| > Need to download the app for it, connect the fan to the Wifi, but it also had bluetooth for some reason. Bluetooth could be there for initial setup. To connect the fan to WiFi you have to somehow get the WiFi credentials to the fan. There are a few ways to do that. One of the most common is for the device when it has not yet been set up to make itself available over Bluetooth. The app can then connect to it and give it the WiFi credentials. Another common way is for the device to create its own WiFi network with a name that the app can somehow recognize. The app can then find that network, connect to it, and use it to talk to the device. I don't think this is as popular as the Bluetooth method, probably because it used to require that the user go to their network settings and connect to the device's WiFi network. Plus, when they are connected to the device they are not connected to their "real" WiFi which could disrupt other apps. However, newer Apple and Android mobile operating systems provide ways for applications to change the network connection in the background or with minimal interaction, which makes this method more friendly so maybe it will become more popular. There also are supposedly some IoT devices that use WPS (WiFi Protected Setup), where you bring the device near your router, press the WPS button on the router, then press the WPS button on the device, and magic happens to add the devide to your network. I've never actually had any device I've bought support this so it is either uncommon or I've just been unlucky. Anyway, from what I've read Philips has used both the bluetooth method and the access point method on their WiFi products. |