SmartThings Reviews

by GloppityGlop

While you can technically operate your tv with SmartThings, no sane person could stand it for long. One screen has button for the guide, but the only control in this screen moves an entire page at a time through the guide so you cannot make a selection without going to another screen in SmartThings with different controls, like the 4pad. The 4pad screen does not have a guide button, but if you love going through several steps on your tv screen, you can navigate to it in a very stupid and inefficient way. I’ve had this tv for over a year, and I somehow thought SmartThings would improve, but it is the same total garbage it was at the start. Obviously no one who designed SmartThings has ever tried to actually use it or they would immediately add the guide button to a screen where the guide can actually be navigated. It does control the tv, but in t he most awful inefficient user interface possible. Why not just duplicate a small part of the actual remote? Because these app designers don’t care what makes sense or is easy to use or remotely contains basic remote functions where they are needed. SmartThings is garbage, at least as a tv remote anyway..

by DK02116

SmartThings is a key part of the user experience for the Frame TV I just bought. It is recommended by the Samsung site, by the information that comes with the TV, and I think as part of the TV setup as well. Ok, fine, I downloaded it and signed in. But it demands “Always” access to my location, rather than “while using SmartThings ” access. I don’t mind the latter, but it’s unreasonable for Samsung to insist on having my location information “Always.” I deleted SmartThings . One star for being completely unreasonable about your customers’ privacy.

Update: Samsung responded to this review, saying SmartThings “needs” to run in the background. I call b.s. other companies offer the customer a choice. I’ve bought my last Samsung TV, that’s for sure.

Second update: They responded again, explaining that they need location data so they can show all connected hubs and devices and so I can share access with friends and family. They’re missing the point. First, I don’t see why that requires “always” location access. Second, even if it does, there should be an option for those of us who just want to control their expensive TV without connecting stuff or sharing access. They could certainly program an option for location permission “when using SmartThings ” if they cared to. Clearly, they don’t. If I could, Samsung, you’d get -1 to this rating, but it doesn’t go any lower than it is.

by Jahan M

Nothing changed in reality even after years of update and what so ever. This whole this app product suite is just not up-to standard they claim. The sensors still go offline on and off. Battery drain indicator is just useless, it shows 1% left still works for a week. Replaced battery, it says 100% and next day its 70%. In SmartThings the some sensors appear as offline, but if I open they seem to be working and they even trigger alarms. Tried to remove and add them again, but it keeps happening with some sensors at given point in time. The Automation Rules are just weird, some rules just don’t work even if they are so simple. Using iphone as location sensor is seems to have its own mind. When I approach my home some days I get notifications half mile away, saying monitoring is disarmed and somedays even if I am at my door it doesn’t do anything. I don’t know how this Rule engine works, but if I create conflicting rules( for testing ) it doesn’t work at all, neither it says anything. I work for Apple, I Architect software sand apps day n night across platforms, I really feel hopelessly sad about SmartThings. Just saw simplysafe products in someones house, its kind of flow less compared to this app. I will switch and comeback and update my review. Old review a year ago. Just a newer version of the same JUNK and WORSE of course!

by Msdosnt

Let SmartThings upgrade from the previous. First time I used it, it wanted access to my location. Why? There is no valid technical reason for this. It can’t communicate to my TV that is on the same network as my iPad? But yet if I don’t allow you to know my exact location for some reason you can’t allow it to communicate with my TV that it obviously can communicate with easily?

It is obvious they want location information for their purposes (use and sell my data) not mine and then they lie about it’s technically required. No it’s required because you want to snoop into where I live and figure out who I am through tracking. It’s none of your business, simply put. I just bought a new TV. Guess what? It’s not a slimy company that wants my data in order to use features I already paid for. Thank you for showing me how dishonest you are. It helped guide my new purchases to far more reputable companies. I usually move outdated TV’s/devices to less used locations (bedrooms, etc..). I won’t be allowing you in my home any longer. Ba-bye.

