Samsung SmartThings update adds SmartThings Now and local control, but do you need more app prompts?
- ID
- 33124
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 08 Oct 2026, 5:51 PM
- Fetched
- 08 Oct 2026, 5:56 PM
- Provider
- SoyaCincau
- Category
- malaysia-tech
- Original URL
- https://soyacincau.com/2026/10/08/samsung-smartthings-update-adds-smartthings-now-and-local-control-but-do-you-need-more-app-prompts/
- Source URL
- https://soyacincau.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 3.0
- Created
- 08 Oct 2026, 5:56 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developers
What happened
Samsung has rolled out a SmartThings update for its 470 million registered users globally, led by SmartThings Now, which predicts routines and suggests controls on the Home tab. The update also redesigns the Home tab with a One UI Floating Bar and Live Wallpapers, adds local control that routes commands through the hub when phone and hub share the same Wi-Fi—claimed about 30% faster and usable during internet outages—and adds Matter 1.6 support for energy meters, specialized door closures, irrigation devices, and soil sensors. Offline Device Diagnostics now lets users update network credentials across hardware at once.
Why it matters
For most developers and founders, this is a consumer app update with no pricing, API, SDK, or Malaysia rollout date in the text, so there is nothing to build against yet. If you work on smart-home/IoT or Matter devices, the only concrete builder-relevant detail is Matter 1.6 support and local-vs-cloud routing; check whether your target devices/users rely on SmartThings before treating this as a platform change. SmartThings users should expect more predictive prompts and dynamic reordering, with local control only when phone and hub are on the same Wi-Fi.
Discussion angle
Is SmartThings Now a genuine automation upgrade or just more app prompts, and does the claimed 30% local-control speedup plus Matter 1.6 support change anything for Malaysian IoT builders?