How do I build a custom remote for a BACnet IP device in Easy BACnet?

Updated 11 October 2026

What a custom remote is for

The point list shows everything a controller has, which can be eighty-odd objects on a rooftop unit controller. A custom remote is the handful you actually touch, laid out as big controls on one screen: zone temperature, occupied setpoint, fan command, mode, supply air temperature. You build it once per device and it is there on every visit. Each device has one remote, saved against its Device ID along with its last known address.

Step 1 — Open (or create) the device's remote

Any of these gets you there:

• From a scan: in Easy BACnet Mode tap Scan for Devices, then View Results, tap the device, open the menu (three dots) and tap Custom Remote.
• From the opening screen: tap the Custom Remotes card. The My Remotes screen lists your saved remotes. With none yet it offers Scan for Devices (no scan this session) or Choose a Device (pick from Build a remote for which device?).

A new remote opens empty: No controls yet. Tap Edit, then Add Control.

Step 2 — Turn on Edit mode and add a control

Tap Edit in the top bar. The hint reads Drag controls to rearrange them. Tap one to change it. Nothing is sent to the device while you edit. Tap Add Control; under Add a control choose how to pick the point:

• Pick from this device’s points — the list the app already read, under Choose a point. If you see This device’s point list has not loaded yet, go back and open the device's point list once, or enter the point by hand.
• Enter a point by hand — an Object type and Object instance. Use it for a point beyond the 2,000-object load limit or one you know from a points list (for example AV 12).

Then Choose a control type (each row shows a small picture of the control):

The control lands in the first free spot on the grid, labelled with the point name. A new multi-state control reads the point's own state names (State_Text) when the device has them.

Step 3 — Arrange it on the grid

A remote is a four-column grid. In Edit mode, press and drag a control to move it: it snaps to the grid and will not land on top of another control. To make a control wider, tap it and choose Width; if there is no room at that width you will see No room at that width. Move the control first.

Step 4 — Configure each control

In Edit mode, tap a control for its options. Every control has:

• Rename control — label it by what it does (“Boiler 2 enable” beats “BO-3”).
• Width — 1 to 4 columns (setpoints and multi-state pickers need at least 2).
• Write priority — the BACnet priority (1–16) its writes and releases use. 8 (Manual Operator) is the default; see BACnet priority.
• Colour — Theme default, Blue, Green (running / normal), Amber (caution) or Red (stops equipment).
• Card style — Filled (default), Outlined (quieter, good for readouts) or Bold (tinted, for controls that act).
• Toggle large value text — bigger digits for the value you want to read at a glance.
• Delete control.

Plus, by type:

• Setpoint: Step size — how far one press of minus or plus moves it.
• Button: Value to send.
• Multi-state: State names — one per line, the first line is state 1.
• Indicator: Indicator style (Lamp, LED, Pill, Bar or Ring), On colour and Off colour (green, red, amber or blue; default green on, red off), and On at / above — the threshold that lights it (0.5 by default, so a binary 1 is on).

Everything saves as you go. In Edit mode the menu also has Rename remote and Delete remote (which removes the controls from this phone only; nothing on the device changes). Tap Done when it looks right.

Step 5 — Use it

Out of Edit mode the remote is live. The status line at the top shows the connection: Online with the time of the last reply, Some points not answering, or No response from device. When the device stops answering, values grey out instead of showing stale numbers. Tap Refresh for a fresh read of everything.

Controls that write need Write mode turned on from the menu on the Easy BACnet Mode screen, the same as for the point screen — see how to write to a BACnet point. Until then the remote says Read-only. With write mode on, know what acts at once and what asks first: the setpoint's minus/plus, a toggle and picking a multi-state state write immediately; a typed setpoint value, a button and a release ask you to confirm. A toggle or step won't act until the point has been read (No value read yet — tap Refresh first), so it never writes based on a guess. Every write and release appears in the Session write log in the Easy BACnet Mode menu.

After every write the remote reads the point back, and every control on that point updates. If the device accepted the write but the value didn't move, the remote says so: Sent 1.5 at priority 10, but it still reads 2.50. Something at a higher priority (another operator, a schedule, the BMS) or the controller's own logic is holding the point. See BACnet priority and stuck overrides for how to find out what.

Coming back to it

Saved remotes appear under My Remotes, one per device, showing the device name, how many controls it has and its last known IP address. Open one and it talks to the controller directly at that address, no scan needed. If the controller's IP has changed, the remote shows it as not responding; scan again so the app finds the device at its new address.

Sharing a remote: export and import

• Export: on My Remotes, long-press a remote. Android's save dialog opens with a file named after the device (Device name.ebremote); save it to Downloads, Drive or wherever you like, then send it as you would any file.
• Import: on My Remotes, menu → Import remote, then pick the .ebremote file. If you already have a remote for that device, the app asks Replace the existing remote? first. Control-panel files (.ebpanel, from the beta Control Panel Builder) can't be opened here.

The file is plain JSON holding the layout, the device's ID and its last known address. It holds no values from the building.

Free vs Easy BACnet Pro

Scanning, reading, writing and exporting are free (on the free version each export asks to show a short ad first). On the free version you can keep one custom remote. Opening that saved remote asks Watch a short ad? — choose Watch ad, Remove ads or Cancel; no ad plays unless you choose it. If no ad can load (common in a mechanical room with no signal) the remote just opens, so you are never locked out of your own controls. Building or importing a second remote shows One remote on the free version with an Unlock button.

Easy BACnet Pro is a Google Play subscription: $9.99 a year (Play shows the price in your currency). It removes the ads and the limit: as many remotes as you like, on as many devices as you look after. Cancel any time in Google Play › Subscriptions; Pro stays on until the end of the year you paid for. If it ends, your remotes are kept, but the free limit and the ads come back.