SmartThings has always been limited in usefulness anyway. Turn it up, turn it down, mute, and turn it off. Ya can’t turn on the TV with it because it needs it on to communicate. If you don’t use their streaming apps on it then that’s the full benefit of SmartThings .

by DTWax

Garbage app and garbage developers. SmartThings worked fine for the first year I had it and lately after an update (presumably) all of my 60+ devices show up as disconnected. I can still function them if I click on them individually to see their status but in the main window they all show up as disconnected, THEREFORE, the user has no idea what the actual status of any given device is at any given time. Which makes SmartThings useless. The whole purpose of having an app to control home automation devices is so that the user can not only control those devices but also to know the status of the devices at any time. Furthermore, to make matters worse, SmartThings has NEVER provided a proper log of actions. SmartThings should be keeping a log of actions for the devices so that you can view the activity log to see when a device changed status but that has NEVER worked from day one. I’ve called to complain about these issues on numerous occasions but these issues still remain unresolved. I’m very annoyed and I don’t recommend anybody to buy a Samsung this app Hub nor to download and use this horrendous app. I’m going to sell my Samsung this app Hub or just throw it in the garbage and buy a different brand that actually works properly and doesn’t require the user to call and complain every week about these issues.

by FamilyHUB-less Jane Doe

So if anyone has a family hub Samsung fridge BE WARNED that Samsung has made a new update the TIzEn 6.0 and IT NO LONGER SUPPORTS THE FAMILY HUB APP! Once you update the software on your fridge it’s gone.. it merged the “ features” (ya right) into the this app app . You LOSE the ability to connect tithe family hub board in your fridge from your phone. You can’t write notes , change memo boards, etc.. the only feature the family board is the ability to upload photos . And by upload it’s uploading ONe at a time -slow. Your no longer able to adjust your family board pictures etc from within SmartThings that’s gone. ANd not only that IVe been
experiencing connection problems. I had to reset everything. All the troubleshooting steps videos Yep did that . (It’s not my wifi that’s the issue ) It’s Beyond ridiculous. Taking out the family hub (which is again the basis for WHY people BUY THIS FRIDGE!!! ) is ridiculous . When you buy the fridge you buy it for the features particularity this one. How can you call it a “family hub fridge” . . I’m sure they have this in the fine print when you agree to the software update.. but I don’t think anyone was expecting for the update to get rid of the basic FAMiLY HUb FEATURES .

by William Rusty Shackleford

As the title says, SmartThings is a black eye for an otherwise impressive company, Samsung and this app. I bought into this app over 5 years ago, and have gradually added more of my home automation to its ecosystem over the following years. this app Classic was never perfect, but it got the job done and I learned to live with the deficiencies.

Over the last couple years I have periodically checked in on the “new” this app app to see if it was ready for prime time, and regrettably it never was. So recently when I was notified that support for ST classic was ending, I naively believed that the new app had finally eclipsed the classic app, but boy was I wrong. I won’t go into the details, as all the other reviewers have already listed my complaints, but in almost every way the new app is a step backwards. It is so bad that I am beginning to wonder if this is a poison pill by Samsung designed to kill off the this app line over time.

To those responsible, please either start over and create an entirely new app, or bring back and improve upon this app Classic. As it stands I am no longer buying any more devices or spending any more money within the this app environment.

by Vodolii

First of all I am annoyed with the inability to mark filter as replaced if it is not of the Samsung brand, only takes me to buy new option, does not allow me to manually reset counter. I have a feeling that the filter reset counter updates with purchase, on the Samsung website, since it doesn’t seem to have any other options except buy new. Pictures: Now you can only upload one picture at a time, and “uploaded” picture doesn’t always show up on the fridge. Before the update I had a bunch of my favorite pictures arranged on family board, now it’s limited to only 5!!!! :( You can’t browse and see what pictures are already uploaded via SmartThings , need to check the fridge itself. This option would be helpful to check if the upload went through, and since it’s 1 pic at a time to see what pictures are already there. I do like that you can do a slideshow of pictures on family board, but it’s still only 5, so might as well run the album slide show. So for me the only practical use of SmartThings is like a bad usb to push one picture at a time to the fridge. You can literally plug in a usb into the fridge itself… which I would recommend to do if you are setting up from scratch and have a lot of pictures to add.

