If you already have a Google Home or Amazon Echo, why would you need SmartThings at all? Perhaps because Samsung has a long history of making hardware, and many of those devices are now compatible with SmartThings, such as refrigerators, television sets, and clothes dryers. The connectivity with smart speakers can seem a bit confusing. SmartThings supports a long list of devices, ranging from smart speakers to doorbells. SmartThings Which devices work with SmartThings? The app allows you to scroll through a list of all the connected devices and easily change different settings. If you have a ton of different smart devices in your home, the app makes it pretty easy to keep track of and use them. The new app promises that you’ll be able group devices together and control them simultaneously, configure specific device settings like time and operating conditions, and get status notifications about devices. A new app was released recently and the classic SmartThings app was discontinued in October of last year. The SmartThings app helps you control the various smart devices you have though out your home. In the morning, you could have your coffeemaker start brewing at 7am, just as a news podcast plays on your smart speaker, and your security alarm automatically disables itself. You can also create routines, or strings of multiple actions that trigger at set times of the day. For example, you can create rules such as “when the door has been shut for 60 seconds, automatically lock it,” or “if the front door opens, automatically turn on the lights.” Then, you can use the app to remotely program your devices. You connect your hub to other compatible devices, such as light bulbs, plugs, thermostats, and door locks. Once you have a hub, you set it up using the mobile app. You can add a subscription to ADT Security if you want a dedicated security service for responding to triggered alarms, but you don’t have to.
For example, the SmartThings ADT Security Kit ($199.99) is a small starter kit for home security that puts the hub functionality into a wall-mounted touch screen panel. Samsung also sells the hub part of the technology bundled into other products. Apple Homepod vs Google Home vs Amazon Echo.Amazon Alexa is the home assistant you never knew you needed.You can also buy a SmartThings Wi-Fi ($119.99), which is a Wi-Fi router and the hub bundled together.
You connect all your compatible smart home devices to it and control them via the SmartThings app on either Android or iOS. It’s a physical device that looks a little like a router. The most basic is the SmartThings Hub ($69.99). Currently, there are a few hubs and kits for SmartThings to choose from. Samsung has announced that it’s coming out soon with its own smart speaker and assistant, called Galaxy Home and Bixby. It’s similar to how “ Alexa ” refers to both the intelligence that powers an Amazon Echo device and the app you use to set it up, customize your settings, and control your devices.
In addition to being a brand name, “SmartThings” refers to the cloud-based intelligence that makes your smart home work, as well as the companion app you use to control it all. It’s also the name of the app you use to control all the smart devices and products in your home. SmartThings isn’t a device but rather a name that Samsung tacks onto other products or uses to indicate it works within the setup.
But what is SmartThings, and how does it work? This guide will answer that, plus what you can do with SmartThings, what devices it connects to, and whether it’s ultimately right for you. Do you want a smart home that’s centrally controlled through one app, but don’t necessarily want a smart speaker? No problem! What you need is a smart home hub, and the SmartThings Hub is one of the most popular and well-connected devices on the market.