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Samsung and Google are teaming up to make smart home devices more interoperable. The companies are letting you control or manage Matter-compatible smart gadgets through both the SmartThings and Google Home ecosystems irrespective of where you set up the devices first. You can complete the setup process through the SmartThings app on your Galaxy smartphone or tablet and later control the devices through the Google Home app, and vice versa. You don’t need to manually set up the devices again on the other app.
Samsung announced this partnership at its Samsung Developer Conference 2022 in San Francisco today. The company is leveraging the new Matter smart home standard‘s multi-admin capabilities to develop this flexibility between its and Google’s smart home ecosystems. Originally Project Connected Home over IP (Project CHIP), the new protocol aims to unify the diverse smart home ecosystem. It has received the backing of hundreds of companies globally.
Samsung and Google join forces to make smart home devices more interoperable
Samsung has been closely collaborating with Google on various projects lately. The former contributed to the development of Wear OS 3 and also helped with the Health Connect platform. Announced at Google I/O in May, Health Connect makes your health and fitness data more portable. The two companies are now teaming up for another project that greatly benefits consumers.
Interoperability has been one of the biggest hurdles in the smart home ecosystem. Since a particular smart home device only works with a certain hub or platform, you have to be very specific about picking up your next smart gadget. Or else, you could end up with a messy system that requires multiple apps to control or automate. The new Matter standard will simplify smart homes by making devices interoperable. You can pick up any Matter-compliant device and it will fit right into your existing ecosystem.
Samsung and Google are now leveraging Matter’s capabilities to enable users to control their smart home devices with both Google Home and Samsung SmartThings once set up. The Korean firm says this Mater multi-admin feature will be available to users in the coming weeks.
“With the launch of Matter, we understand there will be new expectations when it comes to smart home connectivity. We are proud to partner with Samsung Electronics to offer new and existing smart home users their first glimpse into what the future of the smart home looks like and the ease of use that comes with it,” said Matthew McCullough, a Vice President at Google.