by The NBlaze

You able to use this with a 2018 Samsung Smart TV. Now you can search for shows from the in app hub for it. But I see shows in there that I know are on Netflix but it does not state that. Same stuff for some other apps. To put icing on the cake, its a smart TV which at times requires typing things into each app, yet does not have a on screen keyboard in SmartThings that I can find. There is even a internet explorer where you have to use the tv remote with an on screen keyboard.

Now i get it maybe you are trying to push people to buy keyboards and set them alongside of your TV. That I have to say is pretty annoying, I already have one and it is annoying to switch between remote and keyboard. I traded in a different TV that had was supported from a competitor nick named Goku TV for this comment. In that app, not only can you type on your TV screen through SmartThings , but you can stream the tv sound through your phone. It is truly innovative compared to this application. That can only control on/off, +/- Volume/Channel, 0-9 numbers, previous channel, up-down-left-right, and power. To top it all off its pretty laggy. It also has accurate searches through SmartThings . Its sad that I will probably replace the smart side of this TV by plugging in a Goku TV adapter to the HDMI port.

by AZ Expat

In 2017 I purchased 2 multi-purpose sensors. They were great on garage doors. Once connected to the hub, it was less than 30 seconds to attach to a garage door and they did a great job of indicating the door was open when horizontal and closed when vertical. No more wondering “did the door close?”, a notification indicated closed and was part of my security system to indicate someone had opened the door. Sometime in January 2020 SmartThings made the sensor a bi-purpose sensor only. No warning or notification! The tilt function removed! I went back to the classic app at suggestion of Samsung support (very time-consuming as I had to reset the hub and then had to completely re-add ALL sensors/lights etc... to BOTH apps!). No tilt in old app either. I attempted to connect one sensor as a contact sensor but with the rails and wheels, this was very difficult (the WHOLE reason the tilt function was so great!). Also once it was installed as a contact sensor, it only took one opening of the garage door to knock the magnet off somewhere along the path and jam the door! I’ve spent at least an hour re-doing both apps and reinstalling a sensor and still have no solution! I reluctantly give 2 stars because it was a great, simple solution for 2 years. I suppose if I buy a newer version of the multipurpose sensor it might work?!??! NOT going to keep buying sensors and I have guarantee that will even work and for how long?

by Whiskey Di

I recently transitioned from Iris by Lowe’s to this app and bought the hub and motion sensors (among other things). Found it tremendously difficult to connect the ST hub to my existing kwikset and schlage locks (which worked seamlessly with iris). I’ve also been unable to easily connect my Honeywell thermostat.

Separately, the ST branded motion sensor is essentially useless. In SmartThings , it will only show me in real time whether there is movement or not (and takes a moment to connect when I go through SmartThings - it’s not always available). I would like to be able to see whether there has been movement during the day (and at what times). Iris used to showed me a bar graph where I could see the movements in my home throughout the day (e.g. no movement between 3-5 pm, movement starting at 5:30, or something like that). Is this something being addressed in an update?

So far, I am not a fan of ST, and purposely delayed buying additional ST devices until I could figure out whether it worked well or not. I only bought the few items I did because Iris gave us a gift card to compensate for the shutdown of their service. I have a Samsung TV and will eventually get around to connecting it in order to salvage some utility out of this thing.

