What you need to know
- Samsung highlighted a few updates on the way for SmartThings and consumers’ smart homes.
- SmartThings will pick up “Home Insight” in October, bringing several key optimization features and suggestions for activities.
- Edge AI will debut in the SmartThings Hub alongside a stronger integration with SmartThings and YouTube Music.
Samsung’s Developer Conference (SDC 2024) highlighted a few upcoming additions to improve its smart home ecosystem.
As detailed in a Newsroom post, SDC 2024 held a brief glimpse into Samsung’s upcoming “Home Insight” feature for SmartThings (via SamMobile). The update is said to arrive “this month” with ways to promote better optimization for your smart home devices. Samsung states Home Insight will turn off idle devices “at specific times” or if the user is away from home.
Home Insight is also able to collect and analyze data such as device usage, history, and other “home statistics.” All of this likely contributes to its optimization features for a seamless smart home. The publication spotted during the SDC 2024 keynote that Home Insight can remind users to turn off a device accidentally left active.
The conference teased that Home Insight can also leverage dates in your calendar, such as birthdays, and suggest fun activities using your devices.
Moreover, all of Samsung’s devices with a screen will run SmartThings Hub and receive Edge AI technology. This software will “embed” AI into a consumer’s devices for a better experience and usability.
Samsung highlighted its partnership with Kohler, which will help monitor a user’s water usage within SmartThings. Additionally, the software’s Door Lock is set to debut in Digital Home Key in Samsung Wallet in 2025.
The company teased further integration with YouTube Music during SDC 2024. According to SamMobile, users can pair lights connected to SmartThings to a set of songs from YouTube Music. The integration will reportedly pair well with Philips Hue lights, Wiz, Yeelight, and Lifx.
With so much ahead for Samsung’s SmartThings, the company will build upon a previous major update from this summer. In July, the company rolled out an update that let users pair refrigerators, air conditioners, dishwashers, and laundry washing machines to SmartThings.
The update included “Shareable Routines,” a new Hub Manager introduced to the app. Users could share routines that involved a singular device or multiple devices in a home with others. These routines can be easily handed out via a QR code for family members and guests.
Specifically for device pairing, those updates concerned Matter 1.2-ready smart home devices. However, the CSA has since detailed the contents of its Matter 1.3 upgrade, which will bring even more devices into the fold, like stoves, dryers, and EV chargers.