Where it started
When I joined, SkyThings worked, but it looked and felt like every other app in the category. Even the biggest competitors shipped interfaces that were functional but dated, technically heavy and emotionally flat. The brief I set myself: make running a building feel modern, visual and simple.
The problem
The issue was bigger than one app. Smart home interfaces were built around technical functions instead of people. Controls were static and hard to read at a glance, and a light, a thermostat or a shutter never felt connected to what it actually did in the room.
Design direction
A light is a bulb whose filament warms as you slide. A thermostat is a dial from cool to warm. A shutter fills the screen with daylight as it opens. Each device card carries its live state on its face, so a room reads at a glance.
Outcome
The redesigned SkyThings is live on iOS and Android. In 2026 the platform won the IoT Breakthrough Award for IoT Enterprise App Development Platform of the Year.