by AshleyGi4

Just a horrible app. I downloaded it to go with my Frame TV. The features it suggests are decent, albeit incomplete, and you just can’t ever get them to work bc SmartThings is painfully slow, full of bugs, freezes constantly, and takes forever to sync w my Frame TV (half the time it doesn’t sync at all). The art Mode is cool when I can actually control it… which is rarely bc SmartThings is awful. Probably most frustrating is that there’s no automation option for Art Mode, which is actually absurd. SmartThings offers ability to use your own pictures from your phone in Art Mode, which would be cool, but the majority of my photos don’t load in SmartThings , so I can’t select them, the ones that do load are not in chronological order which is confusing, half my albums don’t show up as an option, and half the time my photos either disappear completely from SmartThings or SmartThings freezes and won’t let me select them. Honestly SmartThings is absolutely horrible and I probably wouldn’t have bought my Frame TV if I knew about it beforehand. Might still return it. More headache and way more amateur than any big-name modern tech company should ever be associated with

by WyoZrad

Easy to set up and get going. I used classic and i really liked the feature that used our mobile phone as an arrival sensor. I have not been successful in getting that working again. I deleted the classic app like I was told to. I decided to use an old multi sensor to monitor the temperature in the garage. After replacing the batteries and mounting it I started getting an intrusion alert every hour and couldn’t acknowledge it. I completely deleted anything I could associated with home monitor and it is still going three days later. Hard to sleep getting an hourly alert that cannot be turned off.

Samsung representative contacted me via email and presented a list if instructions to follow on the classic app. I had trouble finding the classic app on the Apple App Store, but the instructions motivated me to try again. I found the Samsung Classic this app app and re-downloaded it and deleted everything I could. The notifications stopped and a Samsung this app rep contacted me via email to ensure I had resolved the problem. The problem is resolved. Thank you, Samsung this app team.

by G_la_hunt

I was super excited to have a remote on my phone so that I never have to search for the actual remote again. Sadly, the TV remote on SmartThings is terrible. The number one issue is that if I switch to use another app on my phone, then come back to the remote, it is no longer ready to go. I have to select the TV option from SmartThings ’s home screen again and wait for the remote to open. Why can’t it just stay open so I can flip between apps? By the time I get the dang thing open, Netflix is already playing the next show or preview! I don’t even have any other smart devices in my house—why do I need to select “TV” to even get to the remote every time? I wish I could bookmark the remote somehow so that it automatically opens when I open SmartThings (and have it STAY open even when I swap to read a text or email). Secondly, why does the remote have a huge square button with tiny little arrow buttons around it to navigate with? Swiping across the button to navigate is clunky and not intuitive. Get rid of that and just make the arrow buttons bigger!

by Didactics

I like the simplicity of use, supported products and integration but a little less thrilled with the detail of control in particularly the inability to have multiple conditions per device or even use the same device as a condition as well as an action. Like if the light is off turn it on. Only one condition per device is pretty limiting. Also the lack of sensitivity adjustments for devices like the motion sensor or multipurpose sensor are troubling. Seems like it would be a simple adjustment. Like the multipurpose vibration sensitivity goes off every time the auto lock engages. Would probably fix this with a statement that looks for vibration duration longer than 1 second, but I can’t reduce the time that low. Wait my bad can’t reduce the duration at all. At least not with the default app.
I give it a bump up because there is an integration app to make some/most of these things possible.
Overall it’s a solid entry level product but if you are looking for more detailed automation Samsung isn’t quite there yet. Hopefully sometime soon.

Update: One thing I’m very unhappy with is every device takes a different size battery. And most these batteries are NOT easily available at your local store/Walmart.

by Bassgroovin'

Much better but I am having issues with some app integrations. like smart life and Meross.
Update (8/1/20): Emailed and also called and spoke with someone at this app to try to solve my issue with the device integrations. this app customer service were very easy to contact and where very kind and helpful. They tried to help as best as they could but it appears that not many Smart Life app devices are currently compatible. Hopefully this will change in the near future. Meross said and this app confirmed that they are working to improve their integrations in the coming weeks so hopefully my issue of not being able to turn on device in this app will be resolved soon. Tp Link Kasa app and Bond app integrations with those devices are working great! So, in short I believe this app developers are working hard to improve SmartThings integrations and experience which I really appreciate. They have also been very responsive and easy to contact for help. I just received a reply to this review as well which is also why I am adding a star to my review. I will add the fifth star once I am able to fully integrate my smart home in the this app app! Thank you this app for continuing to work to improve your app and the customer experience.

