Samsung has made several big announcements related to the company’s SmartThings ecosystem, including a new SmartThings Home API for developers to create apps base, embedding SmartThings Hub functionality into other products, SmartThings support for third-party Matter bridges, other new developer tools and new digital health experiences.

The announcements came during the company’s annual Samsung Developer Conference, a developer and partner event focused on Samsung’s open innovation and service strategy. The event focuses on the company’s platforms, including SmartThings, Bixby, Samsung Knox and Tizen.

New APIs

Based on the event, it’s clear that Samsung has big plans for its SmartThings smart home ecosystem, as the company announced three new APIs, including a Home API, Context API and Enterprise API.

The Home API allows developers’ apps to directly interface with devices connected to SmartThings hubs, letting them create applications that offer seamless device management for both local and remote users.

According to Samsung, the Home API eliminates the demands of building and maintaining a cloud or Matter Controller by using SmartThings’ hub and cloud infrastructure, helping developers avoid having to make tradeoffs between efficiency and innovation. The Home API allows developers to pass custom features to your app using “Manufacturer Specific Clusters.”

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Meanwhile, the SmartThings Context API helps developers access the new SmartThings Intelligence Platform and a new level of automations for users.

“Harnessing AI, sensing, and connected devices to infer context-like presence and frequent activities allows SmartThings to recommend new and helpful experiences that increase engagement with your devices,” Samsung says.

In short, the Context API allows developers to receive inference results in real time and use them to help their devices respond more intelligently, the company says.

The Enterprise AI is designed for developers building solutions for multi-family, rental and hospitality environments to leverage the SmartThings’ infrastructure and ecosystem, including Samsung appliances, to build and deploy scalable solutions, the company says.

Support for Third-Party Matter bridges

Samsung also announced support for third-party Matter bridges, enhancing the integration of non-Matter devices into the Matter ecosystem and expanding device compatibility options for users.

According to Samsung, Matter bridges serve as connectors, allowing device manufacturers of non-Matter devices – such as Zigbee, Z-Wave and others – to integrate with Matter ecosystems. These bridges represent non-Matter devices on a Matter network and vice versa. Many other brands have already announced that their hubs will act as Matter bridges, allowing SmartThings users to connect many new devices.

Samsung bills a new “effortless” onboarding process, allowing users to commission Matter bridges to SmartThings easily by automatically onboarding all bridged devices. Samsung will also continually synchronize with the bridge, so SmartThings will respond immediately if a user adds or removes a bridge device in their app.

In addition, Samsung announced support for bridges is also coming to the Works With SmartThings program, allowing developers to promote bridges and bridge-connected devices to millions of Samsung users.

Hub Everywhere Expansion

Samsung is also expanding its Hub Everywhere strategy, bringing the company’s own soundbars and smart TVs speakers to the Hub Everywhere family. This allows users to control their smart homes from multiple connected devices.

Creating this “multi-hub network,” as Samsung calls it, means that replacing or adding devices won’t disrupt the network of smart home devices and control.

This also allows Matter devices to connect to the most optimal or closest hub, extending the range and reliability of the network and allowing users to put more devices in more places around their homes.

In addition, Samsung is introducing Hub Replace, a feature that allows users to transfer everything from their current hub to a new one while keeping their existing setup intact.

“With Hub Replace, all devices, the Hub’s Matter fabric, Edge Drivers Data, Routines, and other Hub Settings, along with their Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Thread networks if supported by the receiving hub, will be seamlessly transferred and applied to the new hub with just a few quick taps,” the company says in a blog.

Bixby, Knox

Samsung also announced an increasing integration between its virtual assistant Bixby and SmartThings. Now, even if multiple devices are connected in the same space, Samsung says Bixby intuitively understands which device is best suited to each command, with a deeper understanding of every scenario.

In the future, Bixby will evolve to provide personalized experiences with simple commands by understanding users’ languages widely and optimizing their intentions, according to Samsung’s announcement.

Samsung also announced several security improvements, including an update to Knox Matrix, the company’s blockchain-based security vision for connected device ecosystems wherein devices work to protect each other.

Credential Sync, a part of Knox Matrix that protects sensitive data as it moves between multiple Samsung devices, is being updated to give users an easy and secure way to sync their identities and credentials between Samsung devices. Credential Sync now also includes end-to-end encryption of backed-up and restored Samsung Cloud data.

This past summer, Samsung had also further expanded its SmartThings ecosystem by adding multiple energy management features onto its SmartThings Energy service.

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