If you have used ThingSpeak MQTT in the past, I wanted to mention one big change to how you access the service. The new MQTT service is available at the hostname: mqtt3.thingspeak.com.

If you decide that MQTT is right for your IoT project, you can start by adding a new device to your ThingSpeak account. This will set up the MQTT credentials needed for the device to connect to ThingSpeak. MQTT works well for low-power devices and low-latency applications.

ThingSpeak’s new MQTT support includes:

• Improved access control
• More concurrent subscriptions
• Device management
• Streamlined topic patterns to make coding easier

We’ve updated our documentation to include several new MQTT examples with code for the new interface. We have added a new example to secure the transmission of data between devices and ThingSpeak.

• Publish and Subscribe to a ThingSpeak Channel Using Secure MQTT
• Publish and Subscribe to a Channel Using Desktop MQTT Client
• Publish to a ThingSpeak Channel Using a Particle Device Client via MQTT

MQTT in MATLAB

We also published a new File Exchange submission that allows you to publish and subscribe using MQTT within MATLAB. Download and install MQTT in MATLAB to be able to connect to ThingSpeak’s MQTT server or connect to other standard MQTT brokers such as AWS IoT. Using this Add-On in MATLAB allows you to define custom functions to evaluate on receiving messages streaming over subscribed topics.

ThingSpeak MQTT Examples

• MQTT Basics – Learn about the publish/subscribe architecture for connecting bandwidth and power-constrained devices over wireless networks.
• Choose Between REST API and MQTT API – Learn when to use REST and MQTT to update a channel.
• Publish to a Channel Using Desktop MQTT Client – Publish to a channel using desktop MQTT client such as MQTT.fx.
• Publish to a Channel Using Arduino Client – Publish data to a ThingSpeak channel using an Arduino^® device.
• Publish Using Particle Photon Client – Publish data to a ThingSpeak channel using a Particle Photon device.
• Publish Using WebSockets in Python on a Raspberry Pi – Publish data using WebSockets to a ThingSpeak channel.
• Subscribe to Channel Updates Using Desktop MQTT Client – Subscribe to channel updates from a ThingSpeak channel using desktop MQTT.
• Subscribe to Channel Updates Using Particle Photon Client – Subscribe to a ThingSpeak channel using a Particle Photon device.

View our ThingSpeak MQTT documentation to learn more about MQTT support on ThingSpeak, and find examples for Arduino, Particle, and Raspberry Pi.

The ThingSpeak MQTT broker is available now to all ThingSpeak users!

To help users get started using MQTT to send data to ThingSpeak, we have created some examples for common devices and applications that support MQTT.

• Use Arduino Client to Publish to a Channel – Publish data to a ThingSpeak channel using an Arduino^® device
• Use Desktop MQTT Client to Publish to a Channel – Publish to a channel using desktop MQTT client such as MQTT.fx
• Use Particle Photon Client to Publish to a Channel – Publish data to a ThingSpeak channel using a Particle Photon device
• Use WebSockets to Publish to a Channel – Publish data using WebSockets to a ThingSpeak channel

If your device or application is not able to use MQTT directly, we have also enabled WebSockets. Using MQTT over WebSockets allows devices to use the MQTT protocol to send messages behind a firewall. We also support secure sockets to encrypt the messages that are being sent to ThingSpeak.

To learn how to use MQTT with ThingSpeak, please review our documentation. Let us know what you build with this new capability.