back to portfolio

IoT integrations and mobile app for smart home gesture control

Third-party smart home integration with Alexa Routines, SmartThings, Philips Hue, LIFX, and IFTTT

Duration: 2 years

Customer location: USA, Austin, Texas

Industry: IoT

Services: Back-End Development • Mobile App Development • Software Architecture • Third-Party Integrations

Tech stack: AWS IoT Core • AWS Lambda • MongoDB • Node.js • React

Dedicated team behind the project

Roman

Senior Software Engineer

Dmytro

Software Engineer

Olha

Lead Project Manager

The client

The client is a stealth-mode company behind an innovative smart device that transforms ordinary surfaces — like walls, tables, and counters — into remote control interfaces. The product, a flat, circular device, detects knock and tap patterns and translates them into commands that control various smart devices, apps, and services.

Unlike traditional solutions like Alexa or Siri that rely on voice commands, this technology introduces a unique approach to home automation by detecting vibrations. It enables gesture-based control without screens or speech — a concept designed to feel natural and unobtrusive in any environment.

Client achievements:

Over $1.1 million raised via crowdfunding

The product’s crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo collectively raised over $1.1 million from 8,897 backers, significantly surpassing the initial funding goal.

Global adoption across 92 countries

The smart home device has been adopted in homes worldwide, with active users spanning 92 countries and over 10,000 unique surfaces.

Recognition as a top startup

The company was recognized as one of the top emerging startups in home automation, highlighting its innovative approach to smart home control.

Awarded $100,000 in flash funding

The project received $100,000 in flash funding from Arrow Electronics through Indiegogo’s Arrow Certification Program, supporting its manufacturing and development efforts.

The challenge

The client partnered with us to implement a Proof of Technology (PoT) and set of integrations validating that this surface-based input system could reliably trigger actions across a wide range of third-party platforms such as smart lighting, voice assistants, audio systems, and more — all coordinated through a mobile app and cloud-native backend.

The solution combined mobile control, gesture-triggered automation, and third-party integrations — unified through a serverless infrastructure built to scale. Key challenges included:

Handling real-time data exchange across services like Alexa, Nest, Philips Hue, LIFX, Samsung Smart TV, Yale Living, ecobee, and many others

Ensuring instant device responsiveness from both mobile and gesture-based commands

Providing a scalable backend architecture with minimal infrastructure overhead, supporting easier integration with new third parties

Achieving reliable bidirectional communication between the app and external APIs/devices

Expanding a mobile application where users can configure and manage their connections and gestures

What was done

We designed and delivered a serverless, integration-focused IoT system that enabled secure, real-time communication with external smart platforms. Key accomplishments included:

Mobile application layer: Extended iOS, Android, and iPad apps using React and Redux for device management and gesture rule creation.

Serverless (AWS Lambda) Backend: Handled all cloud compute logic in a scalable, event-driven environment using AWS IoT Core and AWS IoT SiteWise.

IoT device integrations: Connected third-party platforms including Alexa Routines, SmartThings, Philips Hue, Sonos, WeMo, LIFX, Nest, Spotify, and Uber via AWS IoT Core and SiteWise.

Real-time telemetry & stream processing: Captured usage and telemetry data from third-party APIs, processed it through AWS Kinesis Data Streams and Kinesis Analytics, and persisted it in Amazon RDS.

Event routing & notifications: Built push notification and event routing logic using AWS Lambda and DynamoDB triggers.

DevOps & CI/CD: Implemented automated testing and deployment pipelines using CircleCI.

Implemented features:

Extended mobile application

Built a hybrid app for iOS, Android, and iPad using React and Redux. The app allows users to configure gestures, manage device integrations, and monitor activity in real time.

Third-party smart device integration

Connected 12+ external platforms including Alexa, SmartThings, Philips Hue, Sonos, Nest, Spotify, and Uber using AWS IoT Core and SiteWise. This made it possible to control and coordinate all devices from one system without performance issues or manual workarounds.

Voice-controlled automation:

Added Alexa Skills support, allowing users to trigger custom workflows through voice commands configured in the Alexa ecosystem.

Custom automation rules

Let users create and manage gesture-based automation rules directly in the mobile app, linking physical interactions to third-party device actions.

Real-time telemetry streaming

Ingested data from external APIs and smart devices using AWS Kinesis Data Streams and Kinesis Analytics, enabling live system feedback and behavioral analysis.

Serverless cloud logic

Executed all backend execution with AWS Lambda, ensuring the platform remained scalable, fast, and cost-efficient.

Scalable data storage

Combined Amazon RDS for structured analytics with DynamoDB and S3 for real-time lookups and long-term cloud storage, ensuring reliability and extensibility.

Instant notifications & state sync

Built a Lambda-based notification engine that delivers push notifications and syncs device status across apps and user interfaces for immediate feedback.

Results

01

Successfully integrated 12+ external smart device ecosystems

The PoT demonstrated full bidirectional communication with platforms including Alexa, SmartThings, Philips Hue, Sonos, Nest, Uber, Spotify, and more – proving that the system could serve as a central controller across diverse IoT environments.

02

PoT delivered in under 5 months

All planned functionality — including mobile control, gesture processing, and third-party integrations — was implemented and validated on schedule, enabling the client to move forward with confidence.

03

82% unit test coverage across core logic

All major business rules and device integration layers were covered by automated tests, providing a stable foundation for long-term product scaling and further development.

04

Positive app store feedback from early users

Users praised the mobile app for intuitive setup, reliable gesture control, and seamless integrations with their smart home devices — confirming UX viability for broader release.

05

$1.1M+ raised via crowdfunding and flash funding

Following the successful tech validation, the client secured over $1.1M through Kickstarter and Indiegogo, and received $100K in flash funding from Arrow Electronics to support manufacturing.