by C_M_F_S

Needs more integration with other manufacturers and devices. I use SmartThings with iOS and iPadOS. My 2 Samsung TVs linked right up to SmartThings . My Dishwasher Smart Control linked fairly quickly. Our Flex Washer and Flex Dryer had issues linking. I tried over and over. Then tried to get information from Samsung Community but I found that a lot of us were in the same boat. Then Samsung Customer Service which just had me repeat the same thing then send screenshots and app information. I believe some of the reason was Samsung had just started move to one app for all. Then after a year I tried again and was at the point that I didn’t care if it worked. Then I noticed the Washer Smart Control was on although not showing in SmartThings . Having both manuals laid out I finally realized why SmartThings only linked to 98%. Once AP disappears on device touch Smart Care turning it on. Which only the dryers manual vaguely mentions. Other than that bit of frustration it is vary useful.

by Rbiowa

I’m impressed that Samsung keeps working to improve SmartThings . My concern is they think (IMHO) that this is all about automation. Well it is called home automation, but it is also about keeping an eye on your home while you’re away for any major issues. I am fortunate enough to have my home in Florida and a cottage in Michigan. I think you’ll know where I am in the summer and winter. I monitor the home in Florida for humidity (I don’t want mold), temperature and water leaks. In the winter I monitor the cottage for temperature and water leaks. The new and classic this app app needs to have better notifications. How about a badge on SmartThings icon if there is something out of range? How about having the ‘tiles’ in SmartThings change color to red if a sensor has a warning (the little red dot isn’t sufficient)? Those are just two little things that would make SmartThings more useful and user friendly. I believe that it would be more helpful if at a glance the end user can see if the lights are on, there is motion, the dishwasher is leaking, the air conditioner isn’t keeping the humidity down... you get the idea.

by SFbayguy31

As with many people I’ve been using smart things for many years and had to transition to this new app. Initially I found the migration process to be a complete mess. I found it easier to delete all my devices and re-create my automations in scenes. While this what is time consuming, I Have a better understand how SmartThings works now. It provides more functionality than the original app but does have a few bugs with screens particularly when you’re editing automation‘s. For example after you edit an automation and save it the window doesn’t close and required you to press cancel which prompts you that you have not saved it. Another issueI found is when you enter the dimmer for a light if you don’t actually move the slider it won’t store the default value of 50%. I’ve also noticed the times are strange when you select sunrise and sunset initially they both say sunset or sunrise until you actually change the time. I’ve also had a couple issues with my hue lights saying they were off-line in smart things but online when I launch the Hue.

by Koolson

Samsung promotes the ability for a connected home. Yet their own Samsung TVs don’t have the ability to run SmartThings . It would be great to make this app widely compatible with your tv’s across model. I purchased a new 2020 TV and the feature is missing. Yet you can set it up and control by SmartThings , but you do not have a total connected home experience if you can’t even use your tv as a smart monitor as well. Please fix this. this app also can’t do wake on LAN. It would be great if this app could send magic packets to their smart appliances to turn them on and off. You got the turn off feature working flawless. Make the power on ability for tv’s. Improve the loading of devices in app. Takes a long time to load a device to control the settings. Make SmartThings have the same ability as classic to landscape the screen. When using a tablet as a control center turned sideways it stays vertical. As if you only designed it for a phone. Which is typical with the this app TV setup. We use multiple devices daily not just a phone. Please make these improvements, it would make things so much more enjoyable.

by Gean123

I don’t know if I’m just too dumb or I’m missing something, but I can’t figure out the new app. My presence sensors are gone and I can’t find my routines. I set up an automation to replace one of my routines and it didn’t work. I don’t enjoy the layout and it seems to not give me nearly as easy of a time navigating. I’m planning to stay classic as long as possible. If I knew that the new app would be like this, I wouldn’t have gone with Samsung as my hub. Wanted to like the new app, but it’s just not working for me.

