Review Insights · Google Play
TopScan
TopDon HK · 1,135 ratings · ★ 3.2
3.2
★★★★★
1,135 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"
22 negative reviews mention this · 37% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Recommend by fellow mechanics, after using it, I wonder why? It's only another gimmick to milk your wallet. Not for the DIY mechanics where you can't recover the constant "pay in" just another gimmick that will get tossed out. Better option…" - Andre Sanford
2
"year"
13 negative reviews mention this · 22% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Pros: Well made unit, feels like decent quality and sadly this where it ends. Cons: Outdated app that's slow and repetitive, functions are no more than others available without restrictive one year sub. Blutooth can sometimes play up. OK fo…" - ULTRA 4x4
3
"bought"
12 negative reviews mention this · 20% of all complaints
★★★★★ "scanner doesn't work I bought 2 n both doesn't work after 2-6 months customer support don't help" - William Schubot
4
"update"
10 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Recommend by fellow mechanics, after using it, I wonder why? It's only another gimmick to milk your wallet. Not for the DIY mechanics where you can't recover the constant "pay in" just another gimmick that will get tossed out. Better option…" - Andre Sanford
5
"money"
10 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "I have been delivering mobile software since about 2009 as a product manager. I've been doing device connectivity since about 1989 as a software/hardware engineer. I have never seen a worse user experience in my entire life. The whole activ…" - Dean Peters
6
"free"
10 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "When I bought the scanner, it said free lifetime updates and said nothing about a subscription. How are you going to charge more for a subscription than what I bought the scanner for? What a joke." - S Morrelli
7
"scanner"
9 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "scanner doesn't work I bought 2 n both doesn't work after 2-6 months customer support don't help" - William Schubot
8
"device"
9 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "garbage. now requires a subscription to use the device." - Patrick
9
"software"
8 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "first ever got the app did great, now i have trouble downloading the software needed and it does not auto update at all ever. Everytime I open it a week or two later i have to update it manually again and it takes forever if itll even start…" - NIGHTWOLFS SHADOW
10
"scam"
8 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Recommend by fellow mechanics, after using it, I wonder why? It's only another gimmick to milk your wallet. Not for the DIY mechanics where you can't recover the constant "pay in" just another gimmick that will get tossed out. Better option…" - Andre Sanford
11
"work"
7 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "scanner doesn't work I bought 2 n both doesn't work after 2-6 months customer support don't help" - William Schubot
12
"other"
7 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Recommend by fellow mechanics, after using it, I wonder why? It's only another gimmick to milk your wallet. Not for the DIY mechanics where you can't recover the constant "pay in" just another gimmick that will get tossed out. Better option…" - Andre Sanford
📋 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").
scanner doesn't work I bought 2 n both doesn't work after 2-6 months customer support don't help
Recommend by fellow mechanics, after using it, I wonder why? It's only another gimmick to milk your wallet. Not for the DIY mechanics where you can't recover the constant "pay in" just another gimmick that will get tossed out. Better option buy a scan tool, most have the cost to update, but TopScam is predatory. By the time I need it in my DIY situation it needs multiple updates taking a very long time. Then you realize your subscription is over, time to pay up. Buy a Harbor Freight tool
latest update made the app stock on loading.
garbage. now requires a subscription to use the device.
I have been delivering mobile software since about 2009 as a product manager. I've been doing device connectivity since about 1989 as a software/hardware engineer. I have never seen a worse user experience in my entire life. The whole activation process to protect the business model is getting in the way of people actually getting to their 1st win. It's so confusing of what I have to do, even if I'm willing to pay I don't know how because the system doesn't really tell me. Not worth the money!
works good for som funktion but practaclu usless if u dont pay for it if u dont wont preskription u should defently avoid
sucks
very flaky - bought the reader for $80 and it does not connect to a Rav 4 from 2017????
Always bumping into the secure gateway unlocking otherwise it's good. to anser topdon's answer we know what is secure gate is and we have paid subscription at AutoAuth topdon scanner is is also added to subscription still bumps into it.
junk pure junk all they want you to do is buy every little update. It would be nice to know that before you buy. Still junk a $50 from harbor freight can do more than topscan.
