IoT and Connected Device App Development

Who can move a legacy hardware system onto a mobile app

Tepia builds apps for companies whose product is a physical device: gate operators, access controllers, sensors, fixtures, equipment and appliances that need a phone app, a cloud and a way for installers and administrators to manage fleets. Many of these companies have excellent hardware and firmware teams and no mobile or cloud team, which is exactly the gap Tepia fills.

Tepia built the Maximum Controls system: iOS and Android apps plus an admin portal for gate control and IoT access, letting property managers and residents open and manage gates from a phone while administrators control users, schedules and devices from the web. The project is a model for what Tepia calls making dumb products smart, adding connectivity and a mobile experience to hardware that previously had a keypad and a manual.

If you are asking who can move a legacy system onto a mobile app, Tepia’s answer is that the hardware usually does not need to change much. The app, the cloud layer and the admin tooling are where the product becomes something customers will keep using, and that is what Tepia builds.

What Tepia builds for connected products

A connected device product has four layers that must agree with each other. Tepia builds three of them and coordinates closely with your firmware team on the fourth.

Tepia also builds integrations with the platforms your customers expect, such as Apple and Google home ecosystems where the device category supports them, and with business systems like Salesforce or ServiceTitan for installers and dealers.

BLE, Wi-Fi, MQTT and the pairing problem

The hardest part of most connected device apps is the first five minutes: getting the device on the network and paired to the right account. Tepia has built these flows enough times to know where they fail, and designs the setup wizard around the failure modes rather than the happy path.

• BLE provisioning. The app discovers the device over Bluetooth Low Energy, authenticates with a device specific secret, passes Wi-Fi credentials securely and confirms cloud connection, with clear recovery steps when a password is wrong or the router is out of range.
• MQTT messaging. Commands and telemetry travel over MQTT with per device credentials and TLS, with the app showing real time state and falling back to direct BLE control when the cloud is unreachable.
• Offline first operation. For devices like gates and locks, Tepia ensures the app can operate locally when the internet is down and reconciles event history when it returns.
• Shared access and permissions. Owners invite family, tenants or staff with scoped permissions and time windows, which is where access control products like Maximum Controls spend most of their design effort.
• OTA firmware updates. Tepia builds the distribution and rollout controls so your firmware team can stage updates to a percentage of the fleet and roll back if needed.

Tepia documents the protocol jointly with your firmware engineers during Discovery so both sides build to the same specification.

Security, privacy and store review for IoT apps

Connected devices are a favorite target, and app stores review IoT apps carefully. Tepia builds with per device identity and certificates, encrypted transport, least privilege permissions for shared access, signed firmware, and audit logs of who opened what and when. For products used in healthcare facilities, Tepia applies the same HIPAA aware architecture it uses on its healthcare app development work.

Tepia handles App Store and Google Play review requirements for Bluetooth and location permissions, provides the privacy disclosures the stores require, and applies GDPR and CCPA handling for user and device data. Tepia also builds the admin portal with SOC 2 aligned practices so enterprise buyers of your product can pass their own security reviews.

How Tepia approaches IoT and connected device app development

Tepia runs connected device projects through its six phase process with a US based project manager and a firmware coordination track running alongside.

1. Discovery (typically 1 to 3 months). System investigation of your hardware, firmware, existing cloud services and dealer or installer tools, user interviews with end users, installers and support staff, and a third party integration review. Deliverables: Investigation Summary, Interview Summary, User Stories and a protocol specification agreed with your firmware team.
2. Design. Design questionnaire, moodboards and a style guide, then detailed wireframes for setup, control, sharing and the admin portal, with sample designs validated against real device behavior.
3. Development and Testing (typically 3 to 6 months). Alpha and Beta schedules, test plans covering pairing, connectivity loss and firmware versions, functional testing on physical devices, user acceptance testing with installers in the field, and non functional testing for telemetry load and battery impact.
4. Training. Hands on sessions for support and installer teams, remote sessions for dealers, using user story scenarios such as a tenant losing access or a device going offline.
5. Launch (about 1 month). Migration of existing device and user records, transition from the old app or keypad workflow, store submission with hardware review notes, and Tepia support reps on call during rollout.

Read the full process at tepia.co/process and see Maximum Controls at tepia.co/our-work.

Frequently asked questions