Blynk is known as the most user-friendly IoT platform consisting of an app builder that can be run on iOS and Android operating systems, and a set of libraries to build amazing IoT applications in minutes with your favorite hardware platform. It allows you to quickly build interfaces by simply dragging and dropping widgets to control and monitor your hardware projects from your iOS and Android device.

In this chapter, you will learn about:

• Hardware platforms, connection types, architecture, ecosystem, and online resources
• Installing Blynk app builder on Android
• Creating a user account with the Blynk app builder to log in to Blynk Cloud
• Creating a new project with Blynk
• Preparing Raspberry Pi by adding SD card, Ethernet cable, Wi-Fi dongle, and power supply
• Writing Raspbian Stretch Lite on Raspberry Pi by flashing image to SD card with Etcher
• Configuring SSH on Raspberry Pi
• Installing prerequisite packages such as git-core and WiringPi on Raspberry Pi
• Using PuTTY to connect with Raspberry Pi with SSH protocol
• Configuring wireless connection on Raspberry Pi for Raspbian Stretch Lite
• Connecting Raspberry Pi with Blynk Cloud by running the sample C++ source file