Help

Using Ocean Live

Getting connected, what each tab does, the 12V watch, and what to do when something doesn't work.

What you need

  • A Bluetooth LE OBD adapter that speaks ELM327. The Vgate vLinker FD+ is the one most Ocean owners use; the OBDLink CX works too. Adapters that only do classic Bluetooth don't work on iPhone.
  • Ocean Live on your phone: see Downloads.

Getting connected

  1. Plug the adapter into the car's OBD port and turn the car on.
  2. Open Ocean Live. On the Live tab, tap Find adapter and pick your adapter.
  3. The app remembers it. Next time, tap Connect to and your adapter's name, or Choose a different adapter.

In Settings→Adapter you'll find Connect automatically when the app opens (on by default) and Forget saved adapter. The header shows the state: Connected, Connecting, Looking for adapters, Reconnecting or Not connected. In landscape, a Connect / Disconnect button sits at the top right.

The tabs

The Android and iPhone apps have the same five tabs at the bottom (on Android in landscape they move to a strip on the left): Live, Battery, Trips, Faults and Settings. The round ? at the top opens "Any questions?".

Live

  • The charge ring with state of charge and estimated range, the power going in or out, and whether the car is charging, DC fast charging, driving or parked.
  • While charging, This charge: energy added, charging time, start time, peak power and the time to your charge alert level. While driving, This drive: distance, energy used, efficiency and time.
  • Battery: pack voltage, current, battery temperature, cell spread, odometer and 12V (tap the 12V tile for the 12V screen).
  • While parked: how much charge was lost since the app last saw the car.
  • Range is estimated from your own recent drives and the usable capacity set in Settings→Car.

Battery

  • Battery health: measured capacity, usable now and rated usable. The car doesn't report battery health; the app measures it from charging. Keep the app connected through a charge that adds at least 20%. Until then it shows "Not measured yet".
  • Parked drain: the average loss per day while parked.
  • Cells: highest, average and lowest cell voltage and the spread.
  • Temperatures and High voltage: battery and coolant temperatures, pack voltage, current, power and isolation resistance, plus the VIN and charging totals.
  • Share battery report: a one-page PDF of all of this and the latest fault scan, for a buyer or a shop. It uses what the app already has and doesn't read from the car.
  • See the 12V history: the 12V graph for 24 hours to 90 days, resting voltages, how often the car charged the 12V and the overnight drop. Share 12V data as CSV, a picture or a PDF.

Trips

  • Filter All, Drives or Charges, with totals, regen and this month's charging and its cost.
  • Tap a charge for its Charging curve (kW against %), average power, implied capacity and cost. Drives show distance, energy, efficiency and regen.
  • Costs need your prices in Settings→Charging cost. Export CSV saves the history. Clear history deletes everything, including the data for measuring battery capacity, and can't be undone; you can also delete single entries.
  • Drives and charges only appear if the app was connected during them.

Faults

Scan all modules reads stored fault codes from 39 modules in about a minute. Tap a code for what it affects and how it's fixed, when known. Share report sends a text report and Past scans keeps earlier ones. Faults→Module versions→Read module versions lists each module's software version and part number, and changes nothing. How codes work, the codes confirmed on Ocean cars, and when clearing codes is safe: Fault codes.

Settings

  • Car: your model and usable battery in kWh, used for range and charge time estimates.
  • Charging cost: currency symbol, home price and DC fast price per kWh.
  • Units and screen: miles, Fahrenheit, and keeping the screen on while connected.
  • Adapter: connect automatically, the saved adapter, and the 12V watch (see 12V and car sleep).
  • Alerts: charge alerts (at a high level, at a low level, when charging stops) and Battery warnings (12V low, uneven cells, hot pack). They work while the app is connected, also in the background; 12V warnings while the car sleeps need the 12V watch. Your phone must allow notifications.
  • ABRP: to send live data to A Better Route Planner, paste the ABRP generic token (in ABRP: open the car, Live data, Generic) and a free telemetry API key from ABRP. Both are needed. Include phone location is optional. ABRP only gets data while the app is connected.
  • Advanced: Flip current sign, only if charging shows as using power on your car.

