During my research for Home Automation Project, I came across this excellent article. It helped to clarify few things related to the mobile app controls.

 

Today we’ll expand Arduino’s digital resources thanks to an I2C bus equipped shield and we’ll allow the management of the board via a Bluetooth connection RN-42 through an Android systems.

All Arduino boards feature a number of digital I/Os. For the simplest projects, such resources are usually more than sufficient, but in those where they you need several control lines, “standard” I/Os can be less than enough, because some pins are shared with internal resources while others are dedicated to external shields.

Please click the link below for full article at Open Electronics.

An I²C Bus powered Arduino IO Expander Board controlled via Bluetooth and Android | Open Electronics.