New Feature: UART Components Now Supported on Adafruit.io WipperSnapper!
The Adafruit IO team has released support for UART components in Adafruit.io and the Adafruit.io WipperSnapper Firmware. Physical hardware that uses the UART protocol like the PMS5003 Air Quality Sensor can now connect to your no-code Adafruit IO projects.
Why are we excited?
Support for the UART serial protocol allows us to add new types of components we could not previously add. By exposing this functionality to you, the users, we can widen the number of IoT electronics projects that can be supported with Adafruit IO and WipperSnapper.
From the component picker, under UART Components, select the UART component you’d like to add to your project.
Set the interval for how often the component sends data back to Adafruit IO, and what data to send.
Click Create Component!
As soon as the interval elapses, your board will send data from the UART component to Adafruit IO!
Technical Details
If supported by the development board connected to WipperSnapper, we default to the hardware UART communication implementation. However, some boards that run WipperSnapper firmware lack support for hardware UART. For these boards, we automatically switch to a software UART implementation.
The GPS modules sold by Adafruit, like the Ultimate GPS Module and Mini GPS module, use the UART serial protocol. Previously, due to a lack of UART support, we were not able to integrate these components into WipperSnapper. Now that we can support UART serial communication, we’ll add no-code GPS support to Adafruit IO (likely sometime this month).
As usual, we’ll publish project guides to follow along with. We’re eager to see what the maker community will now build with Adafruit IO!
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: CircuitPython 2025 Wraps, Focus on Using Python, Open Source and More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
