Weโre excited to introduce ThingsBoard 4.1 โ another step toward an even more flexible, secure, and intelligent IoT platform. This release focuses on improving data usability, expanding analytical capabilities, and giving you greater control over internal processes.
Letโs take a closer look at whatโs new in ThingsBoard 4.1 โ and how it helps you build more powerful and reliable solutions.
Automatic Unit Conversion
Forget about manual conversions and duplicate widgets! Starting with version 4.1, ThingsBoard automatically converts data between metric and imperial units. Whether itโs Celsius or Fahrenheit, kilometers or miles โ set it once and it works everywhere.
- Each user can select their preferred unit format in their profile.
- Dashboards automatically respect user preferences during data visualization.
- If needed, specific units can still be locked manually per widget or dashboard.
Important: unit conversion only applies at the visualization level. Original values received from devices are preserved in their native format โ no transformation occurs in storage. This ensures accurate aggregation, data integrity, and compatibility with external systems, while providing a more convenient experience for end users.
This feature makes ThingsBoard even more friendly for global teams and clients across regions โ the same dashboard can now easily adapt to local preferences with just a few clicks.
New UI Languages Now Available
ThingsBoard 4.1 brings improved accessibility for international users with the addition of new interface localizations. You can now select your preferred language directly in your user profile โ making the platform more intuitive for global teams and multilingual environments.
Newly supported languages:
- ๐ฉ๐ฐ Danish
- ๐ฉ๐ช German
- ๐ฌ๐ท Greek
- ๐ช๐ธ Spanish
- ๐ซ๐ท French
- ๐ฎ๐น Italian
- ๐ณ๐ฑ Dutch
- ๐ณ๐ด Norwegian
This update enhances the user experience across regions and simplifies collaboration in distributed IoT projects.
Secure Secrets Storage
Working with sensitive information โ passwords, tokens, private keys, or certificates? The new Secrets Storage module in ThingsBoard 4.1 allows you to securely store and use such data directly within the platform, without ever exposing it or copying it manually.
- Centralized management: all secrets are managed via the unified Security โ Secrets Storage interface.
- Seamless integration: create secrets in advance for reuse, or generate them directly while setting up Rule Engine nodes or integrations.
- Platform-level encryption: strong encryption safeguards your secrets at every stage โ from storage to usage.
- Safe sharing: share credentials with your team or customers securely and without compliance risks.
Currently, secrets are supported in Rule Engine and Integrations only.
๐ Future releases will expand support for Secrets Storage to more entity types. This will unify sensitive data management across the platform and further strengthen end-to-end security.
ThingsBoard is becoming not just a powerful IoT platform โ but a trustworthy environment where security is built into the architecture by design.
Historical Data Reprocessing with Calculated Fields
Calculated Fields have become even more powerful โ they now support processing not only real-time values but also historical data.
- Formulas and scripts can apply logic to data collected over past periods, not just live telemetry.
- This is ideal for retrospective analytics, metric recalculations, and automatic adjustments to business logic as new data becomes available.
For example, you can recalculate anomalies in historical data after updating threshold settings.
New โCurrent Ownerโ Entity Type in Calculated Fields
Calculated Fields just became even more context-aware. In ThingsBoard 4.1, a new entity type โ Current owner โ is available in argument settings.
This allows referencing telemetry from the parent entity that owns the current one.
Device profile โ owner of current entity โ
โdevice A โcustomer A;
โdevice B โ customer B.
It enables rich, multi-level logic โ like factoring in external environmental values when calculating metrics for an entity based on its owner data. No additional logic in rule chains: simplifies telemetry calculations without the need for complex rule chain configurations!
Long-running Task Manager
ThingsBoard 4.1 introduces the Task Manager โ a centralized tool for tracking and managing background tasks from the UI. The first supported task is Calculated Field Reprocessing. When triggered, a main task is created and split into subtasks per entity.
Users can:
- monitor task status (
PENDING,RUNNING,COMPLETED,FAILED,CANCELLED) - track progress in real time
- cancel execution if needed
- reprocess only the failed subtasks
Task Manager makes working with large volumes of data safer and more transparent. Currently available for Calculated Fields, with future support planned for additional task types.
Full MQTT Version Support in Rule Engine and Integrations
ThingsBoard 4.1 adds support for all current versions of the MQTT protocol โ 3.1, 3.1.1, and 5.0 โ in both Rule Engine nodes and Integrations.
You can now select the appropriate version depending on your use case โ from simple device connections using 3.1, to advanced scenarios with MQTT 5.0 features like Reason Codes, Session Expiry, and User Properties. This ensures maximum compatibility and fine-tuned control over connection behavior.
Data Converter Library Now Accessible in the Converter Menu
Setting up integrations just got easier. In ThingsBoard 4.1, the Converter Library is now available directly in the Data Converters menu.
Previously, the library could only be accessed during integration creation. Now, you can create converters independently via the menu and reuse them across multiple integrations.
This is another step toward ThingsBoardโs modular architecture, where components are easy to scale, share, and centrally manage.
Compatibility with the Latest Versions of Key Components
ThingsBoard 4.1 is fully compatible with the latest stable releases of key backend technologies:
- Valkey 8.x โ open-source successor to Redis, better suited for clustering and scalability.
- Cassandra 5.0 โ improved performance and support for new query types.
- Apache Kafka 4.0 (KRaft mode) โ no more ZooKeeper; now with embedded coordination for simplified deployment and increased resilience.
These upgrades let you leverage modern tools without sticking to legacy dependencies โ resulting in better performance and scalability.
Other Improvements and Enhancements
- EDQS (External Data Quality Service) improvements
- Calculated fields performance improvements
- Trendz Settings are now available in the general ThingsBoard Settings page
- TBEL (ThingsBoard Expression Language): added new methods
isMap()andisList()for data type handling - Added unit conversion support in SCADA system
Final Thoughts
ThingsBoard 4.1 brings meaningful upgrades that enhance how you visualize, secure, and process your IoT data. From historical analytics and secure secrets management to a new Task Manager and full MQTT 5.0 support โ this release is all about giving you more control, flexibility, and clarity.
Whether you’re building a large-scale industrial solution or fine-tuning a smart environment, these new features are designed to help you move faster, safer, and smarter.