When I bought the scanner, it said free lifetime updates and said nothing about a subscription. How are you going to charge more for a subscription than what I bought the scanner for? What a joke.
garbage app use a different app
every time I try and use this damn thing it needs half an hour to update i just need it to read codes. your subscription is way to steep to for an app thats slow and hard to navigate quickly.
was an amazing tool, up till the subscription update. didn't need one when I first bought it making it handy as I only use it 2 a year if a code shows up so I can fix it myself now its restricted by subscription. not worth paying it if I only use it once in a while to make sure my personal vehicles are OK. Not to mention the miss count on you free trials. used it once knowing I had 4 more free connections, now says i have 2 left. then it disconected during testing no more free trials.NOTWORTHIT!
is 100 dollars for subscription after I want my money back I read went I Buy it that said Free update that's ridiculously is too much charges
I didn't read the description carefully enough to see the part about the subscription fee. It's there, but I think it's corporate greed. Yeah I get keeping the compatibility, and the progressiveness, whatever that means, and that's fine. I get that you have to pay people to do that work, but there should be an option to not get the updates. The fact that you brick it if we don't pay is just wrong. We should at least be able to read codes, that doesn't cost you anything. 1/10-Would not recommend.
upgraded my phone and can not get it to link to new phone
Not worth it. purchase of device didn't state that the software would also have to be paid for separately. Paid for the device which requires the software. software was free for a while, but now required to pay extra to continue using the software which is required to use the device. Should be a package deal. Top scan device and software not worth it.
should of done my research, this is a subscription based scan tool, it does work decent but I also have used some that were way easier to use and not a pos money hungry company. personally I would recommend finding a better scantool as there are plenty of other options.
scam, subscription after a year
only bought the thing because the site advertized one manufacturer/one vehicle software pro features for life. used it 2 or three times and a year later when I really need it for major repairs its asking for resuscribe at 99 dollars for one year. and more over I paid for the device and for a what I beleives to be the lifetime honda software. so now im out 200 bucks and dead in the water trying to compleat my repairs even with the 3 trial days. wrote to support no reply.
not useful
Bought this a little over a year ago. Came highly recommended. I really liked using it especially since its bidirectional. used it at least a dozen times. Needed it here recently and it now requires a subscription! I specifically got it because it was advertised to not need one. Everyone I spoke to didn't need one. Now you have to pay $129 per year to do anything more than the extreme basics. A free scan at Autozone will give you more. Its cheaper to just buy a new one! Will not recommend.
. i just had to service a VW on the side of the road with no Wifi connection just my phone and the app decided that the one week earlier installed VW database needed to be updated, so i had to download 5GB of data through my slow mobile connection, what a waste of time. the company put zero thoughts in making this a practical app, no option to delay a update. Edit: the response from the manufacturer below speaks for itself, its the users fault not to check if any of the databases require update
DO NOT USE! This has become a scam app. I used to use it to fault find my vehicle and now out of nowhere tries to force you to subscribe for an extortionate rate of 129.99 for a year of use. reply: When I bought my topdon scanner (scammer) it wasn't under a subscription model at all, it wasn't that I was in a 1year free trial. You changed it after id bought the product and started using it. I've now got to pay a subscription to you, or I have an expensive door stop.
Very bad experience, Scammers. They have locked all the necessary options. You can’t delete or write values (for example, injector serial numbers after replacement) unless you pay extra to get access. After one year, they locked all options again and required a payment of €50 to regain access. They only provide basic error-reading functions, which any other device can do often better and for around €10 for lifetime access.
Horrible I spent money on the device was able to use it and then suddenly my GM package expired and they want a subscription to be able to run simple Diagnostics when there's other three options this makes no sense talk about greedy greedy and greedy
Used it to effect to fix issues I had earlier in the year, now requires a subscription randomly. No warning, just took away all the functionality. This is now a scam. Edit for response: Not the point. I got this as a gift from a family member since I do my own vehicle maintenance when I can. A subscription is quite predatory when there was ZERO WARNING. I had an engine code come on so I popped it in only to be told functionality was removed?
