I find it hard to imagine that Samsung aren’t already working on migrating their white goods to Matter. Indeed I’d be a bit uncomfortable buying a Samsung appliance without Matter given that legacy support has never appeared high on their priorities.
I am wondering what the future will hold for cloud integrated devices on SmartThings. Are third-party service providers paying subscriptions for cloud API access going to be looking at Schema C2C integrations and start crying foul?
All smart appliances from every manufacturer rely on the cloud and function exclusively within their own ecosystems. You’d think they just wanted to sell smart home appliances, but apparently, they see more value in vendor lock-in. Oh well.
I’ll just wait until SwitchBot or some other crazy company comes up with the idea of offering Matter-enabled refrigerators. My next TV will be a Philips, because basic control via Matter and the SmartThings Matter Media Edge Driver works right from the first test version of the firmware.
Just a question of time until IKEA is completing their smart home portfolio with smart appliances…
Yes, the Home Connectivity Alliance made a lot of noise on foundation but if they have achieved anything the impact on consumers is at best minimal.
Do agree. There should be somewhere to list this to Samsung. Preferably I would like to have a local api. It was not my choice to run in the cloud I have no reason at all. I tried to list the Samsung things that I currently have
Thought about replacing my apple phone with a Samsung. Now i will look elsewhere. The fridge was bought with a reason about a year ago. Have a teenager there do not remember to close the door.
I’d be with you, but only if they also offered the best picture and met my other requirements. Matter capability would be a nice to have but I would not put it before picture quality and other features
A great reminder to not purchase smart devices from companies forcing you onto cloud based control - a rugpull is always imminent.
I have just a single device - a rather expensive, recently purchased fridge - and I use HA to monitor when the door is left open on it. I’ll probably be able to come up with another way to monitor it if access to the API is revoked, but clearly I’ll be far less likely to choose Samsung for any appliances in the future as a result.
Disappointing action, Samsung. Had you made it apply to only appliances bought after the introduction then this would be fairer - after all, purchasers would be buying fully aware that there was a recurring subscription cost associated with the up front purchase price - but introducing it to customers who have only relatively recently bought their appliance seems somewhat unfair and a material change to the capabilities of the product that I bought.
Will it end the world for me? No. After all, it’s a fridge.
Will I pay the subscription charge? Also, no.
Will it impact my choice to buy Samsung in the future? Unquestionably, I’m afraid.
I’d put a contact sensor on it for the time being and wait to see how things play out.
It seems that the target of the subscription plans is users who will be creating, or already have created, API Access service integrations, and these integrations range in size from enterprise level down to some individual users who have created them (possibly without even appreciating the technical details) for little more than controlling a few Samsung appliances from outside of the core SmartThings environment. Perhaps SmartThings will see that they need a tiered ‘personal platform’ to cope with trivial levels of individual usage rather than the one size fits all $4.99 month offering that was announced, or perhaps that has been planned for all along but they incorrectly thought it wasn’t worth mentioning in the initial announcement.
Passing through Samsung devices via the cloud API should be made possible without a subscription, too. Then no one would have any grounds for complaint.
I can’t believe you’re going to try charging me to know when my washing machine is finished through home Assistant 
I guess the next washing machine won’t be a Samsung…
I guess the HA forums must be a pretty miserable place with all the users demanding an OCF integration like SmartThings has so they can use Samsung appliances without using the SmartThings API.
Oh gosh, the title of this article is wrong. “New Enhanced” should read “Paywalled”.
Super disappointing and means I’ll be moving away from Samsung products as a whole.
Open API’s add value to the customer. They encourage us to invest in the brand.
Charging us for it does the opposite.
First it was unsolicited advertisements on Samsung TV’s and fridges. Now it’s charging for API access.
I’ll be sticking with Home Assistant, and moving away from any device or product that requires me to pay a subscription.
If I’m choosing between two different brand appliances that are comparable in other aspects, home automation features are what I’m looking at. This could easily sway my decision away from a Samsung product.
I have been using a hybrid smartthings/ home assistant setup for some time now. I like the smartthings interface but need some capabilities that only can be achieved via home assistant. While I totally understand charging large vendors who are making items that use the api who make a profit off said connection, I think its absolutly a ugly money grab to charge independent users who use things like home assistant that are completely free, to use the platform that I was sold as a open platform designed for developers when i bought it, which included FREE api access… but slowly samsung has made this awesome platform less and less appealing. This will probably be the change that sends me to re-platform my whole smart home onto a different platform. Truly a disappointing decision. I guess it was fun while it lasted.
I guess this is where Samsung and I part…
Long time samsung user and client.
This change is pretty much ensuring I’ll never buy a Samsung appliance again. Give me local access to my devices, i really dont need my devices going to your cloud and now asking me to pay for that inconvenience.
I started using SmartThings when it was not a Samsung thing.
Bye bye Samsung.
I´ve recently bought all my household appliance, phones, watches etc. from samsung and was planning to do so also in the future, but paying to samsung for them to sell my user data and not really getting anything as return that can be classified as an improvement is just so absurd that it´s bye bye samsung for me also at this point.
I am extremely disappointed by Samsung’s decision to place SmartThings API access behind a monthly subscription.
I purchased Samsung products with the reasonable expectation that they could continue integrating with my home-automation system through the API access available at the time. Introducing an ongoing fee after customers have already purchased compatible hardware fundamentally changes the terms under which those products were bought.
This is not an optional new premium service. For users who rely on platforms such as Home Assistant, the API is what allows products we already own to remain integrated with the rest of our homes. Charging customers indefinitely to retain that existing functionality is unacceptable. It effectively reduces the capabilities and value of previously purchased products unless their owners agree to another recurring payment.
The proposed US$4.99 monthly personal plan is particularly insulting when applied to individuals controlling their own devices for non-commercial purposes. Customers should not have to pay Samsung every month for continued access to hardware they have already paid for.
This decision has destroyed my confidence in Samsung as a smart-home manufacturer. If it proceeds, I will not purchase another Samsung appliance, television, or connected product, and I will actively avoid recommending Samsung products to others. I cannot invest in an ecosystem whose existing functionality can be placed behind a paywall after purchase.
I strongly urge Samsung to retain free API access for personal, non-commercial use—particularly for existing customers and devices. At an absolute minimum, products purchased before this policy change should receive permanent free access under the conditions that applied when they were sold.
I’ve been using a Smartthings hub for like 10 yrs. It is integrated with HA and Hubitat. To foist a $4.99/month charge on people that have already purchased products in good faith is beyond a joke. I for one will not be paying the $4.99 and without the integration the hub will be useless to me.
I will be moving everything that is still there off Smartthings to either Hubitat or HA.
This is where Samsung (and all their products) and I part our ways.