GoKawiilAdamya Sharma / Android Authority
TL;DR Samsung’s SmartThings app appears set for a major redesign with a more modern One UI look.
The update includes dynamic backgrounds, a floating navigation bar, and new home-screen widgets.
The revamped app also reorganizes routines and adds suggestions for features you might want to try.
Samsung has spent the past couple of years refreshing its apps with the latest One UI design, but SmartThings has largely been left alone to look increasingly dated. That appears set to change, with a major redesign bringing a new navigation bar, dynamic backgrounds, and several other visual upgrades to the Android smart home app.
SamMobile has shared an early look at the unreleased update. The most obvious change is a floating, pill-shaped navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, matching the design Samsung has introduced across other apps. It still provides access to the familiar Home, Devices, Life, Routines, and Menu tabs.
Next, the Home tab is getting a more colorful overhaul. Users will reportedly be able to choose from nine animated wallpapers that adjust their appearance to reflect the time of day, or select an image from their gallery or camera. Different SmartThings locations can also have their own backgrounds, so your home doesn’t need to look the same as your parents’ place in the app.
Samsung is also adding a SmartThings Now card to the top of the Home tab. This will suggest features you haven’t tried, though it can be disabled if you’d rather the app not repeatedly point out everything you’re failing to use. Three types of home-screen widgets are offered in the redesign: Device Control, Screen Device Control, and Routines.
The Devices tab looks broadly familiar beyond its new background, while the Life section continues to house services such as Energy, Clothing Care, Food, Home Care, and Music Sync. These cards can be rearranged. The revamped Routines tab separates your existing automations from a Discover section featuring routines popular with other SmartThings users.
There’s no confirmed release date for the redesigned SmartThings app, but SamMobile suggests it could arrive as Samsung begins rolling out One UI 9 more widely. The visual similarities certainly make that plausible, but the timing remains unknown for now.
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