SmartOBD

Terms of use

Last updated: October 14, 2026

These terms are an agreement between you and SmartOBD, LLC ("we", "us") for using the SmartOBD app and this website. By using SmartOBD you agree to them. If you do not agree, please do not use it.

Read this first: car safety

  • Estimates only. SmartOBD's diagnoses, likely causes, urgency levels and costs are estimates made by software, including AI. They can be wrong. Costs are rough ranges, not quotes.
  • Confirm with a mechanic before you buy parts, pay for a repair, or decide a car is safe to drive.
  • If the app or the car says stop, stop. A flashing check engine light, overheating, low oil pressure, brake or steering problems, smoke, or a fuel smell mean pull over safely and get help. Do not rely on the app to tell you a car is safe.
  • Never work on high voltage parts. Hybrids and electric cars carry voltages that can kill. Never open, touch or work on the high voltage battery, orange cables or anything connected to them. That work is for trained technicians only.
  • Do not use the app while driving. Set it up while parked. If you need to read it on the road, have a passenger do it.
  • Work safely. If you do a repair yourself, use proper tools, let the engine cool, never work under a car held up only by a jack, and stop if you are unsure.

1. What SmartOBD is

SmartOBD reads diagnostic data from your car through a Bluetooth OBD-II adapter, explains it in plain English, and shows where a problem may be on a 3D model. The 3D model is an illustration of a typical car of that type. It is not an exact model of your car, and parts may be in a different place on yours.

SmartOBD is not a replacement for a qualified mechanic, a dealer, or an emissions or safety inspection.

2. Beta

SmartOBD is in a private beta through Apple TestFlight. Beta versions may have bugs, may change or lose features, and may stop working. Please tell us about problems at contact@pileupdigital.com. We may end the beta or your access to it at any time.

3. Your adapter and your car

  • You need a compatible Bluetooth OBD-II adapter, which you buy from its maker. The adapter is not our product and its maker's terms and warranty apply to it.
  • Plug the adapter in and take it out only with the car parked. Some adapters slowly drain the battery if left plugged in; unplug it if you will not drive the car for a while.
  • Only connect to cars you own or have permission to use.
  • OBD-II support depends on the car. Cars sold in the US from the 1996 model year on have it, but not every car reports every code or reading.

4. The AI mechanic

The AI mechanic sends your scan to our server and to Anthropic's AI models to write an answer, as described in our privacy policy. AI can make mistakes, sound more certain than it should, or miss things. Use its answers as a starting point for a conversation with a mechanic, not as the final word.

SmartOBD will not help you remove, disable or get around emissions or safety systems, such as catalytic converters, EGR, DPF, oxygen sensors, airbags or ABS. Doing that is illegal under federal law for emissions equipment and dangerous for safety systems.

5. Fair use and limits

To keep the service running for everyone, each phone has limits on AI use. Right now these are 30 diagnoses and 200 follow up messages per calendar month, 30 follow up messages per diagnosis, and short limits on how many requests can be made in a few minutes. We may change these limits. When a limit is reached, the app will tell you, and the AI mechanic may also be paused if the service's monthly budget runs out.

Do not misuse SmartOBD. That means do not try to break, overload or reverse engineer the service, extract the app key, get around the limits, send data that is not from a real or demo scan, or use the service to build a competing product.

6. Your data

Our privacy policy explains what we collect and what stays on your phone. You keep any rights you have in the notes and questions you type. You let us use them only to run and improve SmartOBD as the privacy policy describes.

7. Our app and content

We give you a personal, non-transferable right to use SmartOBD on Apple devices you own or control, for your own non-commercial use, under these terms and Apple's Usage Rules. The app, the 3D models, the designs and the text are ours or our licensors' and are protected by law. Vehicle and recall data from NHTSA is public data from the US government.

8. No warranty

SmartOBD is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent the law allows, we make no warranties, express or implied, including that it will be accurate, error free, always available, or fit for a particular purpose, or that it will find every problem with your car.

9. Limit of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for damage to any vehicle, injury, repair costs, towing, lost time or lost data that comes from using or relying on SmartOBD. Our total liability for any claim about SmartOBD is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us for the app in the 12 months before the claim, or 50 US dollars. Some places do not allow these limits, so they may not all apply to you.

10. Indemnity

If you break these terms or the law while using SmartOBD and someone makes a claim against us because of it, you agree to cover our reasonable costs of dealing with that claim.

11. Apple

These terms are between you and us, not Apple. Apple is not responsible for SmartOBD or its content, and has no duty to provide support or maintenance for it. If the app fails to meet a warranty that applies by law, you may tell Apple and Apple will refund the purchase price, if any; Apple has no other warranty duty. Apple is not responsible for any claims about the app, including product liability claims, claims that it fails to meet legal or regulatory requirements, consumer protection claims, or claims that it infringes someone else's intellectual property; those are ours to handle. You confirm you are not in a country under a US government embargo and are not on a US government list of prohibited or restricted parties. Apple and its subsidiaries are third party beneficiaries of these terms and may enforce them against you.

12. Ending use

You can stop using SmartOBD at any time by deleting the app. We may suspend or end your access if you break these terms. Sections 8 to 10 and 13 continue after that.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina and applicable US federal law. Any dispute will be handled in the state or federal courts located in North Carolina, unless the law where you live gives you the right to bring it somewhere else.

14. Changes

We may update these terms. We will change the date at the top, and for important changes we will tell you in the app or on this site. If you keep using SmartOBD after a change, the new terms apply.

15. Contact

SmartOBD, LLC
Email: contact@pileupdigital.com
Mailing address available on request by email.