Pritee Badgujar Internet of Things
(IoT)
Practical - 4
Aim: Controlling Raspberry Pi with WhatsApp.
Materials Required:
Raspberry Pi (e.g., Raspberry Pi 3 B+)
Jumper Wires
LED Board
Step 1: Hardware Setup (Wiring)
S.No Rsp Pi GPIO Rsp Pi PIN Board Pin
number number Name
1 GPIO 2 PIN 3 D0 (1)
2 GPIO 3 PIN 5 D1 (2)
3 GPIO 4 PIN 7 D2 (3)
4 GPIO 17 PIN 11 D3 (4)
5 GPIO 27 PIN 13 D4 (5)
6 GPIO 22 PIN 15 D5 (6)
7 GPIO 10 PIN 19 D6 (7)
8 GPIO 9 PIN 21 D7 (8)
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Pritee Badgujar Internet of Things
(IoT)
9 GND PIN 6 GND (0)
Step 2: Create a Twilio Account
Go to: https://www.twilio.com/whatsapp
Get a Twilio trial account
Set up a WhatsApp sandbox
Note the sandbox number and join code
Step 3: Set Up Raspberry Pi
pip3 install flask twilio
Optional:
1) Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv twilio-env
2) Activate Virtual environment
source twilio-env/bin/activate
2) Install
pip install twilio flask RPi.GPIO
Step 4: Write a Flask App. Create Python file
“Practical-4.py” and write the following code:
from flask import Flask, request
from twilio.twiml.messaging_response import MessagingResponse
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
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Pritee Badgujar Internet of Things
(IoT)
# Update with your 8 GPIO pins
LED_PINS = {
"led1": 2,
"led2": 3,
"led3": 4,
"led4": 17,
"led5": 27,
"led6": 22,
"led7": 10,
"led8": 9
}
# Setup GPIO
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
for pin in LED_PINS.values():
GPIO.setup(pin, GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.output(pin, GPIO.LOW)
app = Flask(__name__)
@app.route("/whatsapp", methods=["POST"])
def whatsapp():
msg = request.form.get('Body').lower().strip()
response = MessagingResponse()
if "on" in msg or "off" in msg:
found = False
for led, pin in LED_PINS.items():
if led in msg:
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Pritee Badgujar Internet of Things
(IoT)
state = GPIO.HIGH if "on" in msg else GPIO.LOW
GPIO.output(pin, state)
response.message(f"{led.upper()} turned {'ON' if state else
'OFF'}")
found = True
break
if not found:
if "all on" in msg:
for pin in LED_PINS.values():
GPIO.output(pin, GPIO.HIGH)
response.message("All LEDs turned ON")
elif "all off" in msg:
for pin in LED_PINS.values():
GPIO.output(pin, GPIO.LOW)
response.message("All LEDs turned OFF")
else:
response.message("Invalid LED command.")
else:
response.message("Try: led1 on, led3 off, all on, all off")
return str(response)
@app.route("/")
def home:
return "Welcome to the LED control app."
if __name__ == "__main__":
app.run(host="0.0.0.0", port=5000)
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Pritee Badgujar Internet of Things
(IoT)
Step 5: Create ngrok account
Create a free account at https://ngrok.com/
In the ngrok dashboard, you’ll find your AuthToken.
Step 6: Install pyngrok
pip3 install pyngrok
OR
Step 6: Download and install pyngrok
1) Download Ngrok
wget https://bin.equinox.io/c/bNyj1mQVY4c/ngrok-v3-stable-linux-
arm.zip
2) Unzip it
unzip ngrok-v3-stable-linux-arm.zip
3) Move it to a location in your PATH
sudo mv ngrok /usr/local/bin
4) Connect ngrok to your account
ngrok config add-authtoken YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN
Replace YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN with your AuthToken
5) ngrok version
6) Run ngrok
ngrok http 5000
7) Forwarding https://abcd1234.ngrok.io
Check venv is active and run the file.
python practical4.py
Step 6: Create twilio account
Go to https://www.twilio.com/try-twilio.
Sign up (you’ll need a valid phone number for verification).
After logging in, you’ll be in the Twilio Console.
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Pritee Badgujar Internet of Things
(IoT)
In the Twilio Console search bar, type “WhatsApp”.
Click “Messaging / Try it Out / WhatsApp
Sandbox” or Send a WhatsApp message (or search for
“WhatsApp Sandbox” in the search bar).
Scan the given code and open link. Open WhatsApp on your
phone.
Send the join code (e.g., join bright-owl) to the Twilio sandbox
number.
You’ll get a confirmation message:
"You are now connected to the Twilio Sandbox for WhatsApp!"
Step 7: Connect Your Flask App to the Sandbox
In the “Sandbox Configuration” page,
o WHEN A MESSAGE COMES IN:
https://abcd1234.ngrok.io/whatsapp
Paste your publicly accessible Flask endpoint (from Raspberry Pi)
here.
Step 8: Test on WhatsApp
Send these messages from your verified number to the sandbox
number:
all on
all off
Activity: 1) update the code to add blinking.
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