There is way too much unanswered here. This seems like a giant slap in the face to those of us that have been devoted to SmartThings for a long time.
Which HUBs are not going to be supported anymore? I’ve got V2, and very happy with it.
Which DTHs are not supported anymore?
Which Smart Apps are not supported anymore?
The new app is slow and messy. Takes forever for ‘rooms’ to load, which causes a lot of waiting to get to a device.
What about webCoRE? If I can’t automate with webCoRE (which is used for just about everything in my house), I will not be happy at all. SmartThings automation is not anywhere near the level of webCoRE.
What about ActionTiles? Will I still be able to use ActionTiles? If not, that’s a game ender.
I’m holding off on buying anything new, especially SmartThings, until I know what the heck is going on.
I’m very disappointed with these announcements. They should be giving people the choice to either stay Classic or go New. Gutting the system is never the answer. If SmartThings goes through with this, they will loose a lot of devoted customers.
I’m with others who have said… I hope another company is paying attention to this and making note of the user responses. Maybe another company can take the place of SmartThings if they go through with this.
I don’t understand why Stacey, who is usually very good on technical details, would say that the smartthings brand sensors she got with her original kit might stop working after the changes. Those are certified zigbee devices and should continue to work with any certified zigbee hub even if smartthings went out of business altogether.
Is she implying that they indicated to her that future smartthings hubs might drop support for zigbee completely? I suppose it’s not impossible, but I haven’t seen anything else suggesting that.
"Second, it will stop letting users build their own device handlers in Groovy, the programming language that the SmartThings platform uses. Instead, developers and users will have to use an API to access features, devices, and controls. " I guess this does have security benefits? Not an expert on custom DTH development but is there a way a malicious coder could compromise privacy or security in someone’s home?
This does not appear to be good news – maybe they will pull it off.
Ive got a handful of things that would be a long weekend to convert to another system - loosing out on the fine grain Device Handler will be the worst part that Im seeing.
I think the key that someone else pointed out is, Samsung does not want to STAY in the business of supporting $30 sensors when they can keep selling large appliances.
SmartHomes is still majority hobbyist which is why other companies have only touched lightly into it (Apple Amazon)
The ‘65 million users’ seems a lot of fluff to me. They’re probably counting every smartphone since the advent of the new app that came pre-installed with it. The vast majority of which have probably either not opened the app or opened it once and had no clue what it did.
Many more people have Alexa or Google home devices.
Anyway, for me I think I’ve reached the end of the road with ST being my main smarthome ecosystem. I’m now exploring alternatives. I have to keep the ST hub as my appliances will only work with the new ST app (although one isn’t working with ST right now (don’t get me started on ST “support”) and I haven’t checked if the hub is even required for them to work as they are cloud based), so if by some miracle Samsung pull off this migration eventually, I have the option of returning - however doubtful that looks now.
They should by Hubitat (or similar) let them run as their own independent entity. I think having their name synonymous with home automation would be worth it, without actually having to do anything other than drop a few bills to purchase something. Get in the game, by getting out of it
As long as you’re using the new app, you don’t need a hub unless you have zigbee or Z wave devices. Samsung brand smart appliances can work in a “hub optional“ configuration.
I find it interesting that people are ready to throw in the towel on SmartThings without hearing the details around the migrations. I get it, change is hard and we don’t have a good idea of what the path to future SmartThings looks like. But would you rather have a Wink situation where you have 1 week notice? I’m treating this news as a heads up and will be staying tuned for more details.
That’s exactly how I feel. But also, as I’ve mentioned before, back in 2016 I realized that Home Automation was going to make me crazy (and broke!) unless I changed my budgeting approach.
So since then I assume that everything I buy for home automation, including the hub, will be replaced after three years. Either because the company has changed or just because I want to move on to something else. So I make all my purchases with that in mind, and I set aside a certain amount of money each month, about the equivalent of a cell phone bill, to pay for the next set of upgrades/devices.
So that’s what I’ve done, and it’s amazing how much less stress I feel over these kinds of announcements since I switched to that perspective. There’s so much new stuff coming on the market for Home Automation all the time, I don’t feel a particular system loyalty because it’s just not practical For me. I have no idea what’s going to be on the market three years from now or what features will be important to me. So I buy what I buy for the value I will get from it now and over the next three years.
If a particular item lasts longer, that’s great. It means more money in the replacement budget to spend on shiny new stuff. But as long as I get three years out of it, I don’t feel I’ve lost my investment if it’s time to replace it then.
I’m not saying that will work for everybody, but in my situation, it’s working well.
This is interesting… However, it sounds like you may not be aware of the history of SmartThings. SmartThings was founded as a Kickstarter project back in ~2012/2013. It grew quickly and became very popular due to the founders’ commitment to a low-cost, quality product that allowed for a community of developers to enhance and extend the capabilities via the Groovy IDE that was provided for SmartApps and Device Type Handlers.
Samsung took an interest and bought SmartThings in August, 2014. For a while, SmartThings did continue to run independently. However, over the past 6 years, the direction of the company has changed. During that time, a small group of prolific ST Community Developers decided to leave SmartThings/Samsung behind and start a new company called Hubitat. Their focus is on data privacy and local processing of all code, including user-written Apps and Drivers.
So, as you see, Samsung already did buy a small home automation company, called SmartThings. It has now grown into what Samsung/SmartThings is today.
The Stacey on IoT interview mentioned that the 65 million number was counting users who had an automation or device control occur in the past 30 days. So just having the app installed on a new phone without any actual usage would not count towards that number.
It would be nice if someone from Samsung could add a little bit more info. They have to see to post lighting up like crazy. In the end., this is gonna go 2 ways…either all the changes they make will make smartthings the hottest thing since iPhone or it’s gonna be a ghost town here. I hope the first for Samsung & my invest in them.
I’m fed up with the way Samsung are handling this whole migration. This has been ongoing for over two years, with no certainty provided by Samsung at any stage. The majority of my questions remain unanswered. Therefore, I would rather invest my time in a platform that is clearer in the direction they are headed, so at least I know where I stand. I’ve been in limbo far too long and have just reached the end as far as I’m willing to wait. It’s a terrible way to do business, unfortunately not uncommon when it comes to large brands.
But as long as I get three years out of it, I don’t feel I’ve lost my investment if it’s time to replace it then.