SmartThings Simplifies the Smart Home Experience With Latest App Updates

SmartThings, Samsung’s global connected living platform, today announces a suite of updates and exciting announcements. Among the new features are shareable routines, enhanced hub functionality, new device control, and SmartThings Energy enhancements, in addition to the announcement of Matter 1.2 support^* that will enhance smart home ecosystems. These platform updates have been designed to make it even easier for users to manage their smart devices and routines.

“We’re constantly looking for new ways to streamline the connected home experience for users and remain committed to removing the obstacles associated with smart home living,” said Mark Benson, Head of SmartThings US. “This expansion of platform offerings is another step toward creating more seamless routines and providing greater accessibility for smart home device users. We take immense pride in this update and are excited to see how families will use it to enhance their everyday lives.”

Unlock Smart Home Sharing with Shareable Routines

Shareable Routines is a new feature within the SmartThings platform that allows users to share their daily routines with others. This means users can easily pass on their automated sequences of tasks or actions to guests or friends, enhancing the overall usability and accessibility of these routines. For instance, you may have a routine where every morning your lights gradually turn on, your coffee maker starts brewing, and your favorite morning playlist starts playing. With Shareable Routines, you can easily share this routine with your friends or family who would like to set up the same routine at their house. They can activate the shared routine by simply scanning the QR code of the routine, and SmartThings will take care of the rest.

Enhanced Smart Home Reliability with New Hub Features

Building on previous advancements like Hub Groups and Hub Replace, SmartThings is introducing further enhancements through the new Hub Manager in the SmartThings app.

The SmartThings app now provides a central hub management interface for configuring their smart home infrastructure, including creating Hub Groups with more types of SmartThings Hubs, and enabling Hub Backup — making homes more reliable and resilient.

Hub Backup enables secondary hubs to serve as backups in case of primary hub failure. Users receive timely notifications and troubleshooting assistance, with the option to designate a new primary hub if necessary. Users can also seamlessly transfer device configurations, network settings, and routines to ensure minimal disruption to daily routines.

Matter 1.2 Certification and Support

The SmartThings platform has been updated and certified to the Matter 1.2 SDK, bringing a host of enhancements to the SmartThings ecosystem. SmartThings seamlessly integrates with partner devices that support Matter 1.2, including refrigerators, room air conditioners, dishwashers, laundry washing machines, robotic vacuums, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, air quality sensors, air purifiers, and fans. Updates to Matter support streamline developer integration, ensuring a smoother experience in line with core spec updates. Follow the SmartThings blog to stay updated on the latest around Matter support.

The New Device Control

Through the new Device Control feature, Galaxy users can experience easier access, navigation and control of their smart home devices without interrupting their lives. Device cards are bigger to show you more controls for home devices, and users can select devices to create their own home control page. Once users finish creating their own home control page then users will have greater ability to control the smart home device, including adjusting TV volume or light brightness. On phones and tablets, Device Control can be used right through the quick panel, similarly to how users access controls for Bluetooth, WiFi, airplane mode, etc.

SmartThings Energy Enhancements

What’s more, SmartThings Energy provides new features that make it fun for users to save energy. In the latest update, users can now experience gamified elements including energy level and activity badges. When users effectively save energy through AI Energy Mode, they will receive Samsung Rewards points that can be used to purchase products on Samsung.com. Users can earn one Energy Stamp per day for every 400Wh of electricity saved with AI Energy Mode. Each Energy Stamp can be converted to 20 Samsung Rewards points.

SmartThings UX Enhancements

One important change in this update is that users can more easily find and quickly control their device. By restructuring the device tab to display rooms as top-level tabs, users can effortlessly navigate and efficiently manage devices within each room. Furthermore, an enhanced device search not only helps users find their devices more quickly but also offers search suggestions based on the types of devices they own.

In addition, each device plugin provides visualizations that highlight the key features and states of each device. For instance, in the case of the smart door lock, a highlighted color indicates whether it is locked or unlocked. Moreover, if the device’s battery level drops below 15%, an alert appears at the top of the screen, ensuring that essential information is effectively communicated. These updates simplify and improve the management of smart home devices.

For more information, please visit https://www.samsung.com/us/smartthings/.

*Support for Matter 1.2 indicates that SmartThings can manage and operate new device types that are part of the Matter 1.2 standard. It also means that all devices supporting control through Matter 1.2 can be linked together.

About SmartThings

SmartThings, Samsung’s global connected living platform, builds smart homes that are convenient, safe, sustainable and fun. Millions of people, in nearly 200 countries, use SmartThings to easily control their connected homes and IoT devices. SmartThings delivers simple, powerful experiences across Samsung’s leading portfolio of phones, TV, and appliances. We offer the most versatile smart home experience as an open platform with a rich partner ecosystem. As a founding member of Matter, we are a leader in the industry to help make smart homes more secure, reliable and seamless to use. Do the SmartThings at www.partners.smartthings.com. Stay up to date by following us on social media: LinkedIn, Twitter.