That’s really not a valid comparison (and I’m disinclined to give @SmartThings product management an inch of satisfaction on their competency record) . The Smartthings app merged with the apps that controlled consumer TVs, etc. These are not true home automation aficionados downloading this app. They’re couch control jockeys (although that sounds a bit like me, too). 
Yes, that’s the point. The target audience for the current app isn’t the 30,000 or so who might have more than 15 home automation devices. It’s the hundred million with Samsung products that use the same app.
I’m not saying it’s a good thing that they’ve abandoned parity with the classic app, I’m just saying it will require a different argument than losing the kind of hub customers who would consider Hubitat as a replacement. There just aren’t enough of us to matter to the business model.
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I think the motivation was to merge the home control app with the native Samsung phone’s device management integration (if you have a Galaxy phone) so you can just swipe down, and the home control functions are always there. Making it more tightly integrated with the phone UI is a benefit. However, if you look at the updates to new App, they aren’t (needing to) doing much with TV, bluetooth devices, etc. It’s all about smart home integration features. So, I think the bottom of the market will be enticed upward toward home automation. Which is more power to us.
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What is that?
If those 100 million users knew what us 30k “power users” were used to in the classic app I’m sure more would happen in development. I don’t have any smart appliances but do have lights cameras and switches that are more important to me than knowing my wash is done. All I want for Christmas is mobile presence to work like it did in classic. Is that too much to ask Santa?
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If you have a Samsung Galaxy phone and swipe down from the top of the screen you have an audio and device menu. The device menu allows quick access to all or selected smart home devices in the ST app.
Cannot find that on Galaxy S20.
I don’t have the s20 but it should be the same.
- Swipe down from the top as if you are viewing your notifications.
- Swipe down again to open quick panel.
- Touch the 3 vertical dots in the top right.
- Select quick panel layout
- Toggle on show media and devices.
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That was it. Awesome. Thank you.
The unfortunate logical extension of that argument is that they can get rid of Zigbee and Z-Wave support, since almost none of the “95+ percent of their users” have any need of it.
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Seems like they are already on that path…by abandoning the hardware side of SmartThings altogether… It would appear that the makers of the WASH hubs will be responsible for their own firmware eventually. I can’t see Samsung continuing to develop firmware for hardware that they do not design, manufacture, or sell.
Eventually, I predict a “Works As a SmartThings Hub” device will be a device that can simply connect to the ST Cloud, to expose the devices that are connected to it. No different than a Philips Hue bridge, a Lutron Caseta SmartBridge, etc… I think existing hubs like Hubitat, Vera, HomeAssistant, etc… could all probably be enhanced to directly connect to the ST Cloud as well. I think Samsung would actually like to see that happen, as user data is the product that they are really after… 
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The fact that hub-connected devices have been the last to be specified and documented on the new platform has implied that to me for some time. It’s looked like a “hub optional“ configuration has been their higher priority for about a year. Just an observation…
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As we are nearing the end of our kitchen remodel (a long drawn out process for sure), I can point out I spent about $4K on new major appliances. None of them are WiFi connected nor do they interact with the rest of my home automation in any way. Maybe it’s no surprise that none are from Samsung. In fact, I didn’t even want to replace the dishwasher; it’s only because the old one broke days before it was to be uninstalled that we ended up deciding to replace it. The appliances we replaced were 30 and 15 years old.
I spent about $500 on new home automation - Inovelli switches, Zooz RGBW controllers and LED lighting, outlets. All this new gear is Z-Wave and completely locally controlled on my new hub.
I hope the future of SmartThings is not just controlling WiFi devices and major appliances from Samsung.
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Isn’t the reason the new app has 100 million downloads is that it’s a forced app on all galaxy phones?
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Or that ST has 60+ million users and all their shared users brings the total user count to 100 million. Samsung does sell a few appliances 
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Probably, but that wouldn’t be the reason they have half a million ratings with a 4.3 star average. The point is that their star rankings have gone way up with the new app so somebody’s happy with it. 
Are these all legal downloads? Should we stop the count?
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So still no word from samsung regarding blocking certain devices from google and alexa? I need to figure out if I should jump ship or keep waiting. Built an entire home ( 100+ devices now) off of zwave and zigbee just to have samsung sell us out.
Crickets despite asking several times for any news. My guess is they’ve dropped the idea.