Each component you add to your Arduino project increases its complexity and the opportunity for mistakes. But most projects require some “auxiliary” hardware — components that you use to interact with the Arduino or to help it do the job you’re asking of it. Buttons and displays are great examples. But as Doctor Volt demonstrates in his most recent video, you can replace both of those with the high-quality touchscreen on your old Android smartphone using the RemoteXY app.

You likely learned early in your Arduino journey that the serial connection between the Arduino development board and a PC is very handy. It lets the Arduino output information and also lets you input commands. But an entire computer (even a laptop) is pretty bulky and requires a lot of power. The RemoteXY app, available for Android devices, lets you use your smartphone to do the same job.

Even better, you can use the RemoteXY app with an Arduino library to get an interface much more sophisticated than a normal serial terminal. The app still communicates with the Arduino via serial behind the scenes, but it uses that data to enable nice touchscreen-friendly GUI controls, graphs, and more. 

For that to work, you need a way for your Android smartphone to establish a serial connection with your Arduino board. That is easy to do using an OTG cable with a USB-to-Serial adapter. Together, those let your smartphone talk to your Arduino just like your PC does. Doctor Volt’s video walks you through setting up and using the RemoteXY Arduino library and how to configure the app.

In a short amount of time, you’ll get a user-friendly interface for your project on the smartphone’s high-resolution touchscreen.

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