You don’t need to own a house to enjoy the perks of a smart home—your apartment can be one, too! Whether renting, owning, or managing a property, you can experience seamless, connected living with the right technology. That’s where SmartThings and our partner, Sapphire Connected Communities, come in. Sapphire Connected Communities is an enterprise software company that has built the first multifamily smart apartment solution on our SmartThings Pro B2B development platform. Together, SmartThings and Sapphire are redefining apartment living. Residents can enjoy all the features in the SmartThings app, and property managers will benefit from an all-in-one solution that boosts convenience, efficiency, and peace of mind for everyone. In our latest LinkedIn Q&A, we chatted with Sapphire to discuss our partnership, how their solutions work with SmartThings, our impact on sustainability in the smart home, and more. Browse the highlights below or keep reading for the full conversation.  The Highlights SmartThings: What is one of the benefits of integrating with Sapphire? Sapphire: It’s important to note that most platforms are very limited in what the resident experience can be, and if they buy devices, chances are they can’t use them at the next place they move to. With SmartThings, if a renter is living in one SmartThings community and moving to another, it’s a very seamless experience of bringing their own devices with them to continue the connected living experience. As technology changes, residents have the flexibility to add what’s important to them, leaving multifamily owners to focus on more permanent fixtures that don’t walk away and can also generate revenue. You will never move into any community needing access to a door lock, a thermostat, and a light fixture. SmartThings: What are some of the benefits of the Sapphire platform, and why should property teams or owners adopt your technology? Sapphire: We are the future of true planning, and here is one of our favorite examples! Traditionally, when appliances have issues, properties wait for those to be reported via work order. Depending on that particular resident's awareness or even priority, there could be a delay in when the issue started and when it was reported. By the time there’s a visible issue with an appliance, there could be a good chance of it being in a worse state than had it been reported sooner. Appliance Diagnostics via Sapphire now gives properties the chance to be proactive versus reactive. Alerts can be managed through the Sapphire dashboard, letting the team know what the issue is and how to fix it, reducing the time spent troubleshooting while improving customer satisfaction.  SmartThings: What are your thoughts on how a partnership like Sapphire and SmartThings push for the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) initiatives multifamily owners are striving to attain? Sapphire: Sapphire makes this possible through an enterprise-level solution, where bulk unit control comes into play. For example, in a 300-unit community, where 30% of the property is vacant. How efficient is it to send a team member out to check and change the thermostats on 90 units, especially during a hot summer day? Now, with this technology, all 90 units can have the thermostats controlled with one press of a button or even adjusted based on scheduled automation.  Our full conversation with Sapphire SmartThings: Hey, Sapphire! Thank you for joining us for a Q&A today. For those who are new to your brand, what is Sapphire and what is your approach to Smart Apartment Technology? Sapphire: Hey, SmartThings! Thanks for having us. At Sapphire Connected Communities, our approach is to provide an experience for Property Management teams and Residents that is different from what they’re used to today. With our unique partnership with SmartThings, Residents can truly customize their smart homes with popular consumer products like Samsung TVs, speakers, indoor cameras, Robot Vacuum cleaners, and many more. The Resident experience is no different than SmartThings' consumer experience, as you would traditionally see with a single-family homeowner. On the property management side, our aim is to provide enterprise smart home software that gives property management teams both the tools to manage and deploy SmartThings at scale. SmartThings: How does our partnership benefit Multi-Dwelling Unit owners and operators?  Sapphire: The partnership makes sense when we’re aiming for reliability, longevity, and stability in the industry. Proptech can be a very volatile industry, so partnering with an organization like Samsung and SmartThings means we can offer multifamily owners and operators peace of mind. The combination of Samsung’s established reputation, vast resources, and commitment to innovation bodes well for enduring success and global impact, and we are really able to leverage your consumer strength and global reach on the platform. Samsung and SmartThings are here to stay!  For Sapphire users who may not be as familiar with you, could you elaborate on what makes the SmartThings platform different from any other IoT platform in the multifamily space today? SmartThings: Our ecosystem is a big part of it. SmartThings has one of the biggest ecosystems out there, offering 6,000+ compatible devices. Through our partnership with companies like Sapphire, we can offer residents in smart apartments an enhanced connected living experience.  