Samsung updates SmartThings platform to enhance family care and convenience

Samsung Electronics has announced an update to its SmartThings platform, aimed at improving user experiences by enabling better care for families and individuals in daily life. The latest enhancements to SmartThings include an upgraded Family Care service that offers more robust support for users with aging parents who live separately. Additionally, Samsung has integrated key SmartThings features into Now Brief, a personalized briefing service available on Galaxy mobile devices, with plans to extend these features to televisions and Family Hub refrigerators in stages.

Jaeyeon Jung, Executive Vice President and Head of the SmartThings Team at Samsung Electronics, stated, “Samsung’s AI technology extends beyond mere convenience to offer users a greater peace of mind in caring for themselves and their families. SmartThings will continue to evolve as a platform that seamlessly integrates AI into customers’ daily lives, with ongoing expansion of its unique services.”

The enhanced Family Care service links SmartThings with various home appliances and mobile devices, providing notifications about the activities of elderly parents, as well as medication and hospital visit reminders and location-based alerts. This update introduces the Care on Call feature, allowing caregivers to monitor care recipients via a simple phone call. A floating pop-up displays key information such as daily activity times and local weather, enabling caregivers to ask informed questions and respond appropriately.

SmartThings also continuously monitors devices like air conditioners and purifiers for indoor temperature, humidity, and air quality. Caregivers are notified of unusual usage patterns and can remotely control devices as necessary. The Safety Patrol feature has been improved, allowing a Bespoke AI Jet Bot Steam Ultra to check on activity levels in the home, notifying caregivers if no activity is detected for a specified period. Caregivers can remotely activate this feature and use the robot’s built-in camera and communication tools to assess and address any issues.

Furthermore, the Care Insight feature has been enhanced to provide more actionable, long-term data, analyzing temperature and humidity deviations and tracking significant changes in activity and device usage.

Samsung is also expanding the Now Brief service to deliver a comprehensive AI experience by incorporating SmartThings services that keep users informed about their homes and families. With the launch of the Galaxy S26 series, Now Brief will support Home Security, Family Care, and Pet Care, alongside existing features like Home Insight and Energy. These enhancements will gradually be available on 2024 televisions and Family Hub refrigerators from 2021 onwards. Users will benefit from automatic activation of Now Brief, receiving updates on home device status, energy usage, and security, without needing to manually launch the service.