I would like to turn on my car's heated seats over a mobile/cellular network using my iPhone, and I'm trying to figure out the simplest path. I know very little beyond that goal, but I know that RF, line-of-sight, Bluetooth, and WiFi solutions won't cut it. I think the amount of data would be on the order of 1MB per month—I'm not about to pay Verizon/AT&T $50/mo for this. The only other constraint is extremely low power use when idle (tens of milliamps, I guess) and maybe a latency limit of like 10s.
Here are the avenues I intend to pursue, and I'm hoping someone around here might be able to steer me in a good direction:
1) Buy something. Is there a thing somewhere that has an iOS app where you push a button and it flips a switch half a mile away? I'm aware of SwitchBot and other home automation products, but none seem to operate over a mobile network. I'd also much prefer an electrical solution over mechanical...and since I might use this dumb thing for years, recurring fees matter.
2) Build something. I can program, and I have an Arduino (I've always wanted a reason to mess with a Pi, too). There is a wealth of info here, but I'd love a high-level "this is what you can expect" from someone who knows...I think I'd need to do this:
- Server. Receives the signal (HTTP? Something else??), triggers a 12V relay somewhere for x minutes, and draws little power when "idle". I'd have to program the hardware outputs, network reception, and timing stuff.
- Controller app. I either write my own iPhone app, or maybe there's something out there for controlling Arduinos/Pis, or provides some nice interface for executing remote requests? I'm out of my element here, but essentially I'd like to push a button on my phone, it sends out a signal and displays success acknowledgement.
- Modem. Seems like 5G/LTE is unavailable, but 4G is common? Whatever is cheap, reliable, and unlikely to disappear in the next few years. Arduinos have options here, and I assume Pis have something too...
- Network. Are there, like, super cheap modem plans for this kind of thing or what? Any usable phone plan would be way too much for this.