So, what is one of the benefits of integrating Sapphire? Sapphire: It’s important to note that most platforms are very limited in what the resident experience can be and if they buy devices, chances are they can’t use them at the next place they move to. With SmartThings, if a renter is living in one SmartThings community and moving to another, it’s a very seamless experience of bringing their own devices with them to continue the connected living experience. As technology changes, residents have the flexibility to add what’s important to them, leaving multifamily owners to focus on more permanent fixtures that don’t walk away and can also generate revenue. You will never move into any community needing access to a door lock, a thermostat, and a light fixture. SmartThings: What are some of the benefits of the Sapphire platform, and why should property teams or owners adopt your technology? Sapphire: We are the future of true planning, and here is one of our favorite examples! Traditionally, when appliances have issues, properties wait for those to be reported via work order. Depending on that particular resident's awareness or even priority, there could be a delay in when the issue started and when it was reported. By the time there’s a visible issue with an appliance, there could be a good chance of it being in a worse state had it been reported sooner. Appliance Diagnostics via Sapphire now gives properties the chance to be proactive versus reactive. Alerts can be managed through the Sapphire dashboard, letting the team know what the issue is and how to fix it, reducing the time spent troubleshooting while improving customer satisfaction.  SmartThings: That sounds like a win-win for everyone! The future of the smart home is simplifying routines and making sure everything works together. Can you tell us a bit more about resident support, what does it look like when residents are trying to connect their own devices via the SmartThings app? Sapphire: One of the reasons why we also love partnering with SmartThings is because of how easy they make this process. The process is designed to be very straight, with clear instructions and automatic detection of many devices, all from within the SmartThings app. It’s easy and user-friendly. From a support standpoint, residents are offered an expanded level of support, where they can go through Sapphire for help or use SmartThings support for assistance via text, phone call, or email. There is also online content available for those who like to figure it out. Switching gears a bit, how can a partnership like Sapphire and SmartThings push for the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) initiatives multifamily owners are striving to attain? SmartThings: SmartThings enables users to monitor and control energy usage in their homes by intelligently managing devices, such as smart thermostats, lighting, and appliances. This can lead to reduced energy consumption, lower utility bills, and a smaller carbon footprint, aligning with environmental sustainability goals.  And with our Works With SmartThings program, we add partners to our ecosystem that also provide solutions that promote energy-efficient homes and residences. What are your thoughts on this? Sapphire: Sapphire also makes this possible through an enterprise-level solution, where bulk unit control comes into play. For example, in a 300-unit community, where 30% of the property is vacant. How efficient is it to send a team member out to check and change the thermostats on 90 units, especially during a hot summer day? Now, with technology, all 90 units can have the thermostats controlled with one press of a button or even adjusted based on scheduled automation.  SmartThings: What does the future look like for Sapphire with this partnership?  Sapphire: The future of IoT alone looks promising, with continued growth and innovation. IoT used to be a luxury commodity in multifamily, and now it’s become an industry standard for working more efficiently. Overall, the future of the Sapphire and SmartThings partnership is likely to be characterized by continued innovation, improved integration experiences for property teams, and expansion outside of the unit as it evolves to meet the changing needs and expectations of users in the smart home market. With Sapphire and SmartThings, we feel we can finally deliver on a truly connected community!  SmartThings: Are there any limitations to the Sapphire and SmartThings experience?  Sapphire: Yes, Sapphire and SmartThings generally require the property to deploy a managed Wi-Fi network or community IoT network in order to provide a community-wide Connected Living experience. Given the expansive device integrations and extensible nature of the resident’s IoT network, the hubs need to be able to communicate seamlessly with the smart devices. A managed WiFi network ensures stable and reliable connectivity.  SmartThings: That was very informative. Thank you to our partners at Sapphire for chatting with us today! It was great learning more about your technology and the solutions you provide to consumers, property teams, and owners. Want to know more? #DoTheSmartThings and drop a note in the comments.  Sapphire: Thank you for having us SmartThings!  Don’t miss our next partner Q&A! Follow us on LinkedIn and X, and to learn more about our partners, visit partners.smartthings.com/supported-devices. 

