Live sensor readings:
Temperature and humidity data from the device, displayed in real time.
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Mobile App Development for IoT Hardware: How OrangeLoops Brought 4SEASONS Solar Vents Smart Device to Market
- [Industry]
- Climate Tech, Smart Home
- [Services]
- Mobile App Development, IoT Hardware Integration, BLE Protocol Implementation, Remote Firmware Update System, User Authentication & Backend, Data Visualization
[About the company]
CanadaGoGreen's 4SEASONS Vents brand makes solar-powered attic ventilators for homes across North America. Installed on the roof, it pulls hot, humid air out of the attic while running 100% on solar power. It targets a specific gap in the market: balanced ventilation, the standard North American builders have been trying to meet reliably for years. Once installed, the device is not easily accessible. No manual controls, no on-site interface.
That's where mobile app development for IoT hardware became the central challenge. The app interfaces via Bluetooth with a sensor accessory that plugs into the vent. This module provides data access and control functionality. Without it, the product had no usable interface. OrangeLoops built that app.
[The challenge]
A product that couldn't reach customers without an app
CanadaGoGreen needed an iOS and Android app that could connect via Bluetooth to their custom sensor hardware — read temperature and humidity in real time, control the fan remotely, and push firmware updates to a device installed in an inaccessible part of the roof. Without that app, there was no way to interact with the product and no way to sell it.
The challenge was that the hardware itself was a custom build — not an off-the-shelf component with a published API and a support ecosystem, but a sensor built specifically for this product with no prior integration history. Choosing the right IoT app development company for a project like this matters: the team would be the first to connect real software to this device under real conditions, surfacing and resolving the gap between what the spec described and what the hardware actually did.
That process ran in short iterative cycles, with weekly testing sessions so that course corrections happened early, before they became expensive. OrangeLoops had worked with CanadaGoGreen and its CEO, Martin Gorlero, on an earlier phase of the project and returned when the client came back with a redesigned device ready to move forward.
[The solution]
A full-featured IoT mobile app, built from scratch
OrangeLoops delivered a full-featured mobile app for connected devices, built with React Native and Expo for iOS and Android. All communication happens via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), with no Wi-Fi dependency or cloud intermediary for the core connection. For a device running on solar and battery power, reliable low-energy communication was a hard requirement.
Historical data with graphs:
Trends over time, giving users a view of how their attic environment has changed.
Fan control:
Manual on/off, plus automated modes that trigger based on temperature or humidity thresholds.
Remote firmware updates:
Push new firmware to the device directly from the app, without any physical access to the hardware.
User authentication:
Secure accounts with sensor data stored server-side.
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[Under the hood]
Two problems with no standard playbook
Two aspects of this project required custom solutions beyond standard mobile development.
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Integrating with hardware that had never been tested in production
The sensor was a custom device with no prior software integration history. OrangeLoops was the first team to connect real software to it, surfacing behaviors the hardware manufacturer hadn't seen yet and working through them collaboratively. There was an additional layer: Martin was the only point of contact between the electronics engineers who built the sensor and the development team. What surprised him most was that OrangeLoops read the hardware documentation faster and more accurately than he could himself, removing a communication bottleneck he hadn't anticipated and letting the integration move forward without delays.
-
Remote firmware updates with no standard solution
The app needed to push firmware updates to a device with no physical access. There's no other way to update a device sensor installed in an attic. This turned out to be a non-trivial problem with no off-the-shelf solution. OrangeLoops researched and developed a custom approach from scratch, making it reliable enough for end users to run independently without support.
Both challenges were identified and resolved before the full product layer was built on top.
[The outcome]
A hardware innovation turned into a complete connected product
CanadaGoGreen now has a sensor module supported by a full companion app. Before the app existed, the vent and sensor was a hardware innovation with no usable customer interface. The device is now technologically complete, with a roadmap to expand the platform across the full family of ventilators.
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Complete
platformFull companion app for iOS & Android. The vent and sensor system is now technologically complete with the core mobile experience in place.
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Waiting
subscriber baseDemand already exists. A subscriber base is already waiting, a concrete signal that interest in the product has a real foundation to build on.
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Market
positionCanadaGoGreen is positioned in the North American market as a pioneer in smart balanced ventilation — the standard the construction industry has been trying to achieve reliably for years, and that passive ventilation alone can't deliver. That's not just a product category. It's a market position.
[Tech stack]
- React Native
- iOS
- Bluetooth LE
- Android
- Expo
- OTA Firmware
I've worked with a lot of people in software — some great experiences, some not. And honestly, today I choose OrangeLoops.
Martin Gorlero
[CEO, CanadaGoGreen]
