Question 1

Do I need an OBD-II adapter?

Accepted Answer

Only for live engine data and reading codes off the car. AI chat, maintenance tracking, and document scanning all work with no hardware at all — and if you already have a trouble code, you can type it in and get it explained.

When you do want one, a standard ELM327 adapter works — Bluetooth LE on iPhone and Android, plus Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Classic on Android. You buy it yourself; there is no proprietary Kaiju Mechanic dongle. See the adapters we recommend.

Question 2

Is it actually free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every account starts free with no credit card and no trial countdown — you get 15 AI credits a month, 1 vehicle in your garage, unlimited manual service records, and 500 MB of cloud storage synced across your devices.

Premium adds more credits, unlimited vehicles, and more storage — but nothing you log on the free plan is held hostage. Compare the plans.

Question 3

Will it work with my car?

Accepted Answer

Almost certainly. The OBD-II port is standard on virtually every vehicle sold in the US from 1996 onward, and it is the same port a shop plugs into. Older or unusual vehicles can still be added by hand — you just will not get live sensor data without an OBD-II port.

You can add your vehicle by year, make, model, and trim, or let the app decode it from a connected adapter.

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