Curious about all the ways you can integrate with SmartThings? Or looking to connect with other developers in the Samsung and SmartThings ecosystem? We can help with that! We are thrilled to announce the 10th Annual Samsung Developer Conference (SDC), taking place on Thursday, October 3, 2024, at the San Jose Convention Center. This year's conference promises to be an incredible event filled with SmartThings latest technology, networking, and learning opportunities. Join us, be inspired, and get excited—register here today!  What You Can Expect at SDC24 An exciting Keynote with announcements from Samsung & SmartThings Technical sessions diving deeper into main developer topics Interactive exhibits to try out new technology Networking opportunities with other developers and the SmartThings team Code Labs  …all across the platforms of SmartThings, Bixby, Knox, and Tizen.   Why should you attend SDC24? Learn How to Get the Most out of SmartThings Developer Center – We’ll announce the latest updates to our Developer Center and other areas of the SmartThings platform. Plus, dive deeper into developer topics at our informative tech sessions.  Engage in Powerful Networking – Connect with colleagues and industry leaders during meetups and networking events to foster collaboration.  Discover What’s Ahead – Indulge in a variety of impactful topics, including Samsung’s latest advancements in AI and cutting-edge technology. Delve into interactive exhibits and innovative keynotes that highlight the future of tech and how it shapes our world. Want to know more? Click here to view highlights from last year’s SDC.    Important Dates to Remember  Innovation Challenge Submissions Deadline: Friday, August 30 (More details to come on Thursday, August 9.) - Challenge 1 | Challenge 2 Pre-SDC24 Webinar: Thursday, September 12  Samsung Developer Conference 2024: Thursday, October 3 Registration is Now Open Lock in your spot for SDC24 by registering here! After registering, please remember to book a hotel room if needed. Stay tuned for more updates and announcements as we get closer to the event. We look forward to seeing you there! Have questions? We’ve got answers. Send your SDC24 inquiries to marketing@smartthings.com. 

