The Past, Present, and Future of Adafruit IO

Adafruit IO Logo

Over a year ago, the small team behind the Adafruit Learning System started working on a new project called Adafruit IO. We really wanted a fun and easy way to interact with data and devices. There were a few systems in place that we tried out, but they were either overly complex enterprise-ready solutions, or were missing key features. So, just like the Adafruit Learning System, in order to get exactly what we wanted, we needed to make it ourselves from the ground up.

Using Adafruit IO couldn’t be easier. We have a wide range of libraries to make it super easy to connect your device and start sending and receiving data from your Adafruit IO account. Want to send data over your CC3000 Arduino Shield? No problem. Would you rather connect with your Raspberry Pi? We have you covered. If we don’t have a library for your device or preferred language, you can use our well documented API to use whatever device you want.

What makes Adafruit IO fun is our easily customizable dashboard. Insert any number of unique blocks like buttons, switches, gauges, and graphs. Change their size, click and drag the blocks and put them in just the right spot. Watch your data stream in real time over a graph block or track a device live with the map block. Turn a light on and off with the switch block, and dim the light with the slider block. The opportunities are endless.

Screen Shot 2015-11-11 at 2.30.53 PM

Over the last few weeks we have slowly opened Adafruit IO up to those patiently waiting to join the beta. So, where do we currently stand with the Adafruit IO beta? Here are some fun stats from our small pool of beta testers:

  • Over 5 million points of data
  • Over 400 points of data created per minute
  • 90% of users requesting beta have been granted access. 100% by the end of this week
  • Over 700 feeds online
  • Client libraries for node, python, ruby, arduino, esp8266, fona, and more
  • MQTT and REST API endpoints
  • A custom built Arduino MQTT library: https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_MQTT_Library
  • An API compatible open source server: https://github.com/adafruit/adafruit-io-node

So what’s next for Adafruit IO? We are working overtime to keep squashing bugs and clean up the interface. At the same time we will update the existing libraries and add new ones for devices not yet supported. We also have plenty of ideas for fun new blocks!

Oh, and stay tuned for the official launch of Adafruit IO to the public. If you would like to request access head on over to io.adafruit.com.


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