Samsung Smartthings, this is one of my favorite and most used mobile apps. I literally use this app every single day. This app is used to control smart home devices around your house such as light bulbs, TVs, thermostats, security devices and much more. It works with a large variety of different hardware items from many different manufacturers. Smartthings can be configured and set up a multitude of different ways. Such as when using door sensors combined with smart light bulbs you can set it up so when a door opens the light turns on. As well as when one of those door sensors are tripped to send a notification to a cell phone. This could be used by parents to know when a child gets home from school or from a friend's house or used in combination with security cameras for home security. With the amount of hardware items this app works with the possibilities are endless. Anyone looking to start building or to expand their smart home options really needs to look into what Samsung Smartthings can do for you.
Even though I praise this app, give the app very high marks and use it every single day it still it’s not without its faults and things I think could have been done better or think that should be changed. The current design of the app is pretty straight forward. As you add an item you want to control to the app, a new block is added to the main screen for that item under the specific room you added it to. Nothing too fancy or spectacular looking. And there is my first part that I would like to see changed. There is a hint of customizability like being able to put the items on the main screen in the order you choose. But everything is the same color and size. There is no ability to change the backgrounds or any of the colors inside the app. Real customization is almost non-existent within the app. There are a couple places where you can change the background image, but I am almost never in those screens. I do not think it counts.
Beyond the customization there are a couple of other improvements I would like to see. For instance, yes I can move the rooms around on the main screen up or down but everything in that room moves up or down with the other items in the room. I would really like to see a favorites option added. One where I can add some of my most used items like my TV, bedroom and living room lights. Something like this would make the app almost perfect. Another suggestion I would have for the developers of the app would be native voice control. Now the app can be controlled by voice with other apps such as Bixby or Google Home. But since it is using a 3rd party app when using voice control there is a slight delay before it will complete the action. Built in voice control I think would eliminate most if not all that delay. I think with more customization options, a favorites option and a native voice control option would make this app pretty much perfect to me.
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