Smart lighting has redefined how we interact with and manage our homes, offering unparalleled convenience and control. We can automate lights to turn on only when someone is in the room and turn them off from our phones, no matter where we are. With smart lighting solutions from companies like Leviton, we can create safer and sustainable homes. For over 115 years, Leviton has developed thoughtful electrical, lighting, energy management, and more solutions to light, power, and connect everyday spaces. Now, users can control Leviton’s smart lighting devices conveniently and sustainably with SmartThings Energy, a comprehensive energy management solution in the SmartThings app. In our latest LinkedIn Q&A, we chatted with Leviton to discuss our partnership, how their products work with SmartThings, and more. Browse the highlights below or keep reading for the full conversation.  The Highlights  SmartThings: Which Leviton products work with SmartThings? Leviton: Leviton has Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, and Zigbee devices that work with SmartThings, with more products coming in the future! Users can explore our range of dimmers, light switches, outlets, smart plugs, and more on the SmartThings website!  SmartThings: How does Leviton work with SmartThings and our other partners to improve the smart home experience?  Leviton: Leviton seamlessly integrates with SmartThings and its app, offering users total control. By linking Leviton’s Decora Smart Z-Wave or Wi-Fi lighting controls to the SmartThings Hub, users can easily monitor and control their homes remotely via the SmartThings app. Plus, with SmartThings compatible voice assistants, users can manage Leviton smart lighting and other devices with simple voice commands, enhancing their home automation experience effortlessly. SmartThings: Knowing sustainability is a key pillar at Leviton, we're eager to hear about your efforts! How do you see smart lighting control boosting energy efficiency and sustainability today? Leviton: At Leviton, we're dedicated to sustainability and helping our customers do the same. Our products promote sustainability in buildings, factories, and homes, and with our CN2030 program, we're committing to Carbon Neutrality by 2030, reducing our environmental impact and building a greener future. Over the past five years alone, our residential dimmers have contributed to saving an impressive 52 billion watts of energy annually, resulting in a reduction of 44 million pounds of CO2e per year. Additionally, our innovative Sustainably Smart packs are making strides in reducing job site waste by providing environmentally friendly alternatives to individually packaged jacks. By eliminating over 2 million single-use polybags each year, we're proud to play a part in creating a greener future. But wait, there's more! Click the link below to discover even more exciting initiatives: https://leviton.com/company/sustainability  SmartThings: Since you bring up Leviton’s auto-shutoff features, that reminds us! With the days getting longer and summer on its way, we know a lot of people are going to be out later and enjoying outdoor spaces more. Which Leviton products are must-haves for the summer season? Leviton: All of them, for sure, but if we had to choose, definitely our Matter-enabled outdoor smart plug that has superior weather resistance and a built-in light sensor to automatically turn lights on during evening hours, perfect for outdoor lighting such as string lights to enjoy those summer evenings in your backyard. With the aid of SmartThings, essentials like our switches, dimmers, and new outdoor smart plug empower users to remotely monitor and control their lights from anywhere. Our full conversation with Leviton SmartThings: Hey Leviton! We have some questions we’ve been dying to ask you. First up, for those who are new to your brand, what is Leviton?  Leviton: Hey SmartThings! Thanks for having us. At Leviton, we are pioneers in creating innovative solutions that revolutionize how we illuminate, power, and connect everyday spaces. From electrical wiring solutions to lighting, data networks, and energy management, our comprehensive range of products caters to the diverse needs of our customers! SmartThings: Thanks for the intro! We’re thrilled to have you as a part of the SmartThings ecosystem. Which Leviton products work with SmartThings? Leviton: Leviton has Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, and Zigbee devices that work with SmartThings, with more products coming in the future! Users can explore our range of dimmers, light switches, outlets, smart plugs, and more on the SmartThings website!  On that note, can you tell us a little bit more about how SmartThings helps create a fully integrated smart home experience? SmartThings: Great question! For us, it’s all about our amazing partners, like Leviton, who help to complete the experience, by allowing users to connect to whatever smart products they need to seamlessly move through their day. Thanks to Matter and our diverse array of partners across various sectors, collaborating seamlessly through our app, we achieve comprehensive automation of every facet of smart home living. Speaking of partnerships, how does Leviton work with SmartThings and our other partners to improve the smart home experience?  Leviton: Fantastic question, SmartThings! Leviton seamlessly integrates with SmartThings and its app, offering users total control. By linking Leviton’s Decora Smart Z-Wave or Wi-Fi lighting controls to the SmartThings Hub, users can easily monitor and control their homes remotely via the SmartThings app. Plus, with SmartThings compatible voice assistants, users can manage Leviton smart lighting and other devices with simple voice commands, enhancing their home automation experience effortlessly. SmartThings: That’s great to hear! Next, let’s talk about sustainability, as it is Earth Month and we’re focusing on our SmartThings Energy initiative. Knowing sustainability is a key pillar at Leviton, we're eager to hear about your efforts! How do you see smart lighting control boosting energy efficiency and sustainability today? Leviton: At Leviton, we're dedicated to sustainability and helping our customers do the same. Our products promote sustainability in buildings, factories, and homes, and with our CN2030 program, we're committing to Carbon Neutrality by 2030, reducing our environmental impact and building a greener future. Over the past five years alone, our residential dimmers have contributed to saving an impressive 52 billion watts of energy annually, resulting in a reduction of 44 million pounds of CO2e per year. Additionally, our innovative Sustainably Smart packs are making strides in reducing job site waste by providing environmentally friendly alternatives to individually packaged jacks. By eliminating over 2 million single-use polybags each year, we're proud to play a part in creating a greener future. But wait, there's more! Click the link to discover even more exciting initiatives: https://leviton.com/company/sustainability  SmartThings: Wow, that’s impressive! Leviton certainly has an incredible history. Since its start, how would you say the company has evolved to meet the demands of connected living? Leviton: With 118 years of success, we stay connected to our customers and adapt to the ever-evolving smart home scene. Anticipating needs, we deliver innovative smart lighting solutions for every scenario. Safety-conscious users find peace of mind by controlling lights through scheduling or even motion detection, ensuring they always return to a well-lit home. Plus, our lighting controls include thoughtful features such as auto-shutoff capability for energy-conscious users, so they never have to worry about leaving lights on. It's a win-win!  SmartThings: Since you bring up Leviton’s auto-shutoff features, that reminds us! With the days getting longer and summer on its way, we know a lot of people are going to be out later and enjoying outdoor spaces more. Which Leviton products are must-haves for the summer season? Leviton: All of them, for sure, but if we had to choose, definitely our Matter-enabled outdoor smart plug that has superior weather resistance and a built-in light sensor to automatically turn lights on during evening hours, perfect for outdoor lighting such as string lights to enjoy those summer evenings in your backyard. With the aid of SmartThings, essentials like our switches, dimmers, and new outdoor smart plug empower users to remotely monitor and control their lights from anywhere. SmartThings: Love that. So smart plugs, switches, and dimmers - got it! Speaking of your products, anything new that we should keep an eye out for? Leviton: We’re glad you asked! We’ve just introduced our new Decora Smart Z-Wave 800-Series Switch and Dimmer, a great solution for SmartThings customers looking for Z-Wave lighting controls. Our new devices feature the latest in Z-Wave technology for security and interoperability including SmartStart enrollment, which makes it easier than ever to enroll. SmartThings: A huge thank you to our partners at Leviton for chatting with us today for the SmartThings Live Chat! We enjoyed learning all how Leviton is enhancing the world of smart devices, doing so sustainably, and more than anything, how wonderfully our partnership works together! Want to know more? #DoTheSmartThings and send us a message! Leviton: Thank you for having us SmartThings!  To learn more about our partners visit partners.smartthings.com/supported-devices. Interested in integrating your devices with SmartThings? Visit developer.smartthings.com. 

