MiThermostat

A smart thermostat app built for the MIT community. It lets occupants monitor and adjust their climate in MIT buildings with schedules and energy-saving modes.

MiThermostat is a virtual smart-thermostat app built for the MIT campus buildings. It is built on top of Building Management Systems (BMSs) to reduce energy cost of campus building HVAC systems while considering occupants’ thermal comfort. It lets occupants of connected offices and rooms monitor and adjust their climate from a phone, while a schedule engine and energy-saving modes keep the building efficient when no one is there.

Core functions:

• Climate dashboard — a dial showing the live room temperature (pulled from the building's analytics API every 5 minutes and on pull-to-refresh) alongside the current target deadband.
• Single-setpoint control with deadband logic — the user sets a target; the app computes heating and cooling setpoints and pushes them to the building management system (SE BDP API) so the HVAC equipment tracks the right range.
• System modes — Heat, Cool, and Auto.
• Away & Eco toggles — widen the deadband (Away: 60–80°F, Eco: 65–75°F) to save energy.
• Scheduling — recurring or date-bound Occupied and Away schedules with a weekly calendar view. Occupied schedules pre-condition the room 1 hour before start; Away schedules end 30 minutes early to avoid waste.
• 2-hour manual overrides — a manual adjustment takes priority over the schedule for 2 hours, then the schedule resumes automatically.
• Multi-device support — users can add and switch between multiple thermostats (e.g., different offices).
• QR onboarding — devices are added by scanning a QR code or entering a 24-character device code.
• Account management — email + OTP registration, sign in, sign out, and full account deletion that removes all devices, schedules, and data.