*edited to respond to chelsea*
Hey Chelsea! Thanks for responding!! I appreciate it :) Unfortunately, I received a notification that it was time to switch over. And not only that, but the classic app would not disarm so every time we moved or opened a door in the house, we’d get notifications. Our only option was to switch over. I think I figured out automations, but my routines are gone. My presence and my husbands are not recognized. I just can’t seem to figure out how this was supposed to be a smooth transition when most of my devices and routines didn’t transfer over. I’d love to switch back to classic for good.

by Mewill4

I bought a new washer and dryer. Was very excited to use the wifi as I am often rushing to get laundry done. Hey now it can get started on my way home and when I get home I can just switch it over to the dryer. NOPE. Half the time it doesn’t work and you have remember to push a few buttons on the machine(s) before hand- even though you can see it through SmartThings /communicate through SmartThings you have to manually do other things first. If you want to start it at a certain time, forget about it. You have to set your phone alarm then go in and take care of it, that is if SmartThings hasn’t shut communication off. The only thing you can do is start the laundry now or start the laundry now and have it slow the process down so much that it can take up to 24 hrs to wash a load of clothes. No one wants their clothes washed for up to 24 straight, it’s too rough on the clothes. SmartThings has timing functions, it has starting functions. They just decided not to put them together. Which is such a disappointment as that was the main reason for me buying this set.

by Tyraelos

I just got my this app Hub v3 yesterday. I really just need it to push to Alexa, which announces when doors open and close but I was getting quite annoyed with SmartThings. For one there was no setting to switch the sensor to Garage mode, secondly, there is no option to allow me to set when doors are ajar, something I read could be done with this app. I finally decided to get the old app, the one Samsung is planning to Sunset and wow, what a difference! That app is full featured compared to this. Not only are these options there but that app also shows me all sensor activity so that I can see exactly what's going on with the sensors.

I understand that SmartThings is new and you're moving new users towards it but it's a bad idea to do so when it's so very half baked. There are too many missing features to be directing new users to forget about the other app and use this one.

Right now I have both apps installed but I use the old one mostly. Hopefully this one catches up sooner vs. later. I see nothing wrong with the old app and don't understand why this one was made.

by Tons777

Recently upgraded from Vera to a this app hub. Primary use is to monitor my home for temperature and leaks when I’m not there. Like to set the temp to 60 when away but when its’s really cold out, I.e. 20F and a strong wind pipes could freeze. Vera saved me several time since I can turn the heat up remotely. Installed several this app Water Temperature Sensors, set up was great, setting up automations to provide notifications and texts was easy but doing the same thing many times was annoying (think copy function).

The biggest thing I don’t like about the this app app is that you can’t see any data on the sensor icons on the home page but “dry”. Duh, if it wasn’t dry I’d be getting notifications and texts! When I check in to my house remotely I want to see on the home page what Vera gave me, the temperature and battery level at each of my sensors.

Researching this it appears that there were ways to do this in what is now called the “this app Classic” app. Amazing how new and improved can become new and less.

by Grfsgjshs

I like SmartThings and enjoy the ability to access my devices with or without my remote. However, I have some suggestions on how to improve SmartThings so that it is more usable for a tv. First, the left and right arrows are well sized but the top and bottom are much too small. Those buttons are important so that you can hold scrolling rather than constantly having to swipe up and down. I often find myself accidentally selecting a show because I have to look at the tv when scrolling rather than the remote. Second, most times I go back to use the remote the home screen appears with a list of my devices when I really just want to use my remote again. It usually takes about 15-20 seconds to get back to the remote. That is about the time that a next episode on a streaming service will auto play which makes using SmartThings sort of a wash. Anyways, thanks for hearing the feedback and (hopefully) look forward to some quality of life changes! Great app other than those minor things!

by Justin.Alvarez

There is NO reason that I can’t turn off my lights without internet. If my internet is down, my WiFi is up and my hub is connected to the wifi. The only problem is external internet access. All my lights are internal to the network. Just let me turn them on and off if my internet goes down.

takes a significant time to connect to devices when opening app. The “checking status” shows on all devices for a significant amount of time. I have gigabit speed internet, this is not my internets fault. Get rid of the this app loading screen and just logo the homepage to make it snappier.

