A look at controlling Matter with a smartwatch

You need a Matter hub to build a smart home filled with Matter devices, but that doesn't have to be the primary way you control them. When I want to interact with the objects around my home, I most often reach not for my phone, but the watch on my wrist. Here's how it works.

I use the SmartThings app on a Galaxy Watch 6

I have a smart home built around Samsung SmartThings. A Samsung Frame TV serves as my hub, and we have both a Samsung fridge and dishwasher. Yet before I gave any thought to SmartThings, I was carrying around a Samsung Galaxy phone, which pairs well with a Galaxy Watch. Still, I only gave this smart home integration a shot because SmartThings works with Matter.

SmartThings comes preinstalled on the Galaxy Watch, just like on Galaxy phones. You can access it by first opening the app drawer by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.

A complete view of all my home's devices

The SmartThings app looks similar regardless of which device you access it from. My Galaxy Watch 6 can't provide the same degree of information or offer the same extensive set of controls, but it covers the fundamentals. One of these is the capacity to quickly view the state of every smart device in my home.

SmartThings on my watch sorts devices by room, letting me quickly see if I left an Umbra Cono smart lamp on or confirm if I accidentally turned off the smart outlet powering an air purifier.

Umbra Cono Portable Smart Lamp

The Umbra Cono Lamp is an extended color light compatible with Matter, offering a diverse color palette for personalized home lighting.

Buy at Amazon US

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• Amazon UK - £60.01

The watch app also displays at the top quick information like how many devices are offline and how many are on.

I can remotely enable devices and automations

This is where we start to take Matter into our own hands. When viewing the list of devices, I can tap a power button next to each one to turn it on or off, regardless of whether I'm at home. When the device is a light, I can also adjust the brightness on a scale between 0 and 100%.

That's the extent of it. I can't change the color of the light or view any schedules they may operate under. 

If I've set up automations, such as a bedtime routine that turns off all the interior lights except for one in the kitchen, I can manually enable that as well. I can't edit existing automations or add new ones.

I can do much more through a voice assistant

Of all the ways I can control my smart home, I tend to default to voice commands. That's because I can access Bixby at any time by holding down on the top button. It's like having a smart speaker that follows me around, except I prefer to manually press a button rather than rely on a wake word to summon Bixby.

Bixby does a remarkable job understanding and carrying out my requests. As long as the words are similar to the names I've given devices and rooms, Bixby can generally figure it out. I can say "Turn on our bedroom lamp in our bedroom" to turn on a reading light in the primary bedroom, or I can say "Turn on the light in our bedroom" to turn on all the room's lights at once. I can even give more precise commands like "Adjust the light in the home office to 50%" or ask Bixby to simply confirm whether something is on or off.

It's hard to beat this hands-free convenience 

I haven't set up automations in part because it doesn't take me long to say "Turn off the TV and the floor lamps" from my bed if I notice that both are still on. I can do this even if I've already put away my phone.
 
If I'm out in the garden or doing anything that will occupy both hands, I can set the watch to respond to "Hi Bixby" and control my home hands-free. Each use of my voice is also one less time I have to look at a screen. So as you imagine the opportunities a home filled with Matter devices can offer, don't overlook the possibilities available right on your wrist.