SmartThings Now: Matter 1.6 + 30% Faster Local Control

Samsung wants SmartThings to suggest before you search. In a newsroom post dated October 6, 2026, the company detailed an update for a platform it says now counts 470 million registered users and 430+ Works with SmartThings brands.

SmartThings Now: cards that react to context

• Family Care: if an older parent shows no device activity for a long time, a card offers to check in or call
• Arrival: near home, it suggests turning on lights or the air purifier—then proposes turning that into a routine
• Favorites tuning: weekly analysis suggests removing an air-conditioner card as autumn arrives, or adding an AirDresser card
• Routine Insight: review and delete routines you no longer use

The Home tab is reorganised (dashboards, device cards, compact service cards), with a Floating Bar for one-handed use and a Live Wallpaper that shifts through the day.

Local control and outages

When the phone and a SmartThings hub share the same Wi-Fi, commands go directly to the hub instead of the cloud—about 30% faster in Samsung’s tests, and still working during internet hiccups. It covers SmartThings Station, V2/V3/V4 hubs, hub-enabled TVs and Family Hub fridges. A new Offline Device Diagnostics page pushes new Wi-Fi credentials to all registered devices at once.

Matter 1.6

SmartThings adds Matter 1.6 with better stability and Group Control, plus four device types: energy meters, closures (special doors and gates), irrigation such as sprinklers, and soil sensors. SamMobile says it is the first platform to adopt Matter 1.6; the app is out on Android and iOS.

Rocks take

Local-first control is the change Home Assistant users have been asking every cloud ecosystem for. Matter 1.6 soil sensors and irrigation also bridge smart home and the garden.

FAQ

Do I need a hub for local control? Yes—a SmartThings hub or hub-enabled Samsung TV/Family Hub on the same network.

Is the 30% figure independent? No, it comes from Samsung’s controlled tests.