Hot Water heater turn off?

[JDRoberts]

See the following (this is a clickable link)

Switch for hot water heater?

Hi all, I’ve recently moved into a new house and noticed this timer that is set up by the water heater. I’m guessing this switches the water heater off/on during different parts of the day, i’m assuming to save energy. There is also a solar water heating setup on the roof, which I assume was intended to take over the water heating in those off hours. Still trying to wrap my head around the setup honestly. But this timer switch in the photo looks fairly straight forward. Is there something I could replace this with that could connect to smart things? I’m thinking ST friendly switch programmed could accomplish the same task without the clunky hardware and have the benefit of control via the app. Is anyone familiar with a switch that could easily swap out for this big clunky thing? Any inp…