You’ve now got a way to optimize your Arduino Cloud dashboards for small screens, and Facebook login for the smartphone apps and your account. It’s been a busy few weeks! Only yesterday we rolled out LoRaWAN connectivity in Arduino Cloud using The Things Stack. Now we’ve even more great features to tell you about, so let’s jump right into them.
Mobile Optimized Dashboards for Arduino Cloud
Dashboards are one of Arduino Cloud’s crowning achievements. Fully customizable, and a powerful way to control boards, devices and projects, while also letting you visualize all kinds of data. It really is a cornerstone of Arduino Cloud’s offering.
A little while ago we made some changes to widget sizes, and the way they’re labelled. It gave you a much better view of the data, and made the sizing more compact. This was the first step in a redesign of Arduino Cloud dashboards that now let us improve visibility on small screens, too.
As you probably know, your dashboards instantly work in the free Arduino IoT Remote app, too. It gives you smartphone control with no coding required. Today this great feature gets a shot in the arm, as you can now edit a dashboard’s layout for a mobile screen.
Let’s say you add a button to a new dashboard. You can now increase its size on the big screen, but reduce its size on the mobile layout. They can be in totally different positions, too. Arduino Cloud will automatically display the dashboard in the optimal size depending on your device. So you always get the best view and most ergonomic layout.
Any settings for the widgets are maintained regardless of the dashboard size. So if you link the button to a variable on the desktop dashboard, it’s also linked for the mobile layout. This way, you can optimize the layout without having to replicate any work in the settings.
At the top of the dashboard screen, you’ll now see a mobile layout button. This lets you switch between views, so you can customize the dashboard for both screen sizes. It’s available right now, so go give it a try.
Facebook Login for Arduino Cloud
Since we’re talking about Arduino Cloud updates for small screens, we also added another minor, but very useful tweak.
You can already log into your Arduino Cloud account using Google or Apple accounts. Or your Arduino account, obviously. There’s now the option to log in by connecting to Facebook, too.
It speeds up the process by only requiring a quick button click/tap, so you can get on with building those awesome mobile dashboards even faster!
As always, we want to hear your thoughts on these changes, so please let us know over on social media.
Create projects fast, with no coding, using Oplà IoT Kit templates
Arduino Team — July 30th, 2021
Templates are here for the Oplà IoT Kit. This is a new feature that takes you from unboxing your kit to uploading a sketch and getting a project up and running in record time. And you can do the whole thing without needing any coding.
Arduino Cloud Templates for Oplà IoT Kit
Arduino Cloud is all about ease and simplicity. So it’s been no small task in the background, creating a way to import dashboards, sketches, things and variables that get projects up and running in just a few clicks.
To kick things off, we’ve brought these templates to the awesome Oplà IoT Kit. This way, you have more options than ever before. You don’t need any coding skills at all to make a fully functional, connected IoT project. It’s the spark that will start the fire of your new passion for electronics!
Oplà IoT Kit Projects
The kit includes a host of projects so you can get started with IoT. These projects are carefully developed to create a strong foundation that lets anyone develop a working understanding of connected projects. Whether you’re teaching or learning, this kit is for you.
There’s still a lot of value in following these projects from start to finish, of course. Building control dashboards is one of the most powerful tools in the Arduino Cloud arsenal, for example. But there’s no quicker way to get started than importing a template. You can get to grips with things through pre-built, working demo content. Being able to see the finished project and work backwards is an excellent way to understand the inner workings.
There’s a super simple wizard that helps you import an Oplà IoT Kit project. It walks you step-by-step through the short process, creating and uploading the sketch, connecting the devices and adding a dashboard. It’ll connect your boards to Arduino Cloud and set them up automatically as you go.
Templates are ready and available for the following example Oplà IoT Kit projects:
Home Security Alarm
Inventory Control
Personal Weather Station
Remote Controlled Lights
Smart Garden
Thermostat Control
Thinking About You
Simply register your kit, and get signed up to the Arduino Cloud. If you’ve got a new Oplà IoT Kit there’s a free 12 month subscription included in the box, although you can do all this with the free Cloud plan too. Once you’re in, select the project you want to build with your Oplà IoT Kit. Then just click the “Import” button and follow the wizard as it takes you through the quick and easy process.
Do you like the new dashboard templates? Let us know if the comments where you’d like to see this Arduino Cloud feature go next.
There are dozens, if not hundreds of amazing Arduino Cloud features. So it’s perfectly understandable if you’ve missed some of them.
So we’ve put together a list of our favorite Arduino Cloud features that you might not know existed.
1) Auto-Generate Sketches
We’ve talked elsewhere about getting an understanding of what cloud computing really is, and how it’s not just the domain of experts. The cloud is how total beginners can get started much more easily. There’s no better demonstration of that than our first top Arduino Cloud feature; auto-generated sketches.
When you create a new “Thing” in your Arduino Cloud, you add various bits of info to it. Wi-Fi connection credentials, and any variables you want to control or monitor. The Cloud automatically generates a starting sketch from this info. That sketch can then be sent to your boards, so all your initial configuration is taken care of, without a single line of code.
2) Device-to-Device Communication
There’s simply no easier way to make two microcontroller boards talk to each other than Arduino Cloud. We’ve covered in detail how easy it is to wirelessly connect your boards.
This isn’t just for Arduino devices either. If you want any combination of Arduino, ESP32 and ESP8266 devices to work together, this is how you do it.
