Product using Argon: how can a customer claim the device?

Hey community,

I've read all the posts I could find about this (below) but I couldn't figure it out.

How can a product based device on Argon be claimed by a customer?

Thanks!
Gustavo.


Hi Im still sitting with the same problem @gusgonnet. My 10 cents worth. The way I do it is and its by no means ideal or practical is to write down the IDs before shipping and claiming them trough Particle web IDE under add new device.

The problem is for the client to add it to their WiFi.
They can do it with the CLI : particle serial WiFi (which is unrealistic) as most of the end users are technically challenged or they can do it through the phone app, using your login details. ( unsecure and not ideal at all.)

I have even considered to preload the SSID and password and ask the end user to add a new WiFi SSID on their router with those credentials. I doubt this will work as most end users are clients of a bigger retail chain and do not have access to routers nor have the skill to add it.

It would be nice to have a web service on the Argon then the end user can add it via their browser.

I will also be anxiously waiting for other suggestions on how to tackle this issue.

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HI @gusgonnet -

This is something that has been a thorn in my side as well… I recently started looking into SoftAP or other ways to get the device in listen mode in order for the client to claim the device/enter WiFi credentials without me having to assist in some way.

In my opinion, hardcoding the credentials is just not a good option as I too often se techies changing WiFi details or hardware and then the client is stuck.

Blynk.io has a version of their product (BLYNK_INJECT) which if I understand correctly is able to 'inject WiFi credentials and the Blynk user token into the firmware on the device. I have not been able to test this as you will have to spend at least Us$166 per month to obtain the commercial license for this.

Claiming the device I suppose is something else :see_no_evil:

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thank you guys.

@rickkas7 and @bsatrom what is the Particle recommended way to claim an argon that belongs to a particle product, would you know?
thanks!

There are two ways to set the Wi-Fi credentials of an Argon: BLE and USB (serial).

BLE from a mobile app is the recommended way, and it’s how the Particle app does it. However there is no device setup library for Argon that extracts this process into something that would be easy to add to a mobile app like it is for the Photon. This will make it difficult to use an Argon in a product.

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It would be interesting to know how many Particle developers are struggling with this difficulty. It has forced me to go the wireless route for simplicity. This is further compounded by the planned wind down of 3G networks in Australia. Lack of Particle support for LTE in Australia is forcing me to go the 3rd party route.

related topic:

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