Simple alternatives to Blynk IoT / ubidots

Hello everybody,

I tried to use the Blynk IoT (which is the successor of Blynk Legacy) and I tried to use ubidots.
both services and their webistes are full bloated with scattered information missing a tutorial that gives an overview and then explains step by step how to setup a demo-system.

(the CEOs of both should read "how to get the best out of this forum ;-)) )

So I ask:
does somebody know of a much more simple system that allows a functionality like this:

I have multiple ESP32's connected to my local WLAN-Router and can access some kind of a dashboard on my smartphone from anywhere outside of my local WLAN

The dashboard functionality shown on my smartphone should offer status-LEDs, buttons, switches and sliders.

best regards Stefan

1 Like

you can still use the old Blynk. or not?

Hello,

Try RemoteXY

Hi Guix,

thank you for the suggestion.

I have two questions:

  • can RemoteXY-platform connect via WiFi directly - just run the complete sourcecode on a ESP32?

  • can I access the devices from anywhere from the internet?

best regards Stefan

Yes it is still available but they don't say a date when Blynk legacy will be shut down.
Unsecureness about when the service will shut down is even worse compared to communicate a date dd.mm.yyyy.

I could setup my own Blynk legacy server. But I want to avoid this effort.

Blynk IoT and ubidots are fullblown systems (and IMHO full bloated with scattered documentation how it works).

So what I'm looking for should be pretty simple.

best regards Stefan

Yes, in RemoteXY editor, in the right pane, click Configuration and choose Connection type "Cloud server", then in Module Interface click on My Tokens to create a cloud token, you will need to enter this token in the smartphone app to connect to your project from anywhere

Hi guix,

does this feature cloud-server require paying?
If I click on configuration I only see this


best regards Stefan

Click on the Bluetooth icon to change the connection type.

But I have doubt about the Cloud being available in the free version of the app. If it isn't available, try with connection type "ethernet" or "wifi access point" for testing, then buy the app if you like it

Hi guix,

OK I managed to change to cloud-server and ESP32. On the website there are some examples.
Ah! the auto-generated sourcecode includes a struct-definition with all elements that I added with the editor.

Yes indeed I like it. Pretty straight forward. much easier to configure than Blynk-IoT or ubidots. Quite enough elements for control and displaying data / information, size and colors choosable.

Thank you very much guix for pointing me to RemoteXY.
If anybody knows of another similar service please post a link.

best regards Stefan

Just FYI, the array and struct are linked together, the array obviously contains the data of your GUI (position of controls, colors, etc) and it's "encoded" so that it uses less memory, you cannot (easily) modify it by hand, you must use the editor.

I wrote a tool to decode the array, if you want to see how it's built, but I need to update it as there was a recent change in RemoteXY editor so now my tool will crash if there are LEDs elements in the GUI.

But for example, this array and its struct:

uint8_t RemoteXY_CONF[] =
  { 255,2,0,12,0,38,0,13,13,0,
  1,0,1,1,12,12,2,31,88,0,
  66,1,14,1,7,16,2,26,4,0,
  3,17,7,18,2,26,67,4,12,23,
  20,5,2,26,11 };
  
// this structure defines all the variables and events of your control interface 
struct {

    // input variables
  uint8_t button_1; // =1 if button pressed, else =0 
  int8_t slider_1; // =0..100 slider position 

    // output variables
  int8_t level_1; // =0..100 level position 
  char text_1[11];  // string UTF8 end zero 

    // other variable
  uint8_t connect_flag;  // =1 if wire connected, else =0 

} RemoteXY;

Can be decoded as:

uint8_t RemoteXY_CONF[] =
{
	// Header
	 255,   2,   0,  12,   0,  38,   0,  13,  13,   0,

	// Input button_1
	   1,   0,   1,   1,  12,  12,   2,  31, 'X','\0',

	// Output level_1
	  66,   1,  14,   1,   7,  16,   2,  26,

	// Input slider_1
	   4,   0,   3,  17,   7,  18,   2,  26,

	// Output text_1
	  67,   4,  12,  23,  20,   5,   2,  26,  11,
};

struct
{
	// Inputs
	bool   button_1;
	int8_t slider_1;

	// Outputs
	int8_t level_1;
	char   text_1[11];

	// Other
	bool   connect_flag;
}
RemoteXY;

I known by experience what each value does in the array, it would be too long to explain to you so I also wrote this topic, which is very outdated but may still be useful..

:wink:

1 Like

I used to use Cayenne and AFAIK it still has a free option.

Hi Riva,

thank you for mentioning Cayenne. I looked it up but they seem to not support ESP32-devices. :frowning:
Looked promising but if they don't support ESP32 it is no option for me

best regards Stefan

As this thread is closed now.
I use PushSafer now which is very easy to use and does not need the overhead of MQTT

All is not what it seems...

The Cayenne MQTT Arduino Library provides functions to easily connect to the Cayenne IoT project builder. This library is designed to work with Arduino, ESP8266 and ESP32 devices. With it you can send data to and receive data from Cayenne.

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