Custom integrations with cloud IoT platforms

The ability to integrate with third-party services and platforms is one of today’s Internet of Things trends. The main advantage of such integration is expanding the basic functionality of IoT systems. For example, users can manage IoT devices using popular voice assistants, receive device status notifications in their favorite messenger, or set up automatic rules. This article provides several examples of custom integration with cloud IoT platforms that greatly enhance the capabilities of developers and end users.

Integration of third-party platforms for managing IoT devices

There are several types of custom integration with cloud IoT platforms, and the first of them is integration with third-party platforms, which in turn are designed to manage IoT devices.

An example of such integration, which is implemented in the functionality of the 2Smart Cloud IoT platform, is the support of the ESPHome no-code platform as a way to develop device firmware.

ESPHome is a platform for configuring ESP32-based smart devices. Its main advantage is that the developer does not need to resort to programming to describe the logic of their product.

Initially, ESPHome is a base for configuring devices that connect to the Home Assistant free automation platform. The 2Smart Cloud team has developed a software bridge that adapts the ESPHome convention to the 2Smart convention. To do this, the 2Smart Cloud platform API messages are converted into messages that are understandable on the side of the device running on ESPHome.

With this integration, developers of 2Smart Cloud devices have access to no-code programming of their products, which saves time and resources.

The bridge concept can be used with any other open-source smart device control platform. For example, integrating the cloud IoT platform and Tasmota software can be configured similarly.

Integration with third-party software services

Another integration option is connecting to external services with API. Using this API, the team supporting the IoT platform can connect the necessary functions to the service and send the necessary commands.

This is the more common integration option used by many IoT platforms. For example, in 2Smart Cloud, sending notifications to the Slack messenger is implemented in this way. The end-user can create an App in their Slack account using the API. The App uses incoming webhooks to receive notifications. After completing the integration setup in the 2Smart Cloud mobile application, the user receives the necessary messages about changes in the status of their devices using Slack messenger.

Another example of integration with third-party software services is connecting to the IFTTT platform. The IFTTT (If This Then That) is a service designed specifically for the mutual integration of other platforms and services.

In fact, IFTTT allows you to connect to each other services that cannot be connected in any other way. The end user can link products whose developers may not even be aware of each other’s existence.

Technically, integrating a platform or service with IFTTT is as follows. Service developers customize their environment by adding an IFTTT compatibility layer to their API. They then create their platform’s service on IFTTT. After the necessary testing and verification stages, the integration appears in the IFTTT catalog, and anyone can use it.

Using the API is the way to set up integration with multiple services. Typically, any proprietary system has a documented API. If there is no API, its development is necessary, which will help to integrate any service with the platform.

We have described just a few examples of integrating external services with cloud IoT platforms. They confirm that integration provides almost limitless opportunities to expand the functionality of platforms and the user experience of end consumers of smart devices. You can try the integrations described above, and others implemented in 2Smart Cloud (such as integration with Google Home and Siri or devices control using a browser) without paying. Sign up for our platform to get cloud software for turning your ideas and connecting up to 20 devices within a free plan!