5 Recommended Apps For Beginner Auto Mechanics

The cost of auto repairs can run into the thousands of dollars for big jobs like engine and transmission rebuilds and replacements. Learning how to fix your car yourself can save you lots of money and give you a tremendous sense of satisfaction as well. Even taking ownership of routine maintenance tasks like oil and transmission fluid changes, brake jobs, and radiator flushes can save you thousands of dollars over the life of your vehicle.

While a good set of sockets, wrenches, screwdrivers, and a handful of specialty tools like torque and impact wrenches are necessary for any shade tree mechanic, one tool that shouldn't be overlooked is your smartphone. There are lots of iPhone and Android apps that can help guide you through auto maintenance and repair tasks and gradually turn you from a novice into a seasoned gearhead. 

I have been working on my vehicles for more than 30 years, and I drew on my experience with those projects and combined that knowledge with existing app store user reviews to pinpoint the most helpful smartphone apps for anyone interested in working on their car or truck. Here are five you should download before taking on your first project.

YouTube launched nearly 19 years ago with a video of co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of the elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo. Since then, the app has grown to become the second-largest social media outlet on earth, with 2.7 billion users. Per-user usage has been steadily growing in recent years, from an average of 39.7 minutes a day in 2019 to 47.5 minutes a day this year. 

YouTube isn't just for cat videos and "Baby Shark," however. Amateur mechanics have turned YouTube into a how-to library for instructional auto repair and maintenance videos for jobs ranging from spark plug changes to engine replacements. You can find tutorials for classic and modern cars and trucks of all types, and the app is available on the Apple app and Google Play stores. 

The basic YouTube app is free on both platforms, and it allows you to download videos for offline viewing. To eliminate pesky ads, you can subscribe to YouTube Premium for $13.99 a month or $139.99 a year. YouTube Premium also enables background video viewing, which allows you to switch to another app without interrupting the video you're watching. This can come in handy if you need to open up a web browser to shop for parts or look up torque specs and don't want to interrupt your tutorial video.

The YouTube app has more than 33 million user ratings on the Apple store and an average score of 4.7 stars out of five. More than 150 million Android users have left ratings on the Google Play store, giving the app an average score of 4.2 stars out of five.

Another valuable app you'll want to install if you plan on working on your vehicle is the one from 1A Auto. 1A Auto is a parts distributor located in Westford, Massachusetts, but their iPhone and Android apps provide troubleshooting guides, detailed step-by-step tutorial videos for thousands of common repairs, and a list of check engine light codes along with a portal for ordering parts from their warehouse. If you order before 2pm Eastern time on a weekday, your parts will ship that day for delivery as early as the following weekday. 

The video guides on 1A Auto's site are a gold mine of valuable information. Unlike the amateur tutorials you'll find on YouTube, the videos on 1A Auto's apps are hosted by professional mechanics, meaning you can trust that you're getting the best guidance from properly trained experts. The 1A Auto apps also have links to purchase tools, paint, fluids, shop supplies, and pretty much anything else you might need to repair or maintain your car or truck.

While 1A Auto has been selling parts online since 1999, its mobile apps are only about a year old. Nonetheless, I find their video guides to be very accurate and helpful in eliminating surprises for jobs I haven't done before.  

The iOS app has an average rating of 4.3 stars out of five from only 35 reviewers, and the Android version has an average rating of 4.0 stars from a little more than 100 users to date. Android app user Jacob Yannis gave that version a perfect five out of five stars and wrote, "Loving everything about the app! Thanks to everyone at 1A Auto!"

Autozone is the largest auto parts chain in the United States, with more than 6,700 stores. Autozone has free iOS and Android apps, which serve as a portal for ordering parts for pickup at a local store or shipping to your home or business. 

The Autozone app also has a library of repair guides for thousands of vehicles and a GPS-enabled locator to point you to the nearest store. You can also track and redeem discounts from the Autozone rewards program via the apps, which are free to download and use.

As of this writing, the iOS app has an average rating of 4.8 out of five stars from more than 100,000 users, and the Android version has an average rating of 4.6 from about 80,000 users. Android user Nathan Riffel gave it five stars, pointing out that "it'll send you maintenance reminders based on an average amount of miles driven, but it's fairly accurate. You can also find step-by-step directions for what seems like repairing almost anything on whatever vehicle you're working on. They're definitely blowing other autoparts stores and apps away!"

Buying used parts is a good way to save money and contribute a little bit to the nationwide effort to recycle old cars. Car-part.com has offered consumers a way to search auto salvage lots (please don't call them "junkyards") by make, model, part, and location since 1998. The site also has free Apple and Android apps offering that same search function. 

Search results include contact information for the salvage yards where your desired parts can be found, along with pricing, a grade for the part's condition, and sometimes photos of the salvaged vehicle. I have used car-part.com to locate used parts for over a decade, and their database has almost always proven accurate. However, it's only as good as each facility's willingness to keep it updated, so it's a good idea to call ahead and verify that a part is available before driving a long distance to one of the listed yards. 

The app is easy to navigate and has always worked for me without issue, although it only has an average rating of three stars out of five from less than 150 Apple store reviewers. The main complaint is that the app doesn't offer any functionality beyond the website itself. Android users are more satisfied with their version, with more than 800 reviewers scoring it an average of 4.1 out of five stars. An Android user named None Sone gave it a perfect score and a rave review, writing, "The best app out there! I found the part I needed at the very 1st attempt. Easy to use and even sorts the availability by distance, providing you with contact information."

If you have a car manufactured after 1996 in the United States or 1998 in Canada, it is equipped with a 16-pin OBD2 (On-Board Diagnostics) connector, usually near the driver's knees but sometimes elsewhere in the passenger compartment. If the check engine light on your dashboard comes on, connecting a scanner to the OBD2 port will tell you exactly what the issue is. Several Bluetooth-enabled OBD2 readers are available on the market today, and the CarScanner ELM OBD2 app will read the codes from most of them and help you interpret what is wrong. The app is free to download from the Apple and Google Play stores and works with most Bluetooth 4.0 OBD devices. Along with reading diagnostic codes, the CarScanner app provides live data to your smartphone, such as vehicle speed, engine RPM, and fuel consumption.

The free version is ad-supported; to remove ads and unlock some features, the premium version costs $2.49 for three months, $3.99 for one year, and $4.49 for a permanent license.

The iOS version has just two reviews, but the Android version has a 4.6 out of five average rating from more than 200,000 reviewers. Gregg Larsen rated it five stars and called it a "simple product that I use to diagnose issues on both of my vehicles. I purchased the pro version in app so I can live monitor more than 2 things. I think it's great and a fair price for all the information that is easily accessible."