I briefly shared some details on this in
a thread about extracting soc data but I've built an alternative app to the stock Stark one. This app runs on both iOS and Android while supporting most of the stock app features except "writing" configuration data like maps, charge rate, and other bike settings (these may come in the future). In addition to the stock information the app also provides access to all of the diagnostics data the VCU provides. This data is normally recorded during rides and uploaded to Stark via the phone, however it's obviously very useful to have this information available for end-users and dealers. Long term I have no clue whether Stark will try and prevent third-party apps from accessing VCU data, however as the app never writes data to the VCU it shouldn't void your warranty in places with strong consumer protection laws (at least in the US I know your fine). I am hopeful they see the value in third-party support and have an overall mentality of right-to-repair, but they could choose to brick this app in the future if not.
Some important notes:
- Only a single device can be connected to the VCUs Bluetooth interface so you can't use both the Stark app and this app at the same time. Because the Stark version is so aggressive with trying to maintain a background connection to the bike, its easiest to move it far away or turn it off when using the alternative app version.
- The app doesn't require your Stark login but instead connects directly to each EX bike. I was actually surprised this was possible as its a very insecure method of communication to a VCU, but in our case it means you don't have to worry about using your login credentials. For dealers or owners of multiple bikes this may also be useful since you don't need to swap around Stark phones.
- Ride's are not tracked or uploaded to Stark when you use this app which may be a benefit or a downside depending on your use case. This means the main hour and odometer counters will be incorrect, however the ODO displayed on the dashboard when the bike is on comes from the VCU and will remain accurate.
- Much of the telemetry and diagnostics data isn't used in the Stark app (some of them are on an internal engineering view) and thus required me to make some informed guesses around what unit, scale and format values are in. I'm still working on accurately computing some values like amps and watts used through the motor/inverter.
- Using a more modern phone that has a much better Bluetooth chip means the connection between the bike and the app is much more reliable. In 2500 miles / 100 hours of using the app I've never had a single connection issue to the bike.
At the moment the iOS version is going through the Apple review process, so I'd like to find a few beta testers (I believe I just need the email address attached to your apple account to send testing invites) that are interested and willing to provide some feedback. Just send me a DM with your information and I'll add you in once the review is approved. The Android testing and release process is actually a bit more annoying/extensive so I'm waiting to do that until I can get the iOS version released. I plan to release both apps for free once the app-store review process completes.
Here is an example of some of the functionality, there is a
lot more data provided within this app but it all requires a bit of thinking and knowledge to use, so I'll leave that for people to explore on their own.
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(kw value is totally wrong in this screenshot)
View attachment 14264
And finally this is a 35 minute cut of a (street-only) ride I did with the app displayed as an overlay the entire time. This is an older version so not everything is perfect but should still give you an idea of how it works in comparison to the stock version.
