Privacy policy

OBD Dash, by Owl Software · last updated 7 October 2026

OBD Dash has no servers. Nothing it records is sent to the developer, and there is no account to create in order to use it. Everything below describes data that stays on your phone, except where you explicitly turn on backup to your own Google Drive.

What the app records

While connected to your vehicle it reads standard OBD-II diagnostic data — engine speed, road speed, coolant temperature, battery voltage, engine load, fuel trims, intake air temperature and stored fault codes. From these it derives trip records: distance, fuel used, duration and the extremes each drive reached.

It writes diagnostic log files to the phone's own storage, to make faults reproducible after a drive. You can clear or export these at any time from Settings.

What it deliberately does not record

• The vehicle identification number is never requested. The app does not ask the car for it, so it cannot appear in any record or export.
• No location is stored. If you enable the optional speed comparison, the app reads only the speed reported by the satellite receiver. Coordinates are never read, held or written down.
• Log files are filtered as they are written, so a vehicle identification number, a pair of coordinates or the identifying half of a Bluetooth address cannot be recorded even accidentally.
• There is no analytics, crash reporting, advertising or tracking of any kind.

Permissions, and why each exists

• Bluetooth — to connect to the ELM327 adapter. This is the only way the app reaches the vehicle.
• Location — optional. Used solely to read the speed the satellite receiver reports, for comparison against the car's own speedometer. Android classifies speed from the receiver as a location permission; no position is read or kept.
• Notifications — optional, for the ongoing notification shown while the app watches for the car starting.
• Network access — used only when Google Drive backup is turned on.

Google Drive backup

This is optional and off until you turn it on. When you do, the app asks for permission to use Google Drive and uploads a copy of your trip history and the vehicles you have set up, so the same history is available on your other phones.

• The app requests the drive.file permission, which grants access only to files the app itself creates. It cannot see, read or alter anything else in your Drive.
• The files are stored in your own Google account, under your own storage quota. The developer has no access to them and no copy of them.
• The uploaded data is the same trip history the app already holds — dates, distances, fuel figures, battery readings and fault codes — and the vehicle names you typed. It contains no identification number and no location.
• Diagnostic log files are never uploaded.

Deleting your data

Owl Software holds no copy of your data. OBD Dash has no servers, so there is nothing to send a request for: everything the app records is on your phone and, if you turned on backup, in your own Google Drive. You delete it yourself, like this:

1. One trip: History, open the trip, then Delete.
2. One vehicle and everything recorded for it: Settings, Car, then Delete.
3. All history on the phone: History, choose All cars, then Clear. Or uninstall the app, which removes everything it stored on the phone.
4. The Google Drive backup: turn off Back up history to Google Drive under Settings, Backup; delete the obd-dash folder from your Google Drive; and remove the app's access in your Google account permissions.

What is kept: nothing. Deleted data is gone at once, and no other copy exists anywhere, so there is no retention period. Items deleted from Google Drive follow Drive's own trash rules until you empty it.

Children

The app is a vehicle instrument and is not directed at children. It collects no personal information from anyone.

Changes

If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. No change will make the app send data anywhere without asking you first.