Windows
Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. No installer: unzip and run.
Download for WindowsFree tachograph card reader app · Windows and Android
Read driver cards with any USB reader.
Plug a USB smart-card reader into your Windows PC or Android phone, insert the driver card, and the file goes straight to your TachoAssist workspace. Nothing to type, nothing to configure.
It is free, there is no trial to run out, and there is nothing to buy: no account is needed to read a card and save the file, and most standard USB smart-card readers already do the job, so the one you or your workshop already own is usually enough. TachoAssist Card Reader reads tachograph driver cards; it does not download a vehicle unit.
Download
Version 1.0.2 · 9 September 2026 · Free to use · no account required for reading and saving files.
Android
Android 8.0 or newer with a USB-C port (an OTG adapter works for older phones).
Download for AndroidInstall
Windows
- Download and unzip TachoAssist Card Reader.
- Open the folder and run TachoAssist Card Reader.exe.
- If Windows SmartScreen appears, click More info and then Run anyway.
You can pin the app to your taskbar for easier access.
Android
- Download and open the .apk file.
- If Android asks for permission to install apps from this source, allow it.
- Install the app.
When updating, simply install the new version over the existing one. There is no need to uninstall it first.
Windows needs no separate driver for a standard CCID reader: the class driver that ships with Windows 10 and 11 handles it, and the device is normally ready as soon as it is plugged in. Android needs no driver either, but it does ask for permission the first time a USB accessory is connected.
Using the card reader
- Connect your USB card reader to your phone or computer.
- Insert the driver card into the reader.
- The app will detect the card automatically and start reading it.
- When finished, you can either save the .DDD file to your device, or send it directly to TachoAssist if you are signed in.
On Android, saved files are also available in your Downloads folder.
A whole card takes well under a minute to read, so the download the rules require at least every 28 days is a one-minute job at the kitchen table or in the cab rather than a trip to the transport office. What comes out is the ordinary, digitally signed tachograph file — the same .DDD your analysis software, your transport manager or an enforcement officer expects to see.
TachoAssist account
You do not need a TachoAssist account to read a driver card or save the .DDD file.
Signing in is only required if you want to send the file directly to your TachoAssist account for analysis.
The app also works offline.
Until you send it, the file stays on the device you read it with. Sending it is a deliberate act, and it goes to the workspace you signed in to and nowhere else. A driver card file is personal data about a named driver, so treat it the way you would treat a payslip.
You do not need a company card or a download key to read a driver card. The card answers a plain smart-card reader on its own, which is why this app works with hardware nobody has to buy from us.
Compatible card readers
Most standard USB smart-card readers (CCID) should work.
Tested readers include:
- Generic EMV Smartcard Reader
- ACS ACR39U
On Android, make sure you use a USB-C cable or OTG adapter that supports data transfer. Charging-only cables will not work.
The technical requirement is a PC-SC / ISO 7816 reader that handles T=0 and T=1 cards — the same class of device sold for online banking and national ID cards, which is why a reader bought for something else usually works here. A driver card answers ordinary ISO 7816 commands, so no vendor can lock it to its own hardware.
One warning worth reading twice: a driver card is read through the gold contacts on its face, so a reader with no contact slot cannot read it. The ACS ACR122U is the device people buy by mistake for this job, and it will not work with any driver card, in this app or any other. Some Oppo, OnePlus, Realme and Vivo phones also restrict USB accessories at the system level, so a reader that works on one phone can be refused on another.
Card download date
By default, the app records the download date on the driver card, just like standard tachograph download tools. This resets the card’s download reminder.
You can disable this option in Settings.
What is written is a download record: that a download happened, and when. The activity data on the card is not altered, and the .DDD file is identical either way. The record matters because other tools, and an officer at the roadside, read it as the trail showing the card has been downloaded on time, so switching the write-back off weakens that trail on the card itself. The setting applies to the next read, so you can leave it on as a rule and turn it off for a one-off test read.
