Building a smart home ecosystem can make the smallest elements of your life a whole lot easier, but even the best hardware around isn’t any good without an excellent software experience backing it up. Today, Samsung is relaunching its SmartThings app with an all-new interface to help power every gadget in your home.
If you aren’t already invested in SmartThings as a platform, this update might make you reconsider. It features a brighter, cleaner interface that puts the most essential features upfront as soon as you open the app. In order to make it easier to navigate, Samsung has split the app up into five separate categories.
The new “Favorites” tab acts as a home screen for all of your lights, plugs, scenes, and services. “Devices” focuses entirely on gadgets, offering in-depth controls and the ability to link a new product. “Life” acts as a tutorial section for learning to take advantage of your smart home setup, “Automations” allows for easy programming of all devices based on the conditions of your choosing, and “Menu” hides all of those pesky notifications, settings, and more to keep all the clutter away from the usual menus.
All of this comes during a period of transition for SmartThings, with a recent roadmap detailing its plans to switch away from legacy hardware. The first-gen SmartThings Hub and the Link for Shield TV are both just a couple of weeks away from shutting down for good, leaving consumers on the hook for new hardware. It’s not all bad news, of course. Samsung has recommitted to Matter, the smart home protocol designed to link all of your gadgets together regardless of manufacturer. Matter is planned for a full launch later this year, which should make it easier than ever to sync your devices together (at least, in theory).
The update is available starting today for Android devices, with plans for the new UI to come to iOS soon. Samsung also recently released a Windows 10 app for SmartThings, though there’s no word on when or if the refreshed look will come to PC.
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