Why doesn't my ELM327 iPhone adapter work?
2016-05-04 13:48:00
Since you said that the ELM 327 scanner won’t “pair” with your phone, I’ll assume that your problem lies with the way iPhones (and all iOS
devices) approach Bluetooth. If your ELM 327 device does use Bluetooth, then it’s unfortunately not going to work with your unmodified iPhone.
You may have better luck with a jailbroken device, but your best bet is probably going to be picking up an ELM 327 Wi-Fi scan tool or one that uses
a USB/dock connector.
Bluetooth and ELM 327 iPhone Adapters
Most inexpensive ELM 327 scanning tools include a built-in Bluetooth chip. This is primarily due to the fact that both Bluetooth radios and the
ELM 327 chip itself are inexpensive to produce — especially for manufacturers who use unlicensed, cloned versions of the ELM 327
chip instead of official components from ELM Electronics.
If you get a non-buggy unit with a working ELM 327 microchip, then this combination works pretty well, since Bluetooth is pretty close to being
ubiquitous in mobile devices like tablets, smartphones, and even laptops.
The problem lies in the way that iOS devices deal with Bluetooth pairing. Apple is infamous for the tight control that they hold over their devices —
both in hardware and software — and Bluetooth is no exception. While Bluetooth is a cross-platform standard that essentially allows any
device to connect to any other device, it isn’t a free for all. The technology uses a number of different “profiles” to facilitate communications
between a enormous variety of computers, handhelds, and peripherals, and not every device supports every profile. In the case of iOS devices,
the default profiles are the ones used for input devices (Bluetooth keyboards) and headsets, so your iPhone essentially doesn’t know
how to communicate with your ELM 327 Bluetooth scanner.
