We recently finished a product design where we integrated the Tuya platform for a client. It got me thinking about how much easier this stuff has become.
A few years back, if you wanted to add app control to a physical product, you were looking at serious development time. Custom firmware, building out your own cloud infrastructure, developing iOS and Android apps from scratch. The costs added up fast, which meant only bigger companies could justify it.
Now? Platforms like Tuya have changed the game.
For this project, we designed in one of their low-cost modules and connected it to their cloud platform. The end result: the product works with Smart Life, an app that millions of people already have on their phones. No custom app development. No building backend infrastructure. Just a product that does what modern customers expect.
The module cost is genuinely low. We’re talking a few pounds per unit at volume. For products where smart connectivity is a nice-to-have rather than the core feature, that changes the whole business case.
This is the kind of project we enjoy at IBEX. Taking something that sounds complicated and finding the practical path to get it done. If you’re thinking about adding connected features to a product and aren’t sure where to start, we should talk.
