Ready for a Smarter Home? Discover Samsung’s Revolutionary New Features

The landscape of the modern home is rapidly changing, and Samsung smart home features are at the forefront of this revolution. With a focus on seamless integration, intuitive control, and enhanced convenience, Samsung's SmartThings platform is transforming how we interact with our homes. From managing energy consumption to ensuring family safety, SmartThings offers a comprehensive ecosystem that simplifies daily life. This article will explore the latest innovations and features that Samsung brings to the smart home arena, all designed to make your living space more efficient, secure, and enjoyable.

The Evolution of Samsung SmartThings

Samsung SmartThings has consistently redefined home automation, evolving from a collection of individual devices to a holistic platform for connected living. Acquired by Samsung Electronics in 2014, SmartThings has spent the last decade striving to set higher standards in efficiency and security. Designed to allow users to control their homes via smartphone, the platform has expanded its capabilities to provide personalized notifications and advanced automation features. As of August 2023, SmartThings has reached over 350 million subscribers, cementing Samsung’s position as a leader in the smart home market. This growth reflects the platform’s increasing influence within the Internet of Things (IoT) industry, as it continuously enhances its AI capabilities to meet a broad range of consumer needs.

Key Enhancements in the SmartThings Platform

Recent updates to the SmartThings platform have introduced several exciting new features designed to streamline the user experience and enhance smart home ecosystems. These include:

Shareable Routines

A standout feature is the introduction of shareable routines, allowing users to share their daily automated sequences with others. This makes it easy for guests or friends to adopt customized routines at their own homes. For example, you might have a morning routine that gradually turns on lights, starts your coffee maker, and plays your favorite playlist. With shareable routines, you can easily pass this on to friends and family, who can activate it simply by scanning a QR code.

Enhanced Hub Functionality

Building upon existing features such as Hub Groups and Hub Replace, the new Hub Manager in the SmartThings app provides a central interface for managing your smart home infrastructure. This includes creating Hub Groups with more types of SmartThings Hubs and enabling Hub Backup. Hub Backup allows secondary hubs to act as backups in case of primary hub failure, ensuring reliability and minimal disruption to daily routines. Users receive timely notifications and troubleshooting assistance, and can seamlessly transfer device configurations, network settings, and routines.

Matter 1.2 Support

SmartThings is now certified to the Matter 1.2 SDK, enhancing compatibility with a wider range of smart devices. This update enables seamless integration with partner devices supporting Matter 1.2, including refrigerators, air conditioners, dishwashers, washing machines, robotic vacuums, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, air quality sensors, and fans. This streamlined integration ensures a smoother experience for developers and users alike.

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The New Device Control

The new Device Control feature provides Galaxy users with easier access and navigation to their smart home devices. Device cards are larger and display more controls, allowing users to create customized home control pages. This feature also allows users to adjust TV volume or light brightness directly from the quick panel on their phones and tablets.

SmartThings Energy Enhancements

SmartThings Energy now incorporates gamified elements to encourage energy saving. Users can earn energy level and activity badges, and receive Samsung Rewards points for effectively saving energy through AI Energy Mode. Each Energy Stamp earned (for every 400Wh of electricity saved) can be converted into 20 Samsung Rewards points, which can be used to purchase products on Samsung.com.

SmartThings App: Your Central Control Hub

The SmartThings app is the heart of the Samsung smart home features, providing a unified platform to control and manage all your connected devices. It has undergone significant updates to enhance user experience:

Home Insight

The app now offers a Home Insight feature, providing a bird's-eye view summary of your home. This gives you an instant overview of what's happening, streamlining daily management.

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Home Routine

You can easily create new routines with the devices you already have, simplifying home automation.

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Device Control

The app transforms your phone into a personal remote for all your favorite devices.

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Quick Remote

With the Quick Remote feature, you can seamlessly control your devices as you approach them, further simplifying the user experience.

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Smart View

You can cast selected apps from your Galaxy smartphone to your TV, enhancing your home entertainment experience.

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3D Map View

The app includes a 3D Map View, allowing you to monitor and control your home from your Galaxy devices.

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AI Energy Mode

This feature automatically adjusts your TV's brightness based on surrounding light, saving energy and reducing your power bill.

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Built-in SmartThings Hub

Many Samsung TVs now include a built-in SmartThings Hub, eliminating the need for a separate hub and simplifying smart home setup.

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Workout Tracker

You can track your fitness progress on your TV while watching your favorite workout videos, enhancing your home fitness experience.

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AI Vision Inside

With AI Vision, you can see what's inside your refrigerator and monitor expiration dates, reducing food waste.

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AI Energy Mode for Appliances

AI Energy Mode can help save up to 10% of your refrigerator's energy and up to 60% on washing and 30% on drying, all while maintaining performance.

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Door Open Notification

You will get an alert if your Samsung refrigerator door isn't fully shut, helping you save food and energy.

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Customized Clothing Care

SmartThings Clothing Care creates customized wash and dry cycles tailored to your lifestyle.

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Device Status Check

You receive notifications when your devices need care, ensuring they run optimally.

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SmartThings and AI

The platform also integrates AI to enhance user experiences. For example, the AI Energy Mode helps to balance brightness on TVs to lower energy costs. The AI Vision Inside feature helps with monitoring and managing food inside Samsung refrigerators. Additionally, AI Energy Mode can help to reduce energy consumption on appliances. This is all part of Samsung's focus on providing smart, intuitive solutions for the modern home.

SmartThings: Beyond the App

Beyond the app, Samsung’s commitment to creating a comprehensive smart home experience is evident through its hardware and its partnerships with other brands.

SmartThings Hubs and Compatibility

While many Samsung smart home features are accessible through the SmartThings app alone, a hub enhances the system’s capabilities by supporting a wider variety of devices. The SmartThings Hub, now produced by Aeotec, supports both Zigbee and Z-Wave protocols, enabling a diverse range of devices to connect to the platform. These protocols are ideal for smaller, less power-hungry smart devices, such as sensors and light bulbs. SmartThings is also a key player in the new Matter smart home platform, and many of its hubs now function as Matter controllers, allowing integration with a wide range of devices from other manufacturers.

SmartThings Station

The SmartThings Station acts as a hub while also serving as a wireless phone charger. This multipurpose device is a Matter controller and a Thread border router, making it a convenient addition for Galaxy phone users. Its physical button can be used to trigger smart home routines, and it can scan for devices using SmartThings Find, making it a versatile device for both convenience and control.

Voice Control

SmartThings integrates with Bixby, Samsung’s IoT voice assistant, allowing for verbal control of your smart home devices. The platform also works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, enabling you to use your preferred voice assistant to manage your smart home.

Getting Started with SmartThings

To begin your journey with Samsung smart home features, download the SmartThings app from the Galaxy Store, Google Play Store, or Apple App Store. The app requires Android OS 10↑ with a minimum of 3GB RAM space or iOS 15↑. The app allows you to register devices by scanning QR codes, searching for nearby devices, or manually adding Samsung-branded or third-party devices. You can then create rooms and groups to organize your devices and set up routines and automations to customize your smart home experience.

Conclusion: Your Smart Home Awaits

Samsung SmartThings provides a comprehensive and innovative approach to smart home technology. With a wide range of features, seamless integration, and a commitment to user-friendly experiences, SmartThings is empowering users to create smarter, more connected homes. Whether you're looking to enhance your security, simplify your routines, or save energy, Samsung’s SmartThings platform is ready to transform your living space. The combination of its app, ecosystem, and hardware offerings makes Samsung a leader in the smart home market, now and into the future.