Android app allows wireless Arduino programming

The full-featured Android app, available as a free download from Google Play, joins the LightBlue ecosystem of cross platform software for iOS-, Windows-, Mac OS X- and PC-based developers that use the popular Bean. The Bean is an Arduino-compatible board with BLE that was crowd-funded in 2014, and since then, tens of thousands of the coin cell battery-powered boards have been sold to a growing community of people developing smartphone-controlled projects and prototypes. 

Users can edit either on-app or use another IDE/editor, then compile and upload with the Bean Loader for ultimate versatility. Blinking LEDs visually identify which Bean is being accessed, and Bean firmware can be updated wirelessly.

Professional developers can choose the LightBlue platform to speed development and time to market for products that leverage mobile and the web. Using the LightBlue ecosystem, companies can re-use Bean functionality, but with a custom form factor and price optimised for production quantities. With zero wires and infinite uses, hobbyists, educators, students, artists and marketers select Beans to create fun projects and innovative smartphone-controlled and IoT devices.

“With the Bean Loader for Android app, users can compile mobile code on smartphones and tablets as well as programme Beans directly from Android devices with BLE support,” said Colin Karpfinger, Founder and CEO, Punch Through Design. “We’ve had lots of requests for an Android loader app, and now is the time - since Android 4.3, most phones now have proper support for BLE, and Android BLE APIs have finally matured to a point where devices can take full advantage of everything our Android app offers.”

Punch Through’s Bean Loader for Android is optimised for smartphones and tablets running Android 4.3 through Lollipop (5.0) and beyond, and is available immediately from Google Play.