SmartThings is excited to announce SmartThings Edge, a new hub architecture that allows core functionality to execute locally, leading to smart home experiences that are more reliable, faster, and more secure. While users will not see a change within the SmartThings app, on the backend, SmartThings Edge is transforming connectivity and the experience in a noticeable way. SmartThings Edge’s advanced technology increases the speed of automations for consumers by eliminating the need for cloud-based processing, bringing all the information directly to the Hub. This not only streamlines events and commands, but also allows for local device support on a home network, allowing users to run their Automations locally. This local device support decreases latency and increases reliability. SmartThings users will also be able to connect Zigbee, Z-Wave, and LAN-based integrations, with the ability to connect more protocols in the future, including Matter. As part of SmartThings’ evolution to modernize and move away from the legacy Groovy platform, SmartThings developed a solution that would be able to deliver the developer experience to meet the current times. Developers are now able to code and build Device Drivers with Lua©, offering a more robust and simpler way for device manufacturers to integrate with the SmartThings platform. This new platform architecture is an example of SmartThing’s commitment to investing in technologies that make it easier for our global developer network to build the next generation of smart home experiences that inspire meaningful moments.

At SmartThings, we're busy building a totally open platform that brings together consumers, device makers, and developers–and we'd like you to build it with us. (more…)

We're very excited to announce the newest additions to SmartThings Labs: the Netatmo Indoor and Outdoor Weather Stations. This latest SmartThings Labs integration represents the power of the open SmartThings Platform, and was created by a developer from the SmartThings community: Brian Steere. By combining the powers of SmartThings with Netatmo, your safer, smarter home can also be a healthier home. (more…)

Coinciding with yesterday's launch of the open SmartThings Platform, we're excited to announce two new additions to SmartThings Labs: UP24 by Jawbone, and Life360! (more…)

Today is an exciting day for SmartThings customers and anyone who’s ever wanted to create a smart home. We’ve just unveiled an enhanced app experience that offers you one place to find, discover, and connect everything you need to customize a home that automatically reacts to your preferences. (more…)

We’re very excited to announce three new additions to SmartThings Labs: TCP Lighting, Quirky Pivot Power Genius, and ecobee. Two of these new integrations were created by a prolific developer in SmartThings’ growing community, Todd Wackford. As such, these latest additions to SmartThings Labs represent the power and flexibility of our open platform, and showcase how all customers benefit when builders and makers come together to create new ways to use SmartThings. (more…)

At SmartThings we’ve always prided ourselves on being open and honest with our community–and sometimes that hurts. To be as transparent as possible, we’d rather tell you the good (and the bad) when we can. With that said, we have several unpleasant announcements: Migration Tool In 2014, we announced the SmartThings v2 Hub as the next generation Hub to replace our initial Kickstarter product. At that time, we were hard at work on a “migration tool” to help users who wanted to transition from the original Hub to the newer model. Unfortunately, after several false starts, we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not feasible to reliably transfer settings and devices from the first version Hub to the newer model. With that, we are no longer planning to deliver a Hub v1 to Hub v2 migration tool. We regret that we can’t deliver on our initial promise, but in order to release a migration tool we needed it to deliver a great experience. We found it would be extremely difficult to automatically exclude and shift devices to the new Hub, and we’re unable to meet the expectations we set. Our goal is to always deliver the best mix of features and customer experience, and we regret that we’re letting some of our most loyal customers down. Windows Phone App We also regret to announce that version 1.7.0 of the SmartThings app for Windows Phone will be the last major release for the Windows Phone OS. We are no longer able to provide the desired level of updates and support for this platform and have made the tough decision to discontinue Windows phone development. Version 1.7.0 now offers support for Windows 10 features. Barring unforeseen issues, this version will continue to function (with Windows Phone 10 Anniversary update). On April 1, 2017 version 1.7.0 will be removed from the Windows app store, and it will no longer be possible to download it and install it onto a new device. We will continue to offer technical support through June 2017 for existing users. SmartApp Curation Finally, over the next few months, we will be removing SmartApps from the Marketplace that are no longer updated or supported by their developers. We will notify, where possible, the SmartApp developer beforehand, and help existing SmartApp users find alternatives. SmartThings did not make any of these decisions lightly, and we understand that we are disappointing some of our users. However, these changes allow us to continue to focus on other products and services to help the whole of our community.