Having problems?
Open Settings → Save diagnostics and send the diagnostic file to contact@tachoassist.com.
The diagnostic file contains technical information about the reader and the download process. It does not contain personal data or data from the driver card.
Before you write in, three things account for most failed reads: a charging-only USB cable or adapter on Android, a reader with no contact slot, and a card pushed in the wrong way round — the chip goes in first, contacts upward in most readers. If the app never sees the reader at all, unplug it, close the app and start again; on Windows a reader already claimed by another program will not answer a second one.
Why the tachograph card reader is free
Because reading a card is not the hard part. Getting the file off the card is a minute of ISO 7816 traffic. What takes work is everything after it — turning the file into a driver’s day, applying drivers’ hours and working time rules, explaining an infringement and keeping the record for as long as the law requires. That is the product TachoAssist charges for, and you can see what it costs on the pricing page.
So the split is deliberate. The reader app is free and stays free, on Windows and on Android, with no trial clock and no account needed to read a card and save the file. We sell no hardware and take no cut of anyone else’s. If you never buy analysis from us, the app still gives you the file the 28-day duty needs, in the format everything else in this industry reads.
What the tachograph rules actually require
Driver card data must be downloaded at least every 28 days. In Great Britain that duty now comes through DVSA guidance and the operator-licence undertakings rather than the EU regulation, which was revoked in UK law at the start of 2024; in the EU it is Regulation (EU) No 581/2010. Either way the obligation belongs to the transport undertaking, with the driver obliged to make the card available. An app produces a file; it cannot discharge a duty.
Two intervals are mixed up constantly, so it is worth being blunt. 28 days is the download deadline for a driver card. 56 days is the roadside window — the record a driver must be able to show at a check, the current day plus the previous 56, which was extended from 28 at the end of 2024 and did not change the download interval at all. Vehicle unit data is a third figure again, 90 days in most of the EU, and TachoAssist Card Reader does not do that one: a vehicle unit still needs a download key or a remote-download system.
Records also have to be kept once they exist — tachograph records for at least 12 months in the UK, working time records for two years — so a card that has been read and then lost is not a card that has been downloaded. The download deadlines are set out in full here.
After the file exists.
Questions
Tachograph card reader FAQ
Is it legal to read my own tachograph driver card?
Yes. Reading a driver card is a neutral technical operation and the app is simply the tool that produces the file. The duty to download the data and keep it sits with the transport undertaking, and the driver’s duty is to make the card available for downloading. An undertaking must also give a driver a copy of the data downloaded from their card when the driver asks for it. Reading your own card removes none of that.
Will my employer see the file if I read my own card?
Only if you send it. The app saves the .DDD file on the device you are using. It uploads a file to a TachoAssist workspace only while you are signed in to that workspace, so the file goes where you sign in and nowhere else. If you never sign in, the app never sends anything.
Which card readers work with the app?
Most standard USB smart-card readers (CCID / PC-SC) should work; the Generic EMV Smartcard Reader and the ACS ACR39U have both been tested. A driver card is read through the gold contacts on its face, so a reader with no contact slot — the ACS ACR122U is the one people buy by mistake — will not read it at all. On Android the phone needs a USB-C data cable or an OTG adapter, and some Oppo, OnePlus, Realme and Vivo models restrict USB accessories.
Does the app need an internet connection?
No. Reading a card and saving the .DDD file both work offline. A connection is needed only to send a file to a TachoAssist workspace.
Does the app write anything to the driver card?
By default it records the download date on the card, the way standard tachograph download tools do, which resets the card’s download reminder. It writes a download record; it does not touch the activity data. You can switch it off in Settings before a read, and switching it off does not change the file the app produces.
Can the app download the tachograph in the vehicle?
No. TachoAssist Card Reader reads driver cards only. Vehicle unit data still comes from your download key or remote download, and that is a separate obligation with its own interval.