Samsung is an undisputed global leader in introducing innovative high-tech products, which makes a significant contribution to the process of progressive technological development on a planetary scale. Offering an extensive range of products and services, including those implemented with artificial intelligence elements, Samsung tries to keep up with the times, making efforts to introduce the Internet of Things.
Currently, users around the world can use devices that can interact with each other. Many such devices and software products make our lives more comfortable and in the range of Korean corporations.
In particular, in the wake of the growing popularity of smart homes, Samsung is developing innovative means of automating routine home tasks, aided by Smart Things technology. The interaction between household appliances and devices with a smartphone becomes a vital necessity, and Smart Things is the right tool that can carry out tasks of this kind.
Having discovered the Smart Things app on their smartphone, many users consider the program a system application that does not carry any proper function. This attitude to preinstalled software is typical for most, so many do not pay attention to the program, and some even try to remove it. And entirely in vain.
Smart Things is a software product that can control devices with built-in support for innovative home technologies. The application allows you to combine these devices into a single network, acting as a network hub. Smart Things is tasked with managing the interaction of all connected components of the Smart Home system.
What’s more, the SmartThings app, which operates on Samsung under the Android OS, can remotely perform all of the above functions. Let’s say, by your arrival from work. The coffee maker will already prepare a cup of fragrant coffee. In the morning, you will wake up the alarm, focusing on your daily jet lag, if at this time it will be dark – wherever you go, the light will be turned on automatically. You do not have to open the windows – a comfortable microclimate will be maintained without your participation. This is only a tiny part of what smart home technology can do. And the main thing is that all this is possible today.
Smart Things is an essential part of this technology, which allows you to connect all home smart devices in a typical ecosystem.
IMPORTANT. The app is compatible with all Samsung brand products that have the Works with SmartThings logo.
Today, there are about five dozen of these devices. Adding them to the application is not difficult and occurs through automatic search. The hub scans all working devices in real-time, discovering new ones and inviting the owner to connect them to the system.
Having understood what Smart Tings is, we intend to introduce readers to the application in more detail, and for now, we note that this program is not pre-installed on all models of Korean smartphones. But that doesn’t stop you from downloading it from stores (versions for all mobile OS, including Apple and Windows Phone). This means that the program can be installed on the phones of other brands, although its performance is not guaranteed. In any case, it will be found out at the installation stage – the application will tell itself whether it will be able to work on a specific smartphone model.
IMPORTANT. Smart devices are controlled using wireless technology. Another condition for interacting through the app is the need to register them in a single account.
The program is designed to manage various Samsung home or office appliances, which have appropriate labels about compatibility with Smart Home technology as part of the Smart Things concept. The application’s functionality provides an opportunity to automate many everyday tasks with the level and automation algorithm set by the user.
Supported devices include:
What specific features are hidden in the bowels of a smart app?
When you first start the app, you need to form an account and create a Samsung account profile. In the future, when you start the program, you will only need to authorize it. Among other settings, you will need to provide Smart Things with all the permissions you rely on, including the smartphone’s access to geodata. Once you’ve logged in, the next logical step is to add smart devices and devices. If they are on, the program will automatically detect them (provided that all devices, including the phone, operate within the same wireless network). Detected devices the app classifies and groups by critical characteristics (household appliances, lighting system, controlling sensors, etc.).
As an example, let’s show you how to connect Smart Things to a Smart TV:
As a result, your mobile gadget will turn into a TV remote with advanced features. If you have several TVs in your home, all of them will be added and merged into one network. Check the state of the TV waiting and turn it off if necessary, and remotely.
You can reset the Smart Things settings on any Android device and cancel the user-provided permissions in the appropriate section of the mobile gadget (App tab, all menu items, select the app we are interested in, set the settings to reset option). Some models of smartphones and tablets(Samsung Galaxy S5 and above, Galaxy Tab Pro, and newer models) have a special section for resetting Smart Things settings (located in the “Common” tab, in the “Standard Apps” subsection).
The capabilities of the Smart Things program itself are pretty extensive. With their incomplete review, you already had the opportunity to get to know the above. Still, to a large extent, the application’s functionality depends on the smart devices it controls. At the same time, the interface of the program is not complicated, it is pretty easy to navigate, and if there are questions, beginners can always use exhaustive tips.
Although the program groups the devices they find independently, the user is left with the ability to group on their own, as they see fit. In addition, it can assign any action with the devices provided by their functionality, depending on their own needs. You can use a timer, other devices, or a specific event (host’s arrival from work, dusk, etc.) as a trigger to activate a particular device.
In the Devices tab, you can see the status of all connected devices and appliances in real-time, and if these devices allow, you’ll also see how to control them.
For example, let’s look at the performance patterns of actions in the program.
Scenarios are needed to manage the work and interaction of multiple connected devices at the same time:
Tasks must be performed following specific conditions. We ask them:
When this event occurs, the device is activated or deactivated.
Here’s what we do to add a room:
The app can also run on Bluetooth, but connecting devices, in this case, will be a little more complicated. The detection algorithm is standard for this type of wireless connection.
Using Smart Things, you can do many other things – add to the number of users of the program native, share with their media content, watch TV.
Using video cameras and sensors, you can form a security system. A typical example is the activation of the camera when the light is turned on, in case of unauthorized penetration into the house through a door or window, with the sending of a message to the owner of the smartphone.
The presence of the Smart Things app allows you to be aware of all the essential things that are happening in the house and respond accordingly.
