Is anyone successfully using a V-Gate WiFi Adapter with Torque Pro on a non-rooted Android device? I’ve found myself in a confusing technical situation and I’m hoping someone can offer some guidance. Let me explain how I got here.
Like many car enthusiasts, I wanted an OBD-II scanner for my Jeep Wrangler. After reading numerous recommendations on Jeep Wrangler forums, Torque Pro kept coming up as a top choice. Excited to try it, I went to the app store, only to discover that Torque Pro is exclusively for Android, and all my devices are Apple.
Thinking outside the box, I found a great deal on a 7-inch Android tablet. My thought was, “Perfect! I’ll get this tablet just to run Torque Pro.” However, digging deeper, I learned that Torque Pro typically works with Bluetooth OBD-II devices. To my dismay, the budget tablet I purchased only has WiFi, no Bluetooth – explaining the low price.
Undeterred, I started researching online and discovered that getting WiFi OBD-II adapters to work with Android often involves rooting the device, modifying configuration files, and messing with Ad-Hoc settings. This sounded like a technical rabbit hole I wasn’t prepared to jump into. After briefly looking at rooting tutorials, I decided it wasn’t for me.
Determined to find a solution without rooting, I searched online for anyone using Torque Pro with a WiFi OBD-II adapter. I found a few YouTube videos showing exactly that – Torque Pro working with a WiFi adapter. Unfortunately, these videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hF_WgiVbzQ, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0QQjrocIwg) lacked any details on how to set it up.
Further searching led me to videos specifically mentioning the V-Gate OBD-II WiFi adapter, which claimed compatibility with Android devices (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O2-a-iLkWA). Intrigued, I read more about the V-Gate adapter and found information suggesting it works with iPhones, PCs, and Android devices without needing to root the Android device, supposedly due to a newer Bluetooth Arm chipset.
Based on this information, I purchased the V-Gate WiFi adapter. Connecting my Android tablet to the adapter via WiFi was straightforward and problem-free. However, before buying the full Torque Pro app, I wanted to test the connection with the free Torque Lite app. That’s when I hit another wall – the free version of Torque Lite doesn’t support WiFi connections!
Returning to online forums for answers, I found a suggestion to use “ConnectBot” to test the WiFi OBD-II adapter connection. I installed the ConnectBot app, which appears to be some kind of connection console, but I’m completely lost on how to use it to communicate with my OBDII WiFi adapter. If anyone has tips on using ConnectBot for this purpose, I’d greatly appreciate it!
So, has anyone in the community successfully used the V-Gate WiFi Adapter with Torque Pro, especially on a non-rooted Android device? I’m really hoping to purchase and install Torque Pro, but at this point, I’m hesitant to make another purchase that might lead to more frustration. I’m starting to consider giving up on Torque Pro for now and finding a different app for my iPhone to use with this WiFi adapter.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I’m feeling quite frustrated and learning the hard way through this experience.
