The easiest way to see the ZipKey user experience is to download the ZipKey Dev Tool from the iOS or Android app store. You can then see the "walkthrough" experience for a ZipKey Subscriber (where the user has a Wi-Fi router from a ZipKey ISP), ZipKey Coverage (where the device can join a ZipKey hotspot, but the user is using a non ZipKey router), and the local onboarding flow (either BLE or SoftAP).
If you'd like to see it in action beyond the walkthrough, we can do that too. Note, though, that you cannot get access to the production ZipKey systems without signing a contract with Cirrent. To try ZipKey yourself:
- Buy a Raspberry Pi (a few days)
- Set up a Cirrent Account (~ 5 minutes)
- Set up the Raspberry Pi (~30 minutes)
- Download the ZipKey Dev Tool (~10 minutes)
- Set up a ZipKey Hotspot and Demo network (~60 minutes)
Buy a Raspberry Pi
You can use a Raspberry Pi you already have or buy a new one. We'd recommend a Raspberry Pi 3: https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-3-model-b/. If you have a Raspberry Pi 2, you may need an external Wi-Fi module like this one from Panda.
Set Up A Cirrent Account
Setting up an account is free and easy. Follow the instructions here: Setting up a Free Cirrent Account
Set Up Your Raspberry Pi
The instructions for setting up your Raspberry Pi are here: Integrating the Cirrent Agent on a Raspberry Pi
Once it's set up with the code, you'll want to configure the device: Cirrent Agent for Linux: Configuring the Cirrent Agent
Download the ZipKey Dev Tool
You'll do this from your smartphone. You can download it for iOS or Android. Once you've downloaded, log in with your Cirrent Console username and password. You can use the Dev Tool to walk through the user experience for a ZipKey subscriber, for a user in the ZipKey coverage area (where the device can see a ZipKey hotspot, but the user has a non-ZipKey Wi-Fi router), or the local onboarding flow (SoftAP or BLE).
Setup ZipKey Test Router
You can set up a router to act as both a ZipKey hotspot and a private network to simulate what a ZipKey subscriber will see with a product in the field. Follow the instructions here: Setting up test networks
Try it out!
Once you have the test networks set up, power up your router, power up the Raspberry Pi, fire up the app, and you should be able to see the ZipKey user experience. You can test all three experiences:
- ZipKey Subscriber Onboarding Flow: connect your phone to the "demo-home-network" SSID and then hit + on the app to add a new device.
- ZipKey Coverage Onboarding Flow: turn off Wi-Fi on your phone, then hit + on the app to add a new device
- Local Onboarding Flow: disconnect the Test Router, reboot the Raspberry Pi, then hit + on the app to add a new device
After testing each different Flow, make sure to delete the product from the app (by swiping and tapping "Delete"), then wait about a minute to make sure the device resets itself to the factory configuration. If you'd like, you can log into the Cirrent Console and go to the Explorer page while this is happening to see what's happening behind the scenes.
As always, let us know if you have any trouble! support@cirrent.com
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