Im looking at smart home devices and hubs etc, trying to get a list of the best devices for my needs before i purchase anything, although i have a couple of smart plugs that use the smartlife app.
But i am seeing that smartthings seems to be very restrictive in the devices it supports, Firstly the existing smartlife plugs cant be used with smarthings, i am also looking at EufyCam which given its good reviews and reasonably large userbase wont work, also the much regarded Honeywell EvoHome heating system. as well as a few other things i have looked at. Logitech was there as a compatible device for their harmony hub but has been removed.
Is this Just the choice of devices i am looking at or is this restrictive to smartthings, do other hubs have the same problem.
There are plenty of options for compatible devices. There are even more devices where users have developed custom device type handlers (DTH) which allow them to work on the ST platform.
There is a push for users to only use officially approved DTH but that’s that.
It sounds like you probably would be better off on another platform.
Smartthings can join directly with most zwave devices and many zigbee 3.0 and ZHA devices.
In addition, smartthings has developed some official integrations for a limited set of devices using other protocols, such as the Phillips hue bridge and LIFX smart lights.
It also works with Ifttt.
Beyond that, it is up to the individual device manufacturers to provide an integration with smartthings if they choose to. There is an open API that they can use. There are several dozen more device manufacturers who have done so, and they will show up in the smartthings mobile app when you go to add a device. A branded listing doesn’t mean that every model of that brand will work, it just means that that manufacturer has provided an integration for at least one. (For example, the Lutron Caseta dimmer switches are part of the integration, but the new Lutron Caseta fan switch has not yet been added.)
New integrations are being added all the time, but the best option is, as was suggested, to contact the manufacturer of the device that you would like to see integrated and ask them if they have plans.
But all of that said, if the specific devices you’re interested in are not currently among those that have an integration, it’s probably best to just move on. Smartthings provides integrations with many more brands than most systems do, but if they aren’t the specific ones that you want, that’s not going to be a good fit for you.
Most other home automation hubs/apps will have a specific set of devices that they work with, typically much more limited than smartthings. But it may be that the specific integrations that they have are the ones that you are looking for. With the current state of the industry it just takes a lot of research.
