Connecting Arduino Min Pro to Blynk via ESP8266 or Bluetooth

Hello. I’m a little confused with connecting Arduino Pro Mini to Blynk. I’m new here so please excuse my ignorance. I will be making some kind of band that is able to read the vitals signs of a patient and also know if a patient fell on the floor or not. Here are my questions:

1.) Can I control the Arduino Mini Pro, without being connected to a PC and is only supplied via a battery, by the Blynk App via ESP8266 alone assuming that the ESP8266 is connected to WiFi? If yes, how?

2.) If I connect the Arduino Mini Pro to the Blynk via Bluetooth to a smartphone, is it still possible to control it via Internet? Will the smartphone needs to have an internet connection so that I will be able to control it via Internet? Because what I would like the Band to do is that I can still control the arduino even if I am far from the patient.

Thank you so much!

  1. Yes - http://help.blynk.cc/how-to-connect-different-hardware-with-blynk/arduino/esp8266-with-at-firmware

  2. Yes - Everything App, Server, Devices, need to communicate with each other via some form of regular networked connection… But since BT is short range and a 2nd smartphone just for HotSpot/BT link is well, complicated, you would be best using an ESP8266 Dev board as a standalone device instead of an Arduino/ESP as shield combo.

You could even go as far as using a Raspberry Pi Zero W as WiFi/internet link, a Blynk Local Server and Blynk client device - connected to the the guinea pig… er… patient :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: … but that is getting somewhat advanced level.

PS reading through ALL the Docs, Help Center and checking out the Sketch Builder examples are necessary to understanding Blynk (All links are at top of this page)… We can only help so much from the forum.