Review Insights · Google Play
Carly - OBD2 car scanner
Carly Solutions GmbH & Co KG · 33,280 ratings · ★ 3.6
3.6
★★★★★
33,280 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 60 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"subscription"
24 negative reviews mention this · 40% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Waste of money. Don't buy it. Would not read data from either of 2 cars I tried it on, then find out you need to buy a subscription in addition to purchasing the device." - Andy van Lier
2
"money"
15 negative reviews mention this · 25% of all complaints
★★★★★ "I pay this company so much money and their latest update bricked my scanner. I'm done, just save your time and do anything else." - Charles W. Shaw
3
"scanner"
9 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "I pay this company so much money and their latest update bricked my scanner. I'm done, just save your time and do anything else." - Charles W. Shaw
4
"year"
9 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "bought for my Mercedes only to receive and say unsupported. they hide an annual subscription fee in the terms and conditions, you can't even cancel it in their application. they wait a year until they charged you again and use the terms and…" - Tyrone
5
"charge"
9 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "bought for my Mercedes only to receive and say unsupported. they hide an annual subscription fee in the terms and conditions, you can't even cancel it in their application. they wait a year until they charged you again and use the terms and…" - Tyrone
6
"refund"
9 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Doesn't work well on android 16, lots of connection problems and freezing. Beware, if you make a change in the app cancelling the play store substitution doesn't stop them taking a renewal and they will not refund or allow you to change the…" - Paul flack
7
"paid"
9 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "This entire operation seems like it could double as an Indian tech support scam call centre. Nothing seems to work as claimed, won't connect to scanner ["Data is being prepared, please try again in a couple of moments (0%)] even after 10+ m…" - Ken Hamer
8
"carly"
9 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Avoid Avoid and all I can keep on saying do Avoid this carly obd adapter it is a rip off Im so lucky that my payment didn't go through as I didn't read the terms and conditions was thinking it will be like a few pounds subscription fee or a…" - Jibby 001
9
"cancel"
8 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "bought for my Mercedes only to receive and say unsupported. they hide an annual subscription fee in the terms and conditions, you can't even cancel it in their application. they wait a year until they charged you again and use the terms and…" - Tyrone
10
"product"
8 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "it broke. I mean to say I broke mine with a hammer today because of the paywall for a product that has capability. Especially when you can buy better for less. And you can own it. Not this scanner. you don't own it even if you pay for the t…" - Hal White
11
"scam"
8 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Absolutely useless, you can't really do any meaningful changes. The subscription is a pain to cancel. This app is a scam !" - Sander Meloun Fossen
12
"work"
8 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Doesn't work well on android 16, lots of connection problems and freezing. Beware, if you make a change in the app cancelling the play store substitution doesn't stop them taking a renewal and they will not refund or allow you to change the…" - Paul flack
📋 All 60 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
I pay this company so much money and their latest update bricked my scanner. I'm done, just save your time and do anything else.
Waste of money. Don't buy it. Would not read data from either of 2 cars I tried it on, then find out you need to buy a subscription in addition to purchasing the device.
bought for my Mercedes only to receive and say unsupported. they hide an annual subscription fee in the terms and conditions, you can't even cancel it in their application. they wait a year until they charged you again and use the terms and conditions (deep within) argument that you agreed to it. appears this is their method of prinary income. buyers beware
it broke. I mean to say I broke mine with a hammer today because of the paywall for a product that has capability. Especially when you can buy better for less. And you can own it. Not this scanner. you don't own it even if you pay for the tool. And even the standard code scanner for generic is garbage. Takes 15 minutes some times. this thing is like owning a car with heated seats that require a subscription.
Absolutely useless, you can't really do any meaningful changes. The subscription is a pain to cancel. This app is a scam !
why do I need an account
UPDATE: Stop lying in your developer replies. I didn’t just "cancel a future charge"-I explicitly rejected the contract on the same day of delivery under my legal 14-day statutory cooling-off window because your app is completely faulty. Your software falsely tells me coding is "successful" when it fails to transmit anything to my BMW. You are holding my money hostage for broken software and refusing a free return. The bank chargeback is already being processed. DO NOT BUY.
They sell your details to other companies. After sale support is terrible. Wouldn't recommend.
Doesn't work well on android 16, lots of connection problems and freezing. Beware, if you make a change in the app cancelling the play store substitution doesn't stop them taking a renewal and they will not refund or allow you to change the car brand. Costing nearly £100 for a app I can't use. Support is nonexistent. Save yourself a lot of hassle and expense and buy a physical odb tool.
