A user device, such as a smart phone, collects information about an Internet-of-things (IoT) device. The information may be obtained through a local wireless connection between the user device and the IoT device. The user device forwards, to an application server, a request to activate the IoT device over a service network, such as a wireless data network, and receives information for activating the IoT device. The user device uses the received information to activate the IoT device and collects data from the activated IoT devices. The user device may selectively report portions of the collected data to the application server, and may receive instruction updates. The user device may update the operation of the IoT device based on the received instruction updates.