The real center of a smart home is not the mobile phone, but the right application

Press Release: Smart appliances and devices in households are increasing rapidly. But this also means that users are looking for an easy way to control this entire constellation of devices simply and intuitively. For those (but not only) who found such a device under the tree, for example, the SmartThings application from Samsung is the ideal solution. It works with devices from more than 280 manufacturers.

Someone is a fan and buys various smart home appliances with a clear intention, someone doesn't pay much attention to smart functions and acquires them just by the way. In any case, it is clear that various elements of the smart home have literally become familiar to users.

This is evidenced by the statement of Samantha Fein, Samsung's vice president of marketing and business development of the SmartThings solution in early 2022: "Instead of calling it 'smart home', we first started calling it 'connected home' and now it's just 'home.' This is a rocket-launch moment where we go from enthusiast users to mass adoption in homes.” she declared at CES in January.

But in order for the devices in such a household to function as they should and for the users to be satisfied, there is a growing need to control them simply and in one place. The need to control each appliance separately in its own application is not only a complication for users with their growing number, but at the same time it reduces the possibilities of mutual cooperation of such devices and automation of their activities. That's why there is the SmartThings application from Samsung, with which users can easily control connected devices and adapt their operation to their needs.

One app, hundreds of devices

SmartThings is an entire ecosystem for smart devices and at the same time an application that can be installed by users of mobile phones with operating systems Android a iOS. Although at first glance it may seem that the application is mainly used to control other Samsung devices, for example its Smart TV, smart kitchen appliances of the brand, or even smart washing machines and clothes dryers, in fact this is not the case.

Thanks to the support of the open-source standard Matter, SmartThings can work with perhaps thousands of devices from more than 280 different brands. At the same time, users can activate and set up a number of these devices directly in the SmartThings application from the beginning. In addition to televisions, speakers, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators and other smart devices of the Samsung brand, you can use the SmartThings application to control, for example, the popular lighting of the Philips Hue series, Nest devices from Google or some smart devices from the Ikea furniture chain.

But Matter is still a relatively new issue and sometimes only the latest devices of the given manufacturer support it, other times an update is needed, or some hub that connects end devices to the world of the Matter standard (for example, Philips Hue bulbs still require their own hub and it must be updated to support new standard). Therefore, in the rapidly developing world of the smart home, it is often easier to build it on the ecosystem of one or a few manufacturers.

Voice control and automation

Thanks to SmartThings, users can control devices in their home not only through their mobile phone, but also through other Samsung devices such as tablets or smart TVs. And not only in the application itself, where you need to connect the device for the first time using a simple guide, but also with the voice assistants Bixby, Google Assistant or Alexa. In addition, the application displays informace about the status of all devices.

The operation of appliances can also be automated in the application. It can work on the basis of clearly defined conditions, for example that given appliances perform a specific action at a specific time, or perhaps within routines. For example, when the user is about to enjoy a movie night, he can start a sequence of commands in the app or by voice command that will dim the lights, turn on the TV and close the blinds. In the same way, for example, a smart home can react to specific events, such as the user's arrival at home. The SmartThings recognizes, for example, that the user's mobile phone has connected to the home Wi-Fi network. A smart vacuum cleaner that starts at the set time, for example, in the case of the user's early arrival home, manages to park in its docking station before the user himself parks the car in the garage.

In the SmartThings application, users have a smart home literally in the palm of their hand. With SmartThings, even the annoying search for the remote control from the TV, which once again fell somewhere in the depths of the couch, is no longer needed. But the application can do much more and make many everyday activities more pleasant for users. And it can also save them from some stressful moments, for example thanks to the fact that a smart pendant is also connected to SmartThings Galaxy A SmartTag that can be used to locate almost anything.