Request: granular notification settings. I want to be notified IF a motion sensor is tripped between a specific time. I do not want to be notified if a light is turned on. I want to be notified if a device is offline, I don’t want to be notified that a scene was activated. Basically, custom notifications.

Request: list ALL history. Every action needs to be listed (not just automations and scenes) and as a bonus what device initiated it. i.e. Living Room turned on by iPhone or Dining Room turned off by iPad. This helps troubleshoot issues and their origin.

Request: support for ip cameras without 3 party coding or software (blue iris, webcore). In addition to live view tiles.

Request: official support for Zmodo cameras.

Request: add tiles for individual weather locations.

Request: dark mode

Request: Apple Watch app

by Bit Sniff

...now have to press a link to see current status; Armed, Arm, Disarm. This is very inconvenient for such an important feature. SECURITY! All other switches and sensors maintain a graphic visual of their immediate status?

5 Stars for everything else. My network includes V3 Hub, Alexa v2, some integrated WiFi (2.4GHz) devices, exclusively Zwave protocol (10+ yrs), broadband with Comcast (no complaints in my area). All work beautifully and flawlessly.

It’s painful and frustrating to read many of the seriously negative reviews. On the surface, although claims of user-friendly abound, all digital devices are complex and technical on the inside. If unable to install/setup yourself, obtain the assistance (shop, pay, barter, beg, etc) of a certified IT/network specialist (min 4-5+ yrs exp). Even non-certified “DIY super geek tech junkies” are able to make it all work smoothly. Nowadays, there’s at least one in every neighborhood ;)

by Mario Cateriny

I would have given the new app 5 stars, but because it is lacking some of the features the classic app had, I'm giving it 4 stars. I'm sure Samsung will add features before they get rid of the classic app. The features I'm referring to are being able to unlock doors when arrive home. Another is being able to change Security Mode when I arrive home. Right now, if I manually set my alarm to Away, and I come home, the alarm is activated if I forget to turn it off. At this time the only way to set the Security mode through automation is at a specific time. I'm sure Samsun will add these features in a future release. I've been using this app for two years now and like it. One more thing, Samsung needs to have a way to backup the configuration so it can be restored to a replacement hub. Right now you have to reconfigure a replacement hub from scratch.

by Tdavis312

As a very early adopter of the vera system I had been dedicated to using it in spite of many frustrating trials over a period of years. To get the most out of the Vera one had to be very technical. Now that I’ve switched over to smart things I have found many many fewer trials and frustrations and that one needs only to be somewhat technical to get the most out of it. Still one has to be technical for advanced uses. As a plug and play using only certified devices, anyone can use it and get the same degree of automation and security as they would from services such as AT&T or Comcast. This is sufficient for most people and therefore make this app perfect for the masses. The third-party tool called Webcore allows this app to be perfect for those wanting operations governed by complex rules. I bought my hub as part of the Samsung whole house mesh Wi-Fi system which is one of the cheapest on the market if you buy it from Samsung direct, making my hub basically free.

by Cardcounter1

To help make life easier, You should outfit your house with smart lights, digital locks, security cameras, thermostats, and more, then you're going to need a smart home hub to connect them all together.
I’ve researched and tried many smart home, automation gears available on the market. I think Samsung SmartThing might be the best option.
Samsung this app hub can connect to more than 200 devices(more than most other hubs)and lets you create a wide range of different scenarios for all of the gadgets in your home.
Installation remains extremely basic, largely a matter of plugging the hub into your router and setting up an account with Samsung. (Like the first-generation hub, the second-generation does not integrate Wi-Fi.) From there, you can start adding devices to work with the hub. this app has its own branded sensors and other gear.
The hub has both ZigBee and Z-Wave radios onboard, and two USB ports for local devices.