3) Over-the-Air Updates
Working through your Arduino Cloud means you don’t have to disconnect any Arduino boards when updating them. If you want to edit or add a new sketch, it can all be done wirelessly, over-the-air.
Anyone who’s had to dismantle a project or device to get to a board’s USB socket will appreciate the simple, vital value of this feature. It’s one of those things that you’ll wonder how you ever lived without.
4) Support for ESP Boards
There’s a reason we call it the Arduino IoT Cloud. This is an all-encompassing platform for Internet of things, home automation, and electronics project control and management. So first we added support for ESP8266 devices. More recently, experimental support for ESP32 boards became available.
So even if your project doesn’t actually have any Arduino products in there, the Cloud is just as useful. Secure, private, and accessible to all kinds of IoT and maker devices.
5) Trigger Actions on Cloud Events
Arduino Cloud makes it super easy to do things that you might normally need the IDE for. But it’s also got lots of exclusive features that you only get in the Cloud.
For example, there are actions that can be triggered based on your board’s interactions with your Arduino Cloud. You can include actions within your sketches when a Cloud connection is successful, and when the Cloud has synced with a device. Or perhaps most useful of all, trigger an action if Cloud connectivity is lost. Getting an indication that a project has disconnected could be incredibly useful!
Dashboards are control panels within your Arduino Cloud. It’s one of the most powerful Arduino Cloud features, and essential to making full use of Cloud control. But what’s often overlooked is that you can share dashboards with anyone you want.
For example, let’s say you’re using Arduino Cloud to control your home automation. You can set up a dashboard for a tablet in the living room that the whole family can use, but doesn’t have sensitive admin controls in there. And then another for people to use on their phones.
All Cloud plans include unlimited dashboards. And anyone can have a free Cloud account. So you can create as many dashboards as you like, and share them with literally anyone, anywhere.
7) Alexa Integration
Natural language voice control is genuine Star Trek stuff. So it’s no wonder people love the functionality of Alexa. Did you know it’s incredibly easy to connect your Arduino Cloud to Alexa? And once you have, it effectively adds voice control to every board, and every project. Nothing else needed.
There’s literally no easier way to make an Alexa-controlled device or project than with your Arduino Cloud. You’ll never look back, and you’ll always have someone to talk to.
For the engineers, coders, developers and those among you who’ve been using Arduino for a long time, API integration is the powerhouse secret feature you’ve been looking for.
The API can be called with any HTTP client, or with languages like Javascript, Python, Golang and more. It’s what you need to incorporate the power of Arduino Cloud features into your systems, platforms and projects.
9) Use IFTT, Zapier and More with Webhooks
There are lots of reasons you might want to include control platforms outside of your Arduino Cloud. Like sending an email or a Tweet when you press a button on a Nano, or a device disconnects from the Cloud (see above).
That’s what webhooks are for, and they give you a universal way to send commands out of Arduino Cloud, and into… well, anything!
IFTTT and Zapier are great examples of services that can do almost anything from a webhook. Get to know this feature, and connected projects suddenly have easy access to the whole web.
10) Easy Firmware Updates
When you connect a new Arduino board, your Arduino Cloud automatically checks its firmware version. If there’s an update available, it offers you the option of applying that update.
Very easy, and you don’t have to worry about finding the correct/latest firmware version yourself. This simple, background function makes sure your boards and projects always have the latest features, security updates and bug fixes.
For people who use a lot of Arduino devices, it’s worth adding them to the Cloud for this feature alone.
11) Full Dashboard Customization
We’ve already talked about unlimited dashboards in your Arduino Cloud. Creating them is easy, but did you know you can customize them too?
Anyone who’s dipped their toe in the home automation waters knows how essential dashboard editing is. Some platforms work great, but offer very little when it comes to controlling your dashboard layout. For many people, that’s a deal breaker.
Your Arduino Cloud widgets can easily be added, edited, removed, repositioned and resized in any configuration you want. It’s as simple as drawing and resizing boxes, but the result makes your Cloud projects infinitely more useable.
12) Watchdog Timer
The Arduino Cloud automatically runs a watchdog timer that will reset your board, hardware or project if it crashes. This is a small feature, but a powerful one that can keep your projects running while unattended.
It means you never have to manually reset it when you eventually realize it’s not been running all day. You can have devices running remotely (very remotely, with SIM or LoRa connectivity) and be sure they’re robust enough to keep on ticking.
It’s included and running automatically, but can easily be disabled if you don’t need it.
Arduino provides a super easy way to use Node-RED for IoT automations. This is a powerful, but very easy-to-use visual programming platform specifically designed for IoT projects.
Complex automations using advanced triggers like sunrise or sunset, presence detection, combined actions or sensor readings and so much more. The possibilities are endless, and learning Node-Red is incredibly easy. Get to grips with this feature, and you’ll be creating IoT automations that would otherwise need an experienced coder.
13A) Fully Functional Free Account
One of the best kept secrets of the Arduino Cloud is that if you’re registered on the Arduino website or forum, you already have a free Cloud waiting for you. Simply head on over to the Cloud site and get started with unlimited dashboards and unlimited sketches. The free tier of Arduino Cloud is fully functional, and it’s ready and waiting for you to give it a try.
In fact, it’s the perfect option especially if you haven’t used Arduino before! Give it a shot and let us know what you think. No credit card required; just your creativity and a passion for connected projects.
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