Samsung Introduces “SmartThings Now” with a New Platform Update for More Intuitive User Experiences

SmartThings Now leads the redesigned Home tab experience, delivering personalized information and controls at the right time. Local control ensures fast, seamless responses from connected devices, even during network outages.

Samsung Electronics has announced the latest update to SmartThings, its global connected living platform, which has reached 470 million registered users worldwide and supports more than 430 Works with SmartThings (WWST)-certified brands. With the new update, SmartThings Now appears at the top of the Home tab, the Home experience is redesigned, and local control capabilities are expanded. These improvements help users access relevant information, take action more easily, and manage their connected devices more reliably.

Jaeyeon Jung, Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics and Head of the SmartThings Team at the AI Platform Center, said, “This update represents another step in SmartThings’ efforts to move beyond a home experience where users have to search for and launch features individually. By providing relevant information and controls at the right time, SmartThings is pushing the boundaries of smarter home experiences and enabling users to manage their daily lives more naturally.”

A Redesigned Home Experience with SmartThings Now

SmartThings now appears as cards at the top of the Home tab, leveraging the Home Insight infrastructure to combine relevant information with actions users can take immediately, enabling greater personalization. By recommending the right information and readily available controls based on users’ current circumstances, it delivers a simpler and more intuitive experience.

For example, if no activity is detected on the device of a family member enrolled in Family Care, such as an elderly parent, for an extended period, SmartThings Now presents the caregiver with a care card offering options to check on the family member’s status or call them. When users approach a home location previously saved in the SmartThings app, SmartThings Now may suggest turning on the lights and air purifiers in advance. After users take this action, the platform recommends creating a routine so the same actions can be automated in the future. Together, these features create an experience that naturally guides users toward the next appropriate action based on their choices and context, making it easier to discover and use the features they need.

SmartThings Now also supports personalized optimization based on usage patterns. By analyzing activity over the past week, it recommends updates to Favorites on the Home tab, including devices, services, and routines. For example, as the weather gets cooler and air conditioner usage declines, it may suggest removing the air conditioner card. Alternatively, if an AirDresser is used more frequently during a seasonal transition, it may recommend adding the AirDresser card.

Users can also access a detailed overview of their routine activity over the past week through the Routine Insight card in SmartThings Now. This allows them to review and delete routines they no longer need.

The updated Home tab reorganizes dashboards, device cards, and service cards into a cleaner interface. Each content type is displayed in a format designed for easier browsing. Service cards feature a more compact design, allowing more services to be displayed clearly on a single screen while presenting information such as device status and numerical values.

Live Wallpaper also adds a more dynamic visual element to the experience, changing naturally throughout the day. The update further introduces Floating Bar, which places frequently used features in a more accessible position at the bottom of the screen. This makes one-handed operation easier on smartphones with large displays while reflecting the latest design approach of One UI.

Enhanced Local Control Keeps Devices Responsive Even Without an Internet Connection

SmartThings is introducing local control technology to help users continue operating their connected devices more reliably during changes in the home network environment or disruptions to external internet services.

When a mobile device and a SmartThings Hub are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, the mobile device can communicate directly with the hub instead of routing controls through the cloud. Compared with cloud-based control, local control can improve response times by approximately 30%. This enables users to continue controlling connected devices during temporary network fluctuations.

SmartThings automatically switches between local control and cloud-based remote control depending on whether the user’s mobile device is at home or away. The updated Offline Device Diagnostics page also helps reconnect devices that have gone offline by allowing new network information to be updated across all registered devices at once.

Samsung is also adding support for Matter 1.6, the latest smart home connectivity standard from the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), improving stability and Group Control performance.

The update adds support for four new device categories:

• Energy Meters: For real-time power monitoring.

• Closure Devices: For specialized door and gate types.

• Irrigation Devices: Including sprinkler systems.
• Soil Sensors: For measuring soil conditions.

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