During the last years, fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) written in polymer optical fibers (POFs) have been pointed as an interesting alternative to silica FBGs for applications in sensors and in optical access networks. In order to use such components in real applications, the manipulation of POFs, as well as the increase of quality in the production of FBGs has to be achieved. In this article some of the recent advances regarding these two aspects are reported and include recent developments to produce smooth POFs end face with high quality, benefiting the current splicing process and the inscription of high quality FBGs in a few seconds. Furthermore, additional characterizations to strain, temperature, pressure, and humidity are also shown.