Be careful, they don't remind you when your renewal is up, just to impose a charge on you that you might not have the money to pay, very poor customer service. Your customers should be sent an email reminder before renewal.
I am getting tired of the scams that companies, apps and programers are doing. I will be making a report seeing now that I'm not the only one this has happened to. I had cancelled my subscription like last year sometime and lo and behold they took out a payment from my bank. saying sorry but the process has happened so I can't get a refund. this is such a scam. I will tell all I can to stay clear. I thought a years notice was enough. Google why are you letting this happen?
I bought the app for my Honda civic 2022 hibrid, and the app doesnr have the car in the menu. I asked assistance from the support and they told me that it is what it is and no change will be done. I request the money back and I was told that it would not be returned. basically a big scam and I was another one to be caught on it.
This entire operation seems like it could double as an Indian tech support scam call centre. Nothing seems to work as claimed, won't connect to scanner ["Data is being prepared, please try again in a couple of moments (0%)] even after 10+ minutes. But ABRP connects just fine. Mostly it is ads trying to get you to spend money on things you already paid a lifetime subscription for. Probably the most dishonest app I've ever encountered in Google Play Store. 👎🚽
Horrible "Dark Pattern" subscription model. (Google it) Just saw a $145.87 charge to my VISA account. How the VISA network allows this predatory company to function as a merchant, I don't know. I've been a merchant and they used to have standards. Used it a few times. *Marginal* functionality. Use this solution and you will be sorry. Disputing charge.
Don't subscribe to this scamers. Last year I Unsubscribed and now they charged my debit card again. They ofer Zero suport, only way to contact is via contact form that they ignor.
app is garbage, downloaded for my mb check engine light and took 15 minutes to tell me what it was. once I figured it out I tried to clear it. another 15 minute wait and still not clear. it says billed monthly in the app. dont fall for that its billed annually. im out 80 bucks for something that doesn't work. response: your app says billed monthly when purchasing license. this is not the case and it is billed annually. do not lie to cover your app on here.
100% waste of money. I bought the OBD with all the bells and whistles for all brands. After plugging it into my 2010 Alfa Romeo 159, the poor car had a stroke. She very much didn't like having this demonic device plugged in. A full car scan looked okay; two minor faults were identified, but I wasn't able to clear them. After the scanning, the car wouldn't start. Unplugging the battery helped. I tried to use the OBD three times with the very same results. No such issues with a proper scanning too
Avoid Avoid and all I can keep on saying do Avoid this carly obd adapter it is a rip off Im so lucky that my payment didn't go through as I didn't read the terms and conditions was thinking it will be like a few pounds subscription fee or a one off lifetime payment Wow £110 yearly fee and auto renewal without any notice luckily my purchase didn't go through 😳😊 You can go to your local garage and just ask them to check for you 🤔 for free
app is ok as long as you never want to cancel your subscription
will charge you even though you paid for the full app before they added a subscription do not waste your time with this app
The app it self is good, the issue I have is when it comes time to cancel it's pretty much impossible. Canceling the subscription should be straight forward and not have to go through endless prompts and articles just to cancel. I had to got a new card number because of this.
my life time account continuously disappears , as an early adaptor i find it appalling. services were sold at full fee and it should be honored not access blocked every couple months . promise was life time access and support not until it suits.
I don't need an update to reset my oil cbs A year later it's still requiring pointless updates for features that have worked for about 10 years without a problem
BUYER BEWARE! This product is terrible. The company's customer service is even worse.
it's a scam, don't buy as it has annual subscription with auto renewal and cannot be canceled anywhere on their website..
expensive and not that good how they claim. is slow, it's show errors on modules which are not on the car just "to look smart" . over 100£/year to have acces 🙄
was cancelled my subscription and they still collect payments . I brought better option with free updates for life .
this is a rip off of a product, beware that they trick you into a subscription that auto renews and hikes the price up. beyond that it is slow and barely works, most features are either an additional expense or just don't work. rubbish edit after response from vendor, If you are so transparent then explain why you have so many one star reviews complaining about the same issue! I expressed my surprise of the charge and asked for a refund immediately, you rejected that, now enjoy the bad reviews
UTTER SCAM DO NOT BUY FROM THESE PEOPLE I cancelled my subscription 2 months before renewal, they still charged me £105 for renewal on a product I paid £40 for. They refuse to refund me. Absolute scammers.
Try to cancel and they won't do it until they get the money from you the next year. I cancelled it last year and i paid for it again on the 8/4/2026. When i looked it in the google play it says cancellation day 8/04/2026 even if i did it a year ago, but did not realised the date at that point. So be carefull when you want to cancel. It is useless on Japanese and Korean cars.
Beware Auto Renew. Like most on here, unaware of this being a yearly subscription. I used it once, and found it slow, and of no use, so never used it again. I then changed car to a different Make and Model. Later, notice from my bank saying payment made to Carly. Emailed Carly saying i didnt authorise a payment and changed car, but they just replied that they dont do refunds. I done a bank charge back, and then an email from Carly saying license cancelled. So they can do it. Bank refunded me.
A mechanic recommended this app to me, I now question every bit of work he's done on my car. This app is that bad. It's a glossy sheen over a basic app designed to extract an extortionate subscription fee. Better to use something like Car Scanner ELM OBD2, one time fee, basic but highly usable interface
ive paid and your not letting me in
Don't waste your money. I bought this for coding which doesn't even work. The app is a bunch of click bait trying to upcharge you. Multiple service requests, they never respond.
Doesn't work properly on my Pixel 10 Pro (Android 16). Please add more support & features for BMW 335i GT 3.0 F34 2015.
this is kind of expensive and I haven't had any luck with it coding properly
Terrible app. Not surprised by the huge amount of bad reviews... I should have read them before installing. Anyway, I've now uninstalled it.
I bought my carly scanner a while back and paid for the better version as at the time it made sense. I've recently come to use it on my car and found that since I last used it, they have added in app purchasing to get full features which I already used to have. its really disappointing to see that a big company feels its okay to put a £100 per annual price on something ive already paid for.
it doesn't work as a scanner? I purchased a scanner just over 2 years ago, the *hidden* annual fee of over £100 auto charged a year later and carly declined to refund me even when I informed them this was an error. I make sure the subscription is cancelled, and now a year later, the scanner is literally useless. what a terrible product from a terrible company. I hope they go into administration, and noone has to have the misfortune of dealing with them again.
AVOID!!! BEWARE!!! Deceitful company, mis-selling annual subscription service. TAKING MONEY FROM YOUR ACCOUNT WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE.
The scanner worked reasonably well for a time. By the second year I purchased service, my scanner would not read my vehicles properly at all and I was expected to buy another scanner. I chose not to and let the second year run out. Carly stored my credit card info, where in Google play I have no subscriptions at all, and took it upon themselves to charge my card for a third year, stealing from me. Now they hide from returning my money behind Google policy that does not apply to me.
Really disappointing experience a year after buying the product. A very large charge out the blue without notice and no empathy or common sense to a refund request. Poor business practice and it was obviously their pre written response was not the first response to a similar experience. Avoid the business and shop with others.
Doesn't show all the check engine codes, most codes that are shown are generic and don't really help. I think it's expensive for what little help it offers. also the customer service isn't helpful at all. don't waste your money. also id like to add that all the times I've reached out to customer service and got no help with my issues, but I leave a poor review and get a response immediately. that says it all. I'd give you less than 1 star if I could, that's how unsatisfied I am with your product
needs an update bmw g05 11.2025 software version not fully supported
It says it requires a gen 2 ODB2 converter for programming features... while otherwise working and connected to the vehicle with what it also confirms is a Gen 2 converter. Bummer but I guess it's cheaper than the real tools for a reason, I'll just have to go buy one that works.
don't buy
I would like to start by saying the app itself is okay, the plan is a little overpriced in my opinion, but the biggest issue is when you contact customer services. All responses seem to be automated replies quoting German law, even though I have never threatened legal action. Rather than communicating with a person that understands the situation Would like to get one plan cancelled as you have added an additional one to my account instead of upgrading the one I already have. ticket number1734720
Had this on 2 cars now and no extended obd functions wont be wasting my money anymore on this app
Doesn't give that much functionality for the price. A lot of things like live data you can achieve better with cheaper Chinese scan tools... They also hide their subscription cancelation button so they make it a bit harder to cancel. They are required by law to make this available but there are loopholes that they leverage to pass regulation. The have a contract termination page that is hard to find unless you contact their support and they present this to you if you cite the law.
Extremely disappointing. The device itself is essentially a dongle linked to a slow app. In my case, it would not read a Volvo we tested, and it frequently produced ambiguous error codes on my Mercedes. It did function on a BMW X5, but very very slowly. However, my main issue arose 12 months after purchase. I was charged the ridiculous sum of £122.88 for an annual renewal that I was not aware would occur. I received no renewal reminder and no advance notice. I wish I'd never heard of Carly
+ 10 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
65%
Positive (4-5★)
3%
Neutral (3★)
32%
Negative (1-2★)