Cync by GE will not work ? Lowes store sell them a lot

I m an electrician and i install these C by GE wall switches a lot. My customers ask me if Samsung Smartthings is compatible with C by GE. (Uses WiFi)
It s been more than a year since I wrote about this but Smartthings only allows GE devices which use Zwave Zigbee.
Google Home and Amazon already integrared it 7 months ago but smartthings is too slow.
Believe me Lowes customers like these WiFi switches a lot.

SmartThings published their API last year, so now it is up to the device manufacturer, in this case GE Lighting, to create and maintain the integration. So you should get in touch with them and tell them your customers want to see a SmartThings integration.

That said, the reason zwave and zigbee are easier is that these have published third party standards for home automation. So far, WiFi and Bluetooth do not, so every manufacturer makes up their own commands. This makes integration more complex. :disappointed_relieved:

The good news is that a new standard, Matter, has been announced and will probably start being deployed late next year. Amazon, Google, Apple, and SmartThings, among others, are all working on it. And many existing devices will be able to be updated to use it.

I haven’t heard anything about Cync by GE specifically: again you could ask them. But in a year or so, we should hopefully start to see much more interoperability in home automation.

To read more about this in a SmartThings context, see the following thread:

Matter - smart home connectivity standard (formerly Project CHIP)

And it looks like they are considering Matter compatibility for Cync, but haven’t decided yet.

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If Smartthings cannot natively control a device (i.e. every WiFi device), then Smartthings should be able to communicate with that device via Alexa. Download the Alexa app to your phone. In the Alexa app, add the Smartthings skill, add the Cync skill. Now Alexa will see devices from both services. To control Cync via Smartthings, first create a virtual switch in Smartthings. The new ST virtual switch will show in Alexa. Use Alexa to have the ST virtual device control Cync devices, and in Smartthings you can control the ST virtual switch. Alexa controls are limited, so it is worth the effort to have ST control a device. Alexa also has a Tuya skill, so it opens up a whole world of new devices for ST.

There are a lot of discussions in the ST community forum about creating and managing virtual switches. Since the old Groovy is being retired, look up how to create virtual switches using Edge.

The problem is definitely on the Cync side. I bought one plug from them several years back because it was cheap. Regretted it very quickly. I do not like supporting smart home companies that won’t play nicely with others. Alexa and Google compatibility may be enough for basic users, but many who have been at this awhile are looking for straightforward integrations with SmartThings and Home Assistant and other platforms. If I have to jump through hoops to get your product to work with my other devices, I’m going to pass.

I recently started moving away from wifi and away from brands like this and towards zigbee.

I’d be telling customers that for usually comparable prices, they could be buying zigbee stuff from Amazon. True they won’t be able to walk in to Lowes or Target (occasionally maybe Best Buy!) but these devices will work directly with ST, which will still allow for Alexa or Google functionality, and they won’t clutter up their home wifi. And if they aren’t ready for ST yet, newer Alexa speakers also serve as zigbee hubs.

the new Matter protocol is the industry’s intended solution for this. All the big home automation players, including Google, Alexa, Apple, Samsung, IKEA, Philips, Aqara, Tuya, and many more are on board. The idea is that you’ll be able to buy any device with a matter logo (which initially will be mostly Wi-Fi, thread, or zigbee to Wi-Fi Bridges), and it will work with any of the major voice assistants and most of the major apps.

The SmartThings v3 hub was one of the first matter certified devices about a month ago, and there are more coming out.

It’s quite likely by this time next year integration will be pretty simple if you stick to devices with the matter logo, and there will be a lot of those.

Consumer reports has a good FAQ

And here’s the SmartThings-specific Discussion thread:

Matter - smart home connectivity standard (formerly Project CHIP)

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I’m with you and I realize my post was kind of a rant. But Matter has been in the works for awhile. There are still companies, including Cync as you pointed out above, that either haven’t made a decision on supporting it or haven’t made any comment yet on the subject. This doesn’t feel right to me. And then even if they do wind up supporting it, there remains the question of backwards compatibility. Will the devices I already have in my home be upgraded or will it still require me to buy new devices?

I guess what I’m saying is until we’ve had a little time to see how some things play out, I’m going to be skeptical about it being the solution people were hoping.

So for this reason, I have made an effort to only support brands that already have a reputation for playing nicely across the board.

Except Govee. I want to like Govee so bad. It seems like they are thinking about Matter but they have not made any official statement yet.

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