I, like many others, expected 2.0 to be a huge step forward for the app. I assumed the new app would be a complete overhaul with a clean and intuitive user interface… but I was wrong. To be blunt, the new app has been nothing more than lipstick on a pig. It is actually more complicated than it was before (please explain the bottom row of icons, the DASHBOARD icon is a “home” and the HOME icon is 4 squares).
I propose that ST go back to the drawing board, have a design philosophy that is intuitive, take ideas from an app that got it right… PLEX!!! You know, that app that made its simple to find a single episode of a show out of a collections of dozens of shows with hundreds of episodes. They have a 5 star rating compared to SmartThings’ 2 stars on iOS.
However, I’m not just suggesting taking inspiration from PLEX bc they have a great app rather because of how easily SmartThings could fit into the framework of the app itself. Lets take a look…
Plex for Android recently released a material design app with a Category Menu that slides in from the left (pretty basic material design layout). This is where you could have an account header with a list of categories below it as follows: Home, Dashboard, Routines, Notifications, Marketplace…
This takes the guesswork out of the bottom icon row and makes the learning curve much easier for new users. Now onto the Home page where we have subcategories for Rooms, Things, SmartApps, and Family. Plex already figured out how to simplify this as well… They use a large header at the top that scrolls horizontally, ST can use this for the sub categories! Below the header is the content, which would change based on which header category is at the top (that part varies a little from plex but is needed). Example: When the Rooms header is shown at the top, scrolling down will list each room with horizontal scrolling icons for each device in that room. On Deck>Living Room, Recenetly Added>Kitchen and so on…
The poster images is where ST could have a live tile, the name below the poster is where you would put the device name (clickable to take you into the device’s page).
And the BEST part about it all… it scales to larger screens!
So there is your framework for a successful app. If I have time I will photoshop these images to give everyone a real idea how ST could look with this UI, using bright colors and replacing the icons and text with smart home examples!