Thingpings
IoT devices found
Thingpings solves the problem of finding an Internet of Things device on your network after setting it up.
Quick start
Have an IoT device that supports Thingpings? Set it up on your network then check the Things tab.
For developers
Developing an IoT device and want to make things easy for your users? Find out how easy it is to add Thingpings functionality, for free, on the About tab.
The problem
An IoT device offers a Wi-Fi access point you can connect to with your phone. A configuration page lets you enter your home network name and password. The device joins your network. But, how do you then find it, say with a web browser?
The solution
Once connected to the network the IoT device pings our service, reporting its local address. We can show you links to all the devices that have pinged us from your network.
Vendor: {{thing.vendor}}
Serial: {{thing.serial}}
Pinged at: {{showDate(thing.latest)}}
Local Address: {{thing.lanip}}
No local things found
No things on your local network have recently pinged us.
How it Works
A thing registers with Thingpings by sending a ping which includes its identity and its address on the local network. The Thingpings service remembers that information along with the internet address it came from.
When a user browses the Thingpings web page, the Thingpings service checks the internet address the request is coming from and shows a list of all the things where the ping came from a matching address.
Is There a Cost?
The Thingpings basic service is free, both for developers of things and for end-users. Developers do not have to register with the service in order to use it.
Is it Reliable?
Thingpings is hosted on Microsoft Azure and is robust and scaleable.
For Developers
To register with Thingpings your thing must send an HTTP request like this:
http://www.thingpings.com/api/ping?l=192.168.1.2&v=vendor&p=product&s=serial
Not all the parameters are required and default vaules are provided if you omit them.
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
l | LAN IP address | Required |
v | Vendor name | "Unknown" |
p | Product name | "Unknown" |
s | Serial number | blank |
t | Target path | / |
r | Target port | 80 |
The LAN IP address should be given in dotted decimal notation.
If the vendor or product names contain spaces or other characters not allowed in
URLs, remember to URL encode them (for example, space is encoded as %20).
The serial number is a unique identifier for this particular instance of the thing.
It is optional, but it can help end-users find the right device if they have several
of the same type of thing.
The target path is optional. If present, it is appended to the LAN IP address when
constructing a link for the user to click. Similarly, target port is optional. Include it
if the web server in your device runs on a non-standard port.
The ping shown above is in the form of a GET request with a query string,
which is typically the easiest form to send from an embedded device.
We also support POST requests with the parameters in the body.
Thingpings supports HTTP and HTTPS protocols.
Libraries
- Thingpings library for ESP32 and ESP8266 in the Arduino Library Manager
- Thingpings library for ESP32 and ESP8266 in the PlatformIO Library Registry
Privacy
Thingpings does not request, accept or store any personally identifying information.
The information received in pings from things consists only of general descriptors such as vendor and product name, optional serial number, and LAN IP address. We store this information only long enough to show it to visitors from the same WAN IP address for a limited time.
The Thingpings website does not set or use any cookies containing personally identifying or tracking information.