Don't subscribe to this it's impossible to cancel .
don't waste your money there is a subscription fee every year to use something you own
subscription seriously, I bought this Bluetooth talked on OBD tool and it was working great I had to use it today and lo and behold they now want to subscription for anything beyond extremely basic features. not sure why I paid so much money for a tool that they started removing features from when I could have just bought a cheaper tool that didn't require a subscription. screw this subscription BS I wouldn't have bought this had I have known they would change to a subscription. I do not recomm
this is the worst ob2 scanner I've used. You're better off going to autozone and getting them to do it for free than this scanner. 1.not all vehicles are up there. (mx5 2016) 2.the memory system is trash I had to put in my vin number Every time I used it.( a lot of time cause it doesn't always connect this first few times. 3. updates out the butt yet still not 2016 and up for my model. 4. scanner freezin in performance monitoring 5. NOW you put a paywall on features... go to AUTOZONE
SCAM! DO NOT GIVE MONEY!!! Tried to subscribe in order to access diagnostics. Payment was taken from the play store but app refused to acknowledge it!!! SCAM, plain and simple. Never buying anything topdon ever again.
SCAM. Buy the device for £70 and expect it to be lifelong? wrong. after 12 months it EXPIRES and demands £50/year rolling subscription. it will scan, but it won't let you delete errors codes (DTC) and it's basically useless. App also hijack Bluetooth pairing process, so you WILL have issues with for example Victron Connect App. Don't buy and tell your mates to steer clear of this dog's muck
what a scam. I bought this on Amazon over a year ago used it last when my check engine light was on. now a year later they want $129. Are you kidding me. I will be going to habor freight buying there cheepest scanner. I should have done in the very beginning im so disappointed in your product n software.
can't figure out how to cancel auto renew
they are implementing a pay wall after ive had this product for a little bit
Really disappointed after purchasing the scanner, i never expected that its software used for diagnosis has to expire and costing even more money! Was the software not supposed to be free? Shame
really poor and a bit of a scam . bought it last year for £70 & used it properly twice went to use it today as engine light on again and guess what it's now asking for a subscription to do a simple task that most free ones do. stay clear of it as it's a con and all the YouTubers who where pushing it should hold their heads in shame. I will not buy anything from topdon again and I will tell people in the trade to avoid them.
this used to be a good product. now they've switched to a subscription base for everything. Don't waste your money here, go look elsewhere
can I use it on two phones?? and two emails
update rate to much
Paywalled the features I bought the scanner for... they're not even purchasable, it's a scammy subscription model. Absolute trash business model by a garbage company.
used for a year and now the price is jacked up to 100. it was advertised much less. they paywall it and make all makes and models unusable. it's not an update makes and model paywall. you can't use it anymore. the year I used it it worked great. was a bit slow. the connector pins like to bend with regular use. I bought the gearwrench one for not much more then a year update. the gearwrench one has no update fees.
It junk!!!
Absolutely garbage! Now you want to change for your service!? shame shame, I guess, back to the snap on!
When brand new it worked alright. Slow, but is scanned and would handle DTCs on 7 different vehicles I work on. Initial downsides are constantly updating. I don't need 37 monthly updates for vehicles 18+ years old. And I don't need to waste data updating for every make and model from a specific manufacturer. Primary problem is it is now a subscription service. The ol bait & switch. I no longer support any TopDon products because of this. A chatGPT reply in the wrong language makes it even worse
total scam. pay $40 extra for the scanner for the pro version, just to download the app and bi-directional controls are locked behind another paywall of $30 more.
When I needed the app to work for scanning my truck, the server failed all day. Not dependable at all!
today stop to work for me😡
+ 10 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
51%
Positive (4-5★)
6%
Neutral (3★)
43%
Negative (1-2★)