]
[H2] What’s Included in the Premium Version
You can always upgrade to the Premium Version that will unlock the following functionalities
Real-time Charts of the sensors readouts
Live Data export to CSV files
Readiness Monitors since faults cleared and for the current driving cycle
Store information about faults you read in a local history. Sign In with Google to keep it remotely
Read VIN Number (some older vehicles my not support VIN readout)
No Subscriptions - Pay once, use forever!Download Now
[H2] What Users Are Saying About Piston
Don’t just take our word for it - hear from some of our satisfied users! Check out some of the reviews left by our users on the Play Store.This app has served me well for so long… and continues to do so. I bought premium, as the price is great for value, and functionality (especially logging) is superb. Interface is clean, and easy to navigate. Best OBD reading app for me.Basic information, error codes and the possibility of reading and deleting them. Check Engine doesn’t scare me anymore. I recommend.Exceptionally good! This is one of the best OBD II apps. Simple yet very straightforward and efficient! I still have to test the new update but it looks already very good!In my case, Megane II Station Wagon 1.6 petrol, everything works, Passat B6 2.0 2014 also shows errors without any problems. I personally recommend it.

[H1] Help
[H3] Resolving Connection Issues
The Piston application requires an ELM327 based device, either Bluetooth or WiFi, to work.The latest versions of the application, after failing to connect, show a message with information on how to solve your particular problem as it knows the context (i.e. what exactly failed).
[H4] Bluetooth Devices
Please make sure you have selected the correct device in the application Settings.If you can’t establish a Bluetooth connection you may try to unpair your ELM327 device in your phone settings and pair it again.
[H4] WiFi Devices
Please make sure you have entered the correct WiFi address and port (the default values work for most devices, but not for all) in the app settings.If you can’t make a WiFi connection, please make sure you are connected to the WiFi network of your OBD2 device.Try to turn off the Mobile Internet (3G/4G/5G). This is the most common reason for WiFi connection failures.
[H4] OBD2 Connection Problems
It may happen that your phone will connect to the ELM device, however the ELM chip is unable to connect to your vehicle’s ECU.
The indication of the OBD2 connection issue is the UNABLE TO CONNECT response shown in the Communication screen of the app with other commands executed without problem e.g. AT Z.The ignition is off. This is the most common problem. You need to turn on the engine ignition in order to activate the ECU. You may as well start the vehicle’s engine.The UNABLE TO CONNECT response may also mean that the ELM327 device cannot detect the OBD protocol. You may try to select the OBD protocol in the app settings (probably you will need to Google which one your vehicle uses).
Many dongles have issues connecting to the vehicles using the J1850 PWM protocol. This is the protocol used by Ford in many of their vehicles up to mid 2000’s.You may try to select the Wait longer for ECU responses option in the Settings - it helps to establish connections with some ECUs.The ELM devices differ in quality and firmware. It sometimes happens that the ELM327 chip may stop responding. In this situation you may unplug your ELM device and plug it again.
[H3] Premium Version
[H4] Payment options
The Premium version is an in-app purchase and we are required to use Google Play’s billing system as described here
. What this means for us we are only able to provide the payment options supported by Google. Alternative methods like Blik for example are not available at the moment.The payment is handled by Google and we don’t have access to your personal details like the card number.
[H4] Restoring Premium Version
This application checks with the Play Store at every start if you have the Premium in-app purchase active. It may happen, especially after activating a new Android device, that the Play Store hasn’t downloaded all in-app purchases yet. If the application doesn’t see the Premium upgrade you may try the following steps:Navigate to the Play Store Application and make sure you are logged-in with the same account you used to purchase the Premium upgrade.Navigate to the Play Store Application and under your account section go to the Payments and subscriptions menu and then Budget and history. This process usually triggers the Play Store to download all the in-app purchases. You will also be able to check if the Premium upgrade is visible in your account.If in the Play Store Application you are logged-in using a different account than the one used to purchase the Premium version, please:Uninstall the Piston AppSwitch the user in the Play Store Application to the one used to purchase the Premium versionRestart your phoneInstall the Piston App again.Restart your phone and make sure you are connected to the Internet.Tap on the Upgrade to Premium button, but DO NOT proceed with the payment.If none of the above helps please send us a message at support@piston.app
with your order id - you can search your emails for the GPA text, all order numbers start with it.

[H1] Privacy Policy
[H3] Piston Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies to the Piston Android application.Updated on 18th November 2023 with information about account deletion.
[H3] Information we collect and why we need it
[H4] Crash reports
Crash reports provide details about the code that caused the crash and also about the device, like model or amount of memory - sometimes crashes are specific to a device. We need crash reports to identify issues, measure their impact and fix them.We use Firebase Crashlytics to collect crash reports.Firebase Crashlytics retains crash reports and related data for 90 days.
[H4] Application performance
There are thousands of different phones and tablets with very different hardware configurations. Performance monitoring allows us to keep the application fast and responsive.We use Firebase Performance Monitoring to collect performance data.Performance Monitoring keeps installation and IP-associated events for 30 days and de-identified performance data for 90 days.
[H4] Application analytics
Our application collects information about how it is used. For example which feature is used by what percentage of the users. This helps us prioritise the work and focus on functionalities our users value.We use Google Analytics for Firebase to collect analytics data.The analytics information is retained for 14 months.
[H4] Remote config
Our application uses remote feature toggles to release new features with confidence. This will allow us to release new functionalities to a percentage of users.We use Firebase Remote Config to manage feature toggles.
[H4] Authentication data
The premium version of the application allows users to store the information about the faults they read in remote servers. To make sure users can access only their own data we need to authenticate them.The email addresses are used only for logging in and communication related to it.We use Firebase Authentication for authentication. Users can log in using their Google account.You can always request your account from the Firebase Authentication to be deleted. You can find more information here
.
[H4] Users’ data stored in remote servers
The premium version of the application to store the information about the faults they read in remote servers. This includes the fault codes and the VIN number. This information is stored only for synchronisation and backup purposes.User data is stored until it is deleted. This can be done from the History screen.We use Firebase Firestore to keep users’ data.
[H3] Security
All the data is transmitted to the remote servers encrypted. The application uses the Play Integrity API to check application integrity, the licensing status, and the device integrity. This is used in conjunction with Firebase Services.
[H3] Unique Identifiers
Firebase services collect some unique identifiers like Firebase Installation UUID. We have opted out from collecting advertising IDs. You can read more about the identifiers Firebase collects and why it needs them here: https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy
.
[H3] Opt-in and opt-out
We collect the information covered in this Privacy Policy after we get consent form the user. Crash reports, Performance data, Remote config and Analytics opt-in can be done from the Home screen or from the Settings. Users can opt-out at any time from the Settings screen.
[H3] Our Partners
Firebase are services made by Google. This is how Google uses the analytics data we share with them https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites
. You can read more about Privacy and Security in Firebase here https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy
.
[H3] Contacting Us
If you have any questions regarding this policy you can contact us via email support@piston.app
.

[H1] Delete Your Account
[H4] You can always delete your account
The Premium version of the Piston application uses Firebase Auth with Google as the OAuth provider. When you login for the first time a new account is created for you in a database. This account is used to backup and synchronise between your devices your faults related actions like reading faults and associated fault codes.You can always delete your account in the Piston application. Just navigate to the Settings screen and find the Delete Account option in the Privacy section.If you don’t have the application installed any more or are having troubles deleting your account from the application you can always contact us via email support@piston.app
and we will assist you with the account deletion request.Please remember that account deletion is permanent and once done all your data (like historical fault codes) will be deleted as well.