ThingsBoard User Meetup 2025

On March 27, it-novum GmbH hosted the annual ThingsBoard User Meetup. Numerous user reports from various industries were presented, as well as some insights from ThingsBoard CEO Andrii Shvaika.

Initiated in 2021, the ThingsBoard User Meetup has grown significantly over the years. The initial event attracted 25 participants, and by 2025, attendance had more than doubled, with over 50 on-site participants from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, along with numerous online attendees joining remotely. 

It-novum, the first certified implementation and training partner of ThingsBoard, has been a reliable consultant for companies planning IoT projects for years. As the initiator of the ThingsBoard User Meetup, they promote the exchange of experiences and ideas between ThingsBoard developers and users. The participants presented the application scenarios and how the companies can achieve real added value with ThingsBoard. All slides and presentations are available on the it-novum website.

ThingsBoard Product Update

This year’s meetup began with ThingsBoard CEO Andrii Shvaika giving a brief overview of the platform’s improvements made in 2024, as well as what to expect in the upcoming ThingsBoard 4.0 release. 

You can watch the presentation here, or read about the major updates in the 3.7, 3.8, 3.9 releases below. 

Dashboard improvements

The development team has made a number of improvements to make the user interface more accessible and reduce the complexity of creating dashboards.

• The Pie, Radar and Polar charts have been redesigned for a simpler look.
• The Digital Gauge has also been improved to be configured in a single widget configuration window.
• New Label cards widgets can display a label, a label and its value, and user notifications.
• New Status widgets can display the status of various barriers (e.g. doors, windows, etc.).
• Layout configurations now have popular breakpoints, allowing the same dashboard to appear on different screen sizes without visual widget complications.

SCADA dashboards

The original SCADA dashboards were introduced in the ThingsBoard 3.8.0. The widgets had different colors and complex graphics, resulting in visual distractions and poor status indicators.

• To avoid possible negative consequences, the high-performance SCADA HMIs were created and added to the platform.
• In addition, it is possible to subscribe to the alert status of widgets without having to configure them through the rule chain.

Mobile apps

ThingsBoard 3.9.0 release aimed to popularize mobile applications for the convenience of our users.

• Now users can download and log in to their mobile applications using the QR code.
• The Mobile Application Center allows users to remotely customize their mobile applications (menus and content) using a simple user interface.

White labeling

To improve user experience, we simplified the configuration of the White Labeling feature.

• Added localization support lets users search by keywords and terms, filter for empty, changed, or new keys, and track translation progress more easily through the web interface.
• Starting with release 3.8, JSON is no longer required to manage custom menus – all configurations can be done through the Web UI.
• A single storage for domains has been provided to make domain auditing more convenient.

Other updates

• The Data Convertors Library has been created on the GitHub repository, which allows any vendor to add their own converters. Currently, the library contains more than 100 devices and more than 500 convertors.
• To define functions that are frequently used when configuring dashboards and other processing components, we created a JavaScript library that allows reuse of the same modules.
• For ease of management, the Gateway dashboards have been moved to a dedicated menu item under the Entities section. This allows us to update Gateway dashboards independently of the core ThingsBoard release cycle, ensuring that users always have access to the latest features, bug fixes, and optimizations. 

Upcoming updates

• In map configurations an interface will be organized by groups (types, overlays, buttons, etc.). Each group corresponds to the specific configurations, for example, in the “Map type” block you can configure whether to display a traditional map or an image, and also set layers if necessary.
• Two new solution templates will be introduced in the upcoming 4.0 release. Both the SCADA Oil & Gas Drilling system and the Energy SCADA system will include new SCADA symbols and showcase SCADA dashboards.  
• Calculated fields will be available in the ThingsBoard Platform, allowing the system to combine data from multiple streams and perform custom functions on that data.
• Converters will also be significantly improved. Users only need to define the function that extracts the relevant data from the device — the remaining decoding parameters can be selected from a predefined list, tailored to the selected integration type.

Participant highlights

Speakers from across the DACH region shared their experiences as ThingsBoard users.

The event continued with the presentation by Jürgen Pfeifer and Christian Jebens the sales department of WAGO GmbH. They introduced complex industrial, energy, and security applications developed in partnership with IT-Novum.

The next speaker, Michael Deuchert, Head of Professional Services at it-novum, shared his experience with Trendz Analytics. He focused on the on the efficient and intuitive analysis of ThingsBoard data.

The representative of ABI GmbH, Luis Jörg, Digital Product Manager, presented a new tool DAC.Site hosted by it-novum as a managed service and based on ThingsBoard, which enables real-time monitoring and PDF reporting.

Siegfried Müller, CTO of Blizza GmbH, presented how the pizza machines are connected to the ThingsBoard Cloud. All important parameters are controlled by ThingsBoard, which makes it possible to meet the highest hygiene standards according to HACCP guidelines.

The Smart City solutions presented by Jerg Theurer, CEO of mhascaro GmbH, support both climate recording and the management of winter services. Innovative applications in the field of high-end sensor technology for weather and road condition measurement as well as customized widgets for climate sensor technology in urban environments set high standards.

Petra Schwerdtfeger, who has been a city representative since April 2023, will reported on the establishment of a LoRaWAN network and the use of LoRaWAN-enabled sensor technology in cooperation with other offices. In the second part, Alexander Keidel, Head of Product & Alliance at it-novum, presented the IoTnova platform – a flexible SaaS solution based on proven open source technologies that forms the basis for the smart city services of the city of Aschaffenburg.

The final speaker, Gunther Dell, Managing Director of it-novum, showed how the intelligent use of IoT technology can optimize business processes and reduce operating costs.

Conclusion

This year’s event was a vibrant exchange of knowledge and experience among the ThingsBoard community. Participants from companies like ABI GmbH (smart fleet management), the City of Aschaffenburg (smart city initiatives), and WAGO (Industry-Energy-Security) presented compelling real-world use cases that highlighted the platform’s flexibility and impact across industries.

ThingsBoard CEO Andrii Shvaika provided a comprehensive look at how the platform has evolved through 2024 and offered a glimpse into the powerful features on the horizon with the upcoming 4.0 release. From enhanced widget configuration and SCADA support to calculated fields, mobile app customization, and localization improvements, the platform continues to advance in both capability and usability. Looking ahead, the 4.0 release promises even more.

The ThingsBoard User Meetup once again proved to be an important hub for collaboration between developers, users, and integrators.

Planning a similar event?

If you’re organizing a meetup or industry event around IoT, edge computing, or digital transformation, we’d love to share our expertise as speakers!