Samsung has released an update to the SmartThings app for Android. It bumps the app’s version to 1.8.13.22 and brings three new features: A new app icon, a 3D map of your house showing all your smart home devices on it, and an indicator on your smart home products if there’s a firmware update available for them. Below is the official changelog for your reference.
- The SmartThings brand logo has changed
- The 3D Map View makes it easier to see your home’s status
- A Smart Home device update badge has been added
New SmarThings app icon lacks themed icon support
The icon you got with the older version of the SmartThings app had a white background with a figure painted in a blue gradient representing two smart home devices connected directly to a hub and two smart home products connected indirectly to the hub. The icon you get with the latest version of the app has a blue background and a figure painted completely in white representing five smart home devices connected directly to a hub.
While the new app icon looks more sophisticated, there’s an issue with it, and that is, it isn’t adaptive or doesn’t support theming. That’s right. This version of the SmartThings app doesn’t have support for themed icon. The older version of the app did. As a result, it will not adapt to the system color or theme. Instead, it will retain the blue background no matter which color or theme you apply, standing out like a sore thumb.
I’m assuming that Samsung hasn’t made the icon adaptive as the company has just updated it, and I expect the brand to fix this issue with the next update to the app.
See your smart home devices on a 3D map of your house
Moving on to the 3D map view, the latest version of the SmartThings app allows you to create a 3D map of your house and place smart home devices in it, which gives you a better overview of your smart home products and makes it easier for you to control them.
The new feature can be accessed by clicking on the 3D-looking home icon at the top-right corner of the screen. The app gives you three options to create a 3D map: ‘Take a picture of your floor plan,’ ‘Freehand draw,’ and ‘Arrange rooms and walls.’
Easier to know if a software updates is available
Coming to the last feature, the latest version of the SmartThings app for Android shows an indicator on a smart home device if there’s a software update available for it. At least that’s what I’m assuming the new feature does going by the changelog. However, I wasn’t able to check out this feature as I don’t have any smart home devices at my home.
It is worth pointing out that the latest update for the SmartThings app for Android is available only through Google Play Store and not Galaxy Store, which is kind of weird because anyone would expect a new update for an app from Samsung to first become available on the company's app marketplace rather than on a third-party app marketplace.
