Blynk IoT

The app itself looks really good though I did even try and use it. After seeing most widgets showed they required the Pro level I thought I would try the Maker level subscription hoping they would be enabled but still have a lower user limit. But sadly several were not. Didn’t look like it would be a too big a deal until I noticed pages were not available. Well that’s a show stopper for me. I don’t understand your business model. Makers will not be converting to Pros, it’s a complete different market and far too expensive for hobbyists/makers. So you have limited the functionality for makers who will be the ones to come up with creative applications and show off your product that might in turn attract users at the Pro level. Someone is either going to need a lot of users or they are not, it’s not going to be the restrictions, beyond the user limit, that motivates them to the next tier. So I cancelled my one month subscription a couple of minutes after seeing the lack of pages and I will find a different solution. Let me know if you come to your senses and drop these pointless limits.

I tried all major apps for IoT projects around my house and Blynk 2.0 is without a doubt the best solution there is. Whether you use Arduino, ESP32 or ESP8266 boards, setting up templates is super intuitive, quick and easy with the new Blynk 2.0 app. I run many home made 3D printed appliances (dog feeding machines, dog water bucket level sensor, train set for my son, custom lights, etc.) and I love having all my projects readily controllable from my phone, in one app! That’s just perfect! I cannot recommend anything other than Blynk when it comes to any of you IoT project.

I was a huge fan and advocate of Blynk before their new version. Even today it is the only app of its kind, where you can create your own interfaces for microcontrollers on your phone with ease. I would have been happy to pay a couple bucks a month to continue to use it, but these new prices are completely unjustifiable. In addition, the free plan is so absurdly limited that it’s completely useless without upgrading. Fortunately, it is still possible to use the legacy app, provided that you self-host your own Blynk server. I’d recommend that others try that out, it’s not as daunting as it may sound (check out hortio/docker-blynk on GitHub). You can use *all* of the widgets included with the old app, and also give yourself as many points as you need, so no in-app purchases. To the Blynk team: reconsider this change, and think about what made the original such a success.