I am hoping this has changed since the earlier posts from a few years ago.
We just sold our house and are about to move out and leave our SmartThings V2 Hub and dozens of devices to the new owners.
One concern is whether there is a way to backup my configuration (mostly light switches, rooms, scenes, etc, along with some integrated Smart Apps). Just concerned in the event something goes wrong, such as a bad hub.
A more immediate concern is that my SmartThings login is my email address.
How can I change this (eg, to the new ownerâs email address)?
Appreciate any help, as I am under quite a bit of time pressure (less than a week to go).
Im not sure I understand completely. If support can move the hub to a new email address (which the new owner can use) - without requiring a reset of the hub - then doesnt that solve the problem?
My major concern is avoiding a hub reset which would require 100+ devices to be reconfigured - a major undertaking.
The last time anybody reported on this, which was less than a year ago, support can move the hub to a new email address but it required factory resetting the hub, so you lose everything and have to start from scratch.
But I donât know if thatâs still true, youâll need to check with support to see.
If it turns out that the email address must remain the same (to avoid a hub reset), could that just serve as a username for login purposes - as opposed to the contact email?
Theres a lot of posts on here about moving. The long and shorf of it theres LOTS of reasons to not do that. Including security (both seller and buyer), technical (samsung phones default to usibg samsung ids which may be the same as your SmartThings login and its tough to change) and my personal favorite. Youre signing up to be tech support for the buyer forever. (Trust me. It happens.). And right now during app migration you dont want to be their tech supportâŚ
Youâre MUCH better off defaulting the hub. Hell buy them a brand new v3 hub and a bottle of wine as a housewarming gift, and go through the house - factory resrtting things so they can start fresh and configure it the way THEY want it under thier own virgin hub and thier own account
The problem with that is that if the house is already under contract and it was shown with specific automations in place, even something as simple as âopen the closet door and the light comes on,â then in many states it has to be delivered in that condition With those same automations working. This has come up multiple times regarding security and home theater systems, As well as fancy lighting systems, so itâs pretty much established law in many places. If you make changes before delivery, such as wiping out the automations, then itâs either false advertising or bad faith dealing, depending on where you live. But not good.
If the seller was working with a realtor, they should be able to find out what applies to that specific address.
Anyway, thereâs no question that current best practices are to have everything Reset to factory defaults like it was just installed, but the problem is that you have to have told the buyer that was what was going to happen before the contract was signed.
I get behind that, in todays market a smart home is a huge selling point and if that is not included it could drive people away. professionally installed smart home solutions usually has this covered, new owners donât want to spend time or knowledge they donât have on these things, nor spend large amount of money After the fact for someone that Might be able to re-configure everything but that is not very likely with custom home-made solutions and integrations.
Just the fact that many realtors not are aware of this will cause them to think its part of the house and put a price thereafter as it does affect the value.
Edit, My first thought would be allow a user to export/download a hubs configuration and cloud based information and simple import that into the hub with the new user within the app.
Disagree, in Texas generally prevailing guidance is a âprofessionally installed smarthome system such as control4 is a selling pointâ in the ultra high-end market and as many people are dissuaded by smarthome tech as are attracted in the midmarket.
That said im not saying the twch isnt good. Just under NO circumstances should anyone ever deliver a smarthome hub preloaded with credentials to another person. And ad a buyer id never accept one (im also a 25 year IT vet so accepting someoneâs creds just rubs me wrong)
I completely recognize that point @JDRoberts about the contract, but I also think it can be solved with a polite call to the buyers agent, a bottle of wine, a free hub and a discussion on why its in thier best interest to set up their own credentials.
OK. Just called Samsung support and found a solution that did not require resetting the hub and reconfiguring my 100+ devices.
There is a way to change the ID (email address) of the Samsung account.
At account.samsung.com, you sign in to your current Samsung account, click on your current ID/email, and it will offer the option of changing to a new ID/email.
The key is that the new ID (which unfortunately must be an email address) must not already be associated with an existing Samsung account. Upon making the change, it asks for a password (use the current password of the current Samsung account). It will then automatically create a new Samsung account with the new ID/email and the same old password (which you can always change later).
You then logout of the apps and log back in with the new Samsung account credentials. All hub setup/configuration is retained.
I took the advice of an earlier post and created a new gmail account using the physical house address. That is now the ID/email associated with the hub and the new Samsung account.
Now I can freely tweak the configuration to get it ready for the new owners (without disturbing them at their actual email address). I will simply give them this new gmail account and they will be up and running.
Good luck to you handing the keys over to the automation system. I hope that goes well in that you do not end up as tech support.
I just sold a house and my realtor required I remove every smart device prior to him listing it. He said in his experience it is becoming a nightmare for future requests for tech support or claims of false promises.
I left 4 cameras in place that are POE and still had to type up a two-page manual for the new owners explaining exactly what they have to do in order to use those.
If I were doing it again, Iâd probably have pulled those cams, too.
And if your new buyer uses Samsung Android devices, the experience is broken. Currently the ID used on SmartThings on a Samsung phone MUST be the same Samsung ID as the phone is tied to - no ifs ands or butts. (Itâs a stupid decision but it is what it isâŚ) So if your buyer uses Android and Samsung⌠Theyâre hosed.
I agree itâs with JD, itâs BETTER than it used to be - you used to not even be able to do that. But I donât bet youâre out of the woods yet. @Nameless is on the right path. I STILL urge you to discuss whatâs going to happen with the buyerâs agent and get yourself out of eternal support of that box. It seems the easy way out now, 2 years from now when you canât get the person you sold the house to - to stop calling it wonât be so much fun.
This has always been a long run question for me. Like many of us we have 100+ deivces, custom DTHâs, tablets on the walls and WebCore in our dreams.
I came to the realization that no buyer will maintain this for long and it will die a miserable death.
Unless, of course, the buyer is a total nerd
I have resolved myself to not sell this automation as a feature (much like the proverbial swimming pool). When we ever sell Iâm gathering up my hub, all the external sensors, garage door controllers, tablets, getting a box of wall switches from HD, replacing everything to dumb and swapping out the smart bulbs.
These devices will all be outdated, some cranky (Xiaomi) and the new owner wonât want this.
Being in IT for 45 years has lead me to the same conclusion as @nathancu, you DONâT want to be the free tech support guy for the next millenium.
Realtors distance you from âbuyers remorseâ contact for a good reason.
Thanks. I appreciate your point that only DIYers enjoy this sort of thing.
I will definitely let the new owner know that I cant promise tech support forever. But Iâm happy to help them out for a reasonable period of time to the extent they are interested.
Question is what happens when you also have a Samsung phone with current account credentials as this acts as an identifier for you throughout Samsungâs echosystem.
Just checked my phone. You cannot have more than one Samsung account. So if you change your e-mail address it will change your default account also. You achieve nothing and if you give these credentials to anyone you might as well give them your phone as they will have access to everything Samsung in your account.
Definitely NOT a solution.
And in the mean time he/she can also order a bunch of things from Samsung delivered to their newly acquired house (previously yours). Any change to a Samsung account makes it all devices associated with that account. And if you delete the account from your phone it still remains in the other devices.
The only solution (in my opinion) is to have a Smartthings account separate from a Samsung accountâŚ