What some readings mean

  • Cell spread (highest minus lowest cell voltage): under 60 mV is normal. It widens near empty and full and under heavy load. A spread that keeps growing over weeks is worth a shop check.
  • Insulation (isolation) resistance: how well the high-voltage system is isolated from the car body. Very large values are normal. A value that falls sharply, or an isolation fault code, is a safety issue for a qualified shop: don't open anything.
  • Pack temperatures: a cold pack limits charging and regen; a hot pack limits power.
  • Power and current are positive while energy flows into the pack (charging, regen).

12V and car sleep

The Ocean's 12V battery runs its computers, locks and contactors. If it goes flat, the car can't start its high-voltage system. Every diagnostic request wakes modules on the car's network, and a car kept awake drains its 12V, so Ocean Live stops talking to the car as soon as it stops answering, and after 10 minutes parked with the app in the background (unless CarPlay or Android Auto is showing it). It never sends keep-alive messages. Messages like "The car is asleep. Ocean Live stopped reading so it can sleep" are normal; opening the app connects again.

Watch 12V while the car sleeps (in Settings→Adapter, off by default) asks only the adapter for its own supply voltage every 30 minutes (or 5 or 10), which puts nothing on the car's network, then disconnects so the adapter sleeps too. On iPhone, iOS only allows occasional background checks, so readings are less regular than on Android.

  • 12.4 V or more at rest (after the car has slept) is healthy.
  • Under 12.4 V at rest means the 12V battery is weak or something draws power while parked. Under 12.0 V the car may not wake up.
  • Over 13.2 V means the car is charging its 12V, which is normal while it's awake.
  • A healthy car loses only a few hundredths of a volt a night.

A plugged-in OBD adapter drains the 12V a little (a vLinker FD+ uses about 51 mA awake and 3 mA asleep, by Vgate's figures). If you park for weeks, unplug it. Keep the adapter connected is only for adapters that can't be woken over Bluetooth.

Android Auto, CarPlay, watches and widgets

  • Android Auto and CarPlay show live charge, power, the current charge or drive and the battery readings, updated every second. The phone app must be connected to the adapter.
  • Landscape and split screen: the charge ring on the left, readings and Connect on the right, made for running next to ABRP.
  • Wear OS and Apple Watch apps, and widgets only show what your phone already has; they never talk to the car. The Android widget and the iPhone Home and Lock Screen widgets show charge and range ("Tap to connect" opens the app).
  • On iPhone (iOS 18 or later), a Live Activity shows charging progress on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island.

Your account

From version 3.4, Ocean Live asks you to sign in once, with no password: with Google or a 6-digit code sent to your email, and on iPhone also with Sign in with Apple. The account keeps your "Any questions?" questions tied to you when you change phones. Your car data stays on your phone, and the app works offline after signing in.

Privacy

No ads, no tracking. What the app reads from your car stays on your phone. Data leaves it only when you sign in or manage your account, when you ask "Any questions?" (the chat shows exactly what's sent under Show what's sent), or if you turn on ABRP yourself. Everything is in the privacy policy.

Troubleshooting

Can't connect

  • Check that Bluetooth is on and Ocean Live has Bluetooth permission, the adapter is plugged in and lit, and the car is on (not asleep).
  • Close other apps that may be holding the adapter, including other OBD apps, then tap Find adapter again.
  • "This doesn't look like an OBD adapter" means a different Bluetooth device was picked.
  • "The car was parked with the app closed for 10 minutes" is normal: the app stops on purpose so the 12V doesn't drain. Opening the app (or plugging in the car screen) connects again.

Other messages

  • "The car is moving. Park it first.", "The car is charging. Unplug it first." or "Power is flowing into or out of the battery" mean a safety check stopped a clear or restart. See Clearing codes.
  • "Needs a security key Ocean Live doesn't have" means the app can't change that module.
  • Battery health says "Not measured yet": keep the app connected through a charge that adds at least 20%.
  • A drive or charge is missing: the app only records them while it's connected.
  • Charging shows as using power: turn on Flip current sign in Settings→Advanced.
  • "Any questions?" or signing in doesn't work: check whether the Ocean Live server is up at status.oceanlive.org.

More guides are coming. Can't find what you need? Ask "Any questions?" in the app, or get in touch.

Contact

Email justice@oceanlive.org or open an issue on GitHub (issues are public). Screenshots or photos from the car help a lot. For a security problem, report a vulnerability privately instead.