Particle Photon is a small development board able to connect your robot to the Internet in the same way that your smartphone and tablet might connect to a WiFi network. But before starting to develop your application or build your remote controlled robot, you have to setup the board and connect it to a WiFi network. You have three options to setup the Photon: application (iOS and Android), Putty or Node.js.
If you have an Android or iOS device, is effortless to setup the Particle Photon board. The setup guide for mobile devices is simple and intuitive even for a beginner. But if you don’t have the option to use an iOS or Android device (because you’re using a Windows smartphone, for example), you’ll need to setup the Proton board with PuTTY or Node.js using your PC. In this article, I’ll cover only the first and easiest setup option via the application. I have an iOS device, but if you’re using an Android gadget, the steps are almost the same.
Note: Particle Photon is sensible and the manufacturer indicates to don’t press down on the Photon’s module. Doing so triggers a reset and is generally not good for the Photon.
Setting up the Particle Photon via iOS application
This section will go through the steps to get your Photon connected using the Particle application.
Step 1: Download the free Particle Photon app from the AppStore.
Step 2: Create the Particle account using a valid email address and a password.
Step 3: Power on your Particle Photon. You can connect it to a PC or use an external power source such as a battery with an output of 5V.
Step 4: Check if the on-board RGB LED blinking blue.
Step 5: Check if your iOS device has WiFi connection.
Step 6: Follow the instructions on the screen to connect your device to WiFi.
Step 7: Wait few minutes. The first time when the board is connected tot the Internet, it will take few minutes to download updates. To have a complete setup, do not restart or unplug your Particle Photon during this time.
Step 8: Now you can try to blink an LED. Go to Build Particle IO, login into account with the email and password from the step 2, and choose the example – Blink an LED.
The application has direct access to different pins on your device and functions associated with them. This feature lets you start in minutes and interact with a simple LED or a sensor.
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