Tuya platform

The ever-increasing presence of devices managed from mobile apps can be seen in the offerings of many electronics shops. The popularity of such functionality did not come out of nowhere. Tuya is among the many apps dedicated by the manufacturers of different devices. It combines the collaborative capabilities of multiple devices from different manufacturers in a single app and works on a cloud basis. This makes it possible to skip the fixed IP router and only need one app – Tuya Smart – to manage all the equipment, which can be used via the mobile network from anywhere.

The Tuya Smart environment is very easy and intuitive to use. The configuration can certainly be handled by any smartphone user. In fact, the software consists of two apps – Tuya Smart and Smart Life. At this point there are not many differences between the two, apart from the interface. All devices that carry the designation "Powered by Tuya" or similar are compatible with the Tuya environment.

You can connect to the equipment in your home in several ways. The simplest case is when the device has a Bluetooth interface – then it is detected automatically. In other cases, all depends on the device but most often Wi-Fi is used. In this case, use the automatic search for available devices nearby. The app scans the environment and searches for devices so that they can then be paired with the phone.

It is important and interesting to note that each device can be assigned to a specific room. This means arranging your home in such a way that you can switch specific devices off or on without having to think about which items on the list mean which devices, e.g. if in the evening you want to lower the blinds on the ground floor and turn off the lights in the house, you can do this with your smartphone using a single button – a shortcut – without entering the room. Most importantly, the right app configuration allows you to create ready-made scenarios to make your home truly smart. Your imagination and the available devices are the only limits here. You can, for example, set up a plan that will automatically switch on the house's exterior lighting after dark, lower the roller blinds at the same time and close the automatic gate if it has just been opened. In addition, the rain sensor, by measuring recent rainfall, will allow you to decide whether you should turn on the garden irrigation or whether you can still wait a day or so. You can also schedule your air conditioner, air purifier or humidifier. In this way, your equipment will work exactly when you decide, or when the measurement of parameters from other, pre-programmed devices decides so, so that you enjoy a perfectly prepared dwelling when you return from work, for example. When you are not at home, the lawn can be mowed by the robot and the floors vacuumed thanks to the cleaning robot. Temperature sensors and electronic thermostats allow you to manage the heating in your flat or house. By adding more devices such as smart locks, motion and twilight detectors, you can include further threads in the scenarios. The range of Tuya-compatible devices also includes smart cameras and alarms to keep your household members and your property safe.

Created according to your preferences, a smart home does not have to be controlled solely by you. The Tuya software allows a special access code to be generated, which also allows the settings to be loaded on the other household members' phones. This way, others can also have access to control individual devices as you choose.

Setting up your smart home is best started with the simplest devices and accessories that you use every day. This includes lighting, for example. Nowadays, it is possible to buy not only smart bulbs, but also entire lamps. Once paired with a phone, you can remotely control not only their switching on, but also, the colour of the light or the colour temperature.

Examples of lighting control options:

It is worth mentioning that it is also possible to arrange lighting scenes or synchronise them with live music.

You can access individual devices with a single button from the app's main panel:

It is also very easy to create schedules for individual devices by also creating appropriate event sequences:

Example of a screen for controlling a roller shutter in the living room:

Opportunities to create individual scene events in the app:

Among many Tuya devices, you can find PTZ cameras, such as

APTI-W34A-TUYA 

with a wide range of possible settings and functions:

Equally popular are wireless smoke detectors, such as the ATLO-SD01-TUYA, which activate a loud alarm signal in addition to informing the phone of the danger:

ATLO-SD01-TUYA 

Cipher locks, e.g. ATLO-KRMFW-856-TUYA, allowing the administrator to fully remotely manage the lock from within the app by remotely opening the door, remotely managing users and scheduling (adding, cancelling access, granting user access within a specific timeframe), programming one-off access codes and guest accounts with an expiry period, remote access to full event history (user ID, exact date and time of access).

ATLO-KRMFW-856-TUYA 

Valve actuators, e.g. ATLO-V1-TUYA for remote control of a water or gas ball valve (open/close). Pairing the actuator with a flood sensor, for example, allows the water valve to close automatically when the sensor detects a leak.

ATLO-V1-TUYA 

It is also worth mentioning that many devices allow voice command control using Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. This is an additional improvement that allows you to issue commands to